I am thinking if you hate your current vocation, don't try to work as a wrench, it will ruin cars as a hobby. I quit playing with cars when I was turning wrenches for a living. Once I quit wrenching on other people's crap, I eventually got the itch again.
Just beat your head against the wall til the thought goes away!! I got out of the business about 7 yrs ago and have never felt better.. My advice is to look into some other career with a future and advancement possibilities . Go take an old wrench slinger out for a beer ,ask them about working for a dealership,starting a new career,etc...then ,you'll get the real story
With 40 years in this business I can say I'm qualified to have an opinion on this 'un.....don't quit your day job. I started in the dealership end of this mess in 1970 when I got out of the Navy, busted knuckles and drew blood for many years before making my way into management. I guess I have to say it's been good to me money-wise, but I take fistfulls of medication (blood pressure), I go home with headaches and sour stomachs from the stress. Retail sucks!! Customers are demanding and alot of times are totally unreasonable. My employees are hard working dedicated guys that are out there thrashing in 100 degree heat in the summer (we have an open bay shop) and in the winter they try to stay warm in the 45 degree rain and mist while fixing these new cars....mostly under warranty. They all make a living but when they reach the age of 50, they start having problems with their abused bodies. It isn't easy, not everyone can do it. The number of people entering this field is shrinking and there are alot of reasons why. I say.......if you really want to dedicate yourself to it......tool up, get some good vocational training and try to get locked in to an employer with a desire to really spend the time and money to train you. You can make a living, my highest paid guys are in the $100,000 a year range, but that is about the top of the scale and the benefits are almost non-existant. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Dealerships are pimps, making money from mechanics work and paying them dirt (and generally treating them like it). There are other places to turn a wrench though, that can be better. Flatman
I strongly suggest anyone considering a career move into auto mechanics read and re-read Retrorods reply above...Thats 100% true statement and very much the real story....
Been a licensed mechanic since '79-got out 8 yrs ago.Now have a bad back from pulling heads etc,Hands are arthritic from the cold and wet.If any of my kids said they were to be one would kick them in the ass.
I've been doing it for just under 18 years myself now. And i too agree with Retrorod. It's not an easy profession, and being my life revolves around hot rod's and old car's, it does make working on them, my passion, difficult at times too. My lower back is starting to hurt more and more, my hands are not as strong as they were when i started either. The pay allows me to live a decent life, but not where i want to be. If i had it to do over again, i would have made different choices. That's just my 2 cents worth. If you decide to do it, do as Retrorod suggested. Get a some good training and try to get into a place that is willing to help you in your career with training and that is also not afraid to pay you. Many places out there promis the world to a good tech, but rarely follow through with that promis.. Good luck. Tony
Mezzo, My dad was a mechanic at Ford for 25 years. First the good: I have a mechanical engineering degree but I learned more and got most of my 7 (yikes) jobs from being the son of a mechanic. Maybe that's hard to believe, but that's a fact. Also, Pops always provided for us and we didn't have alot but we had all we needed. Then the bad... my dad's all broke down. Back, elbow, feet, you name it. He eventually had to quit being a mechanic cause he physically couldn't do it anymore. He always kept up on his car as a hobby, but I bet it would have been easier if he wasn't so tired when he came home. For as long as I can remember, my Pops said, "Work with your mind, not your hands." If you have an opportunity to do that and you can enjoy it, maybe that's another option? That's just one guy's experience... If you could afford it (it's pretty pricey) have you considered Wyotech? If you love hot rods, then that might put you in a spot where you're not wrenching against the clock on a greasy broke-down Hyundai... Best of luck!
I've had plenty of experience, both as a Ford dealership mechanic, and in smaller shops. Unlike the others who've responded thus far, working there didn't kill cars as a hobby for me, though...but it did cut into the time I had to spend with my own stuff, naturally. The big dealerships are not for everyone...I'll say that right off the bat. Working flat rate in places like that can end up COSTING you money, depending upon your specialty or area of expertise. "General" mechanics get all the run-of-the-mill stuff, as a rule. Things like power window motors, broken mirrors, dash rattles and squeaks, heater cores, blower motors, batteries, and so on. They really need to hustle cars in and out to make anything, since most jobs they do pay very little. (Typically, jobs at a major dealership pay in tenths of an hour...say the computer shows that replacing a window motor on a 2002 Crown Victoria pays 6 tenths or whatever...that means that the technician gets paid 36 minutes to do the job...whether it takes him ten minutes or two hours. Now, the more little jobs a mechanic has to do on several different cars...the more time he will spend trying to hustle those cars in and out of his bays (most mechanics get at least two bays to use so that they can have two customer cars going at any given time. If waiting for parts on one, they can be right on the other) or running to the parts department for parts and supplies. All that legwork tics minutes off the clock...and every minute you're not actually working on the car...you're not getting paid!) Now, other specialties in a major dealership aren't as bad. Driveability guys make decent money, because every car is going to be charged a 'checkout fee', plus the time it takes to perform the needed (or suspected!) repair(s). Chassis & Brakes guys do okay...because they get to where they can bang out a brake job liek clockwork and do alignments and chassis service on most popular models with speed and ease after a while. Of course, there will be cars that throw you a curve ball once in a while, and they will eat precious time off the clock as you wrestle with broken parts, rusted bolts, etc. Heavy Engine guys (what I used to do) had it a little better, because of the way the pay structure was set up at the dealer I was at. Still, it is heavy, dirty, hard work. You'll get to where you can pull and install engines quickly, and you will also spend a LOT of your time dealing with fluid leaks...especially oil leaks! No customer wants their newer car leaving oil stains on their driveway, so you will become intimately familiar with oil pan gaskets, rear main seals, valve cover gaskets and crank seals on the various models your dealership handles! Some of those jobs pay okay...others don't. Hustle & flow is all you can do! The guys who make the really big bucks at the new car dealerships are the transmission guys. Go into that if you want to make a decent living working as a flat rate dealership technician. It was not uncommon at all for our trans guys to make 60-80 hours per week once they were keen to the in's and out's of the models we serviced. Trans work pays well in both flat-rate and hourly shops...but a good, quick trans guy can make the big bucks at the dealership level. Now...some things a dealership mechanic ought to know about going in are as follows. For one, be profficient with computers! These days (at least a few years back when I did it), you were assigned all of your jobs through the dealer's computer network, you ordered your parts from the parts department from your computer, and you entered the work that you did on each car into the computer which sent it to billing and processed the Repair Orders and eventually saw that you got paid for the time alloted to each reapir on each given vehicle. Mess that up...or take too long monkeying around at the computer...and it's money out of your pocket! Another thing a dealer mechanic needs is a good working relationship with the porters. You shit on them, and you will be shooting yourself in the foot! We relied on them to not only help keep the general work area clean, oil drums emptied, hoses rolled up and other tasks about the garage...but also to assist us in getting cars in and out of the shop as fast as possible. They get paid hourly, so they can afford to take a few minutes out of their schedule of activities to give you a hand if they so desire...and their help proves invaluable. There will be times when you need an extra set of hands or eyes, and your buddy working flat rate in the stall next to you may be reluctant to leave what he's doing to come over and help you for 'free' (even though most mechanics do help each other out from time to time)...but many porters will happily come over to help you a bit. Some of them are hoping to be mechanics themselves one day, and work as porters as a 'foot in the door' position while they learn the ropes, acquire the skills and see if it's something that they'd like to persue. I was lucky enough to have a few good porters that I shared an excellent rapport with, so they were always quick to help swiftly push a dead car in, empty my drain pans, lend a hand under the hood or whatever needed doing. Buy them lunch or throw 'em a small tip once a week or so, and you'll find that it pays off big time to YOU in the help that you receive from them when you need it most. There's a lot of 'politics' involved in a major dealership as well...sad but true! Try to maintain a good relationship with the service manager and the service writers, or they can make your life miserable by assigning you every "shit job" that comes through the door. Every mechanic will find that they have their own strengths and weaknesses, and having a service department that helps you exploit your strengths works out to your favor. As an example, I found that I was comfortable working on full sized vans. Most Heavy Mechanics hated working on full sized vans, so I made it a point to tell the service manager about that, and he in turn saw to it that the writers would flag the heavy work that came in on vans to me. This insured that I got jobs that I didn't mind doing, and it made the other mechanics happy because they didn't WANT to be 'stuck' working on vans for the most part. It was a good thing for everyone involved. Working on Econolines and Club Wagons became second nature to me, so I could do my repairs quickly and do them WELL...which made me money and made the customer happy. Now, working at some of the smaller shops is a diferent experience. Many of them pay hourly, which can give you a break, since you're not trying to "beat the clock" on every single repair...and you're actually getting paid the whole time you're at work...not just while you're performing the specified repair. Smaller, hourly shops are a good place to start off while you build your experience, pick up speed and expand your tool collection (more on that in a minute!). The downside to working hourly shops is that you limit yourself as to how much you can actually make. Most places, you're going to take home a paycheck for about 40 hours each week at whatever your basic hourly rate is...no matter HOW much work you manage to bust out the door. At a flat rate shop, the number of hours in your paycheck every week depends upon how quick and good you are...you can bring home a 90 hour paycheck and only really be there 40 hours if you're good (with a little luck on your side!)...but you can also spend 40 hours there and only bring home a 15 hour check if you get hung up on some "shit jobs"...it cuts both ways. Now, a word on tools. Any good mechanic...flat rate or hourly...is going to end up spending a lot of his money on new tools. There will be tool guys who come to your shop driving Snap-On, Matco or MAC trucks and hawking their wares upon you. Most will extend to you a line of credit and you will make payments to them each week. It's convenient to shop with these guys, and you WILL want to stay in their good graces for times when you need a deal on a new specialty tool, or when you need a broken tool repaired or replaced. Any busy mechanic is going to soon discover a need for new and different tools to do his job more efficiently, and tools are a neccessary expense...so figure that into your plans when you're trying to decide if this line of work appeals to you or not. I could go on all day long about the subtle nuances of working as a mechanic...but I'll just try to summarize by saying that it ain't easy, it ain't glamorous, and it will flat wear you out, break you down and work you over. BUT...if you really enjoy that type of work, it can be a good way to make a living. Try it out at an hourly shop for a while and get a feel for it. That will give you practical, "hands on" experience and let you decide if it's what you really want to do...and you can go from there!
I've been doing this since 1985. I also agree with what retrorod said. Fat Hack also. Well said, you two. Used to be, dealer mechanics were the cream of the crop, the coveted jobs to aspire to. Not any more. Any good small shop can outpace them in pay and benefits. I've tried both. If you're paid flat-rate, its enticing as hell. Turn a fast wrench, make good money. They don't tell you you compete with your co-workers, guys who become friends, for the good tickets. A system based on greed- a rotten way to earn pay. It also helps fuel dishonesty among some people. If you're paid hourly, less exciting, maybe less pay, but you don't have lean times, slow periods and infighting to deal with. More my style, personally. The worst part, though, is the public. They have been schooled (occasionally for good reason) to trust us as little as lawyers and sharks. You fight a CONSTANT uphill battle with these people, while doing an outstanding job on their 10 year old neglected mess. ASE is not what it once was.... a measure of an elite group. Now any boner can get an ASE patch on their shirt. The tool guys may be around, then disappear with no notice, their world is tough as well. That broken Snap-on ratchet sits in your box while you use your Craftsman. They still want mailed in payments however. My advice? If it won't mess up your hobby, find a private fleet shop. I work at the U of A. Try ambulance services, city/county shops, electrical shops, any large fleet shops. Make money with fewer headaches. Don't jump in and go in debt for a big SnapOn box. A Husky box will suffice. Anytime you buy a tool, think of it as a business investment..."How will this really pay me back?" Hope I was helpful. Break time's over, I got a Police Crown Vic to finish up. Cheers, John
I work at a G.M dealer, I have been off the bench for a number of years, now I,m what they call a tower operater. I hear more whining & bitching here that I do at home(wife 3 kids)the techs are alway crying about money and the job in general. G.m pays 9.6 hours to replace a engine in a 2005 uplander van, do you thing you could do engine re & re in less then 10 hours? I would reconmend you take the biggest hammer you have and whack yourself in the forehead a few times with it.
Over 90 percent of the professional mechanics I know no longer work on cars as a hobby, and only buy new vehicles. Don't let this happen to you!
It's ultimately going to come down to what you want to do, because you will always second guess yourself if you didn't do it. But from personal experience in an independant shop, and the stories I heard from buddies at dealerships, everything that has been said in this post is true. One week you'll book some awesome hours when you get the money jobs, then the next, the crap jobs roll in and frustration sets in when you barely get above guarantee on a car that shouldn't even be on the road. I loved it for the first 2 or 3 years. I would work on the new ones at work and mine when I got home, now the hobby has been sitting for a year and a half, with very little done. My last day at the shop I worked at was 2 weeks ago today, and I haven't felt this good in a long time. If you do decide to pursue it, you will need to constantly stay up on the newest technology, because once warranties run out, it's gonna come your way (independant shop.) And be prepared to get the run around when you don't get paid what you should because it's the boss' buddies car, or someone f-ed up the estimate, oh well is what I heard. And aside from weekends and holidays, I only had about two weeks off in the last 5 years. I know for a fact that not all places are like this, there are good independant shops and good dealers to work for, but i'm done with other people's cars...I wanna work on mine!
Forget about Auto Mechanics if you're looking to go back to school... Get into a career in the Medical Field. Surgical Tech/Pharmacy Tech are good entry level careers to look into. I've spent over 20 years as an auto and aircraft mechanic, and all I have to show for it is constant pain/inflamation in both hands from constant air tool vibrations/weight, a bad back and a bum shoulder, knees, and feet(and a bad attitude)... I've also owned/ran two shops, and that just multiplies the headaches, and raises your blood pressure. The last Jacka$$ I worked for paid us Flat Rate, but would rarely charge the customers ANY diagnostic time unless I pushed them due to the buddy/good guy factor... The famous one was, "Put that car on the hoist and check out this noise" freebie or "While you're at it, can you take that wheel off and check the squeeky brake" while doing an oil change that paid $6.00 Sorry, my tool box only opens for billable hours!!! Or work for an airline that can't give their employees a new contract for years, but has the money to go out and merge with a bankrupt airline? Or the bankrupt airline that pisses away money like a drunken sailor while the employees take a 40% pay cut??? Yeah, I've worked on some really cool cars and airplanes, but in the end that don't add up to much... 42 and burned out!!! Stay into cars and planes as a hobby and get a job that has long term security, pays well, has benefits, and a pension plan. I'm currently working toward Pharmacy School... Best of luck to you!
Try to get a job at a smaler shop and when your skilled enough you open your own. Working as a part replacer at a bigger dealership is no good. The only reason for them to hire you is to make money. They dont care about you personally. If you dont like it they just get the dude next at the list to do your job instead. /Eric.
I worked as a mechanic for years...and like most others, after working on cars all day long for 8-9 hours, the last thing you want to do is come home and bust your back on your own car. I did restore a few of my own at that time, but it is much easier and much more enjoyable to come home and work on a car not being a mechanic. When me and my friend left the shop we said "we don't work there anymore but we have a bitchin' set of tools at home now" You can make good money at a private shop if you are good, because there is a shortage of "good" mechanics in some areas of the country....so think about it....... that's my .02 cents
I,ve worked at Chrysler dealerships now for over 26 years....I dread going to work in the morning.I wake up and wonder which part of me hurts the worst.Its a dirty thankless job that costs you your health and sanity. If you absolutely want to do it then specialize in one thing. Electronic/wiring troubleshooting would be the one I,d pick. No heavy work, always a challenge and not real dirty. On second thought....pick another trade. Damn my shoulder hurts.....
I've been doing this for 20 years now. I agree with most of the comments listed above. I work at a dealership and the money's not bad, but my back is. I'm only 39 and I had back surgery 3 years ago and will probably end up having to do it again before too long. Shops are dirty and hot. Work is not always stable. Benefits? What benefits? If I could go back and do it all over again, I'd have gone to college instead of technical school, and I'd be an engineer instead. You may like the work at first, but it will wear on you, and after a number of years, you'll probably regret it. By then you'll have a family and be making too much money to quit and do something else. Politics are a factor too. If you're a good tech, you'll be kept under the hood. You have to be a good butt kisser to become management.
I love cars too much to work on other people's unmaintained rusty junk. Ask any dealership technician about "mechanic's back". Lots of guys can't hack it for more than a decade because of the lower back strain of wrenching yourself into late models. So what are ya gonna do at 33 when your back is shot and all you know is working on cars? And BTW, do you know what they call a good auto mechanic who also has basic computer skills and the ability to write/speak in complete sentences? They call us manufacturing engineers. A decent troubleshooter's skills are worth 50% more in a factory than they are in a dealership. It's amazing how million dollar equipment is brought to it's knees with basic mechanical problems that are so freaking simple! But the non-car guys in the maintenance staff often don't understanding troubleshooting, they're parts replacers who are directed by managers with a fire-fighting mentality. So after they frantically fart around for 2 days, you wade in, give it 20 minutes thought, and end up tightening a hose clamp nobody thought to look at..... and earn your annual salary on the spot. Don't work harder. Work smarter
I agree with Retrorod, Fathack and the rest of the more experienced guys. I heard it first hand from Real Technicians. (Technicians, and Mechanics) I intended at one time to be a dealer tech. I went to car college. While in school I apprenticed in a Cadillac dealership and worked in independent shops. Every single old timer said exactly word for word what we've been reading here. After college I was lucky and found a job in the automotive industry where I can work on cars from a desk, don't have to deal with customers directly, maintain a Master ASE status and still have the passion to turn a wrench on my stuff when I get home. My suggestion; with time and a student loan, try to get in to a school with a 4year degree in Automotive Technology. It opened A LOT more doors for me instead of a trade school (There is absolutely nothing wrong with a trade school) BYC
If you decide to get into it, get schooled on the European high-end cars, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche; etc and be a bodyshop mechanic. Trust me on this the pay is good if you get with a decent dealer bodyshop. I've been doing it for 16+years, sure I'm sore and burned out to hell, but I pull close to six figures now, and have good insurance. The best part is when people wreck their shit, their insurance company is paying 80% of the time. Its a better direction than the service end where customers are more reluctant to have repairs that require them to pay out of their own pocket...
after being a dealership tech for 10yrs, I'd rather push shopping carts at the local grocery store.Don't forget 1: the investment of tools you'll need to make 2: Just about every substance in a car is hazardous. 3: If you think you can find a shop that will give a shit about your well being,you're in wonderland. I live like the average Joe blow,flat rate isn't always steady income,and the key to the automotive business is THE MORE YOU KNOW THE LESS YOU MAKE.....because now you get the problem cars,that no one else can fix.
This truly SUCKS! What a state of affairs when highly trained, intelligent, talented people cannot get paid enough, or treated with respect, when doing a very difficult job that HAS to be done! What has America come to? This country was built on creativity, intelligence and hard work, exactly what it takes to be a good mechanic. Now, these people are treated poorly, second or third rate, compared with the vastly superior "paper shuffler" and "bullshitter" class. I've been in the field, though in different circumstances, for many years. To be a good mechanic, you have to be well versed, if not an expert in, mechanics, plumbing, electrical, electronics, hydraulics, computer technology, diagnostics, perhaps welding, metal fabrication, and painting, as well. It's a Goddam shame that any other person who specialized in ANY of the above trades usually does better than a mechanic (i.e, a plumber, or electrician). Perhaps I've heard wrong, but I've always heard that in "civilized" countries, like Germany, a mechanic is held in high esteem, and treated with respect in both salary, and station in life. Here, we're barely above a ditch digger! I predict that in the near future, there will be a shortage of good mechanics. Ones that can actually diagnose and repair a car, not just an R & R man. Who would want to go to school for 2 years or more, just to get a low paying, dirty, back breaking job? I can see how most students who have any intelligence, are taking computer courses instead of trades. But where will this lead to? Obviously a shortage of good mechanics. Maybe then they will get the respect they deserve. I certainly hope so! The current trends seem to be to send off bad students, ones who probably couldn't get into college, into trades such as mechanics. This tends to flood the field with kids who don't have an interest, or the intelligence to be a GOOD mechanic. So there are a lot of hacks out there, doing more harm than good. For a while I worked at Lincoln Technical Institute, and have actually seen this happening. Meanwhile, our country suffers a shortage of real technicians who can actually DO something. Sad state of affairs. Rant over...sorry! Actually, Jay Leno wrote an article that appeared in Popular Mechanics, or somewhere, that said, much more elequently, the same thing.
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