car_fixer

well at least you will get to sniff paint fumes...lol

Jordan S.

iTrader: (17)

I thought about this too. But its not Daily Drivers I like to work on, its race cars. If I could work on race cars all day I'd love it.

jester1

iTrader: (1)

I should mention though dont let what we say make you decision final. You should give it a try and really see how you will like it. You'll atleast have a heads up going in, than thinking someone should have told/warned me. You may actually like it, and not care about the bull. For example I was warned ten times over about getting into aircraft. Its a really **** industry to be in, but at the same time given the chance I'd go back and put up with the ****. Food for thought.

89importeater

yea, they forgot to order me a paint mask for the mourning delivery today so when it finally got their this evening i was already fruit loopey. still am a little lol. did i spell all this right, i hope so lol

TUCKZ28SS

iTrader: (2)

who do you deliver freight for? they in Rochester too??

CamaroSS19

iTrader: (24)

A lot of people will tell you to steer clear but as I have 10 years in the bussines I have seen alot . I tell you the facts and you decide . Oh and I am very happy in the field .

You will always have a job in this field if your good because there is a high demand for people that know waht they are doing . The field is flooded with a lot of people that probably shouldn't be working on cars (they need too have some sort of certified test but that will never happen ). It can be very competitive at times . You will never be rich but you can make a good living and live good . You will probably not get appreciated much by anyone boss customers ect . Unless you are doing proformance work .

Dealers will work the crap out of you for as little money as possaible . The big money is in the independent shops but you will usually get paid off the books partly , and may not get benifits some do offer it. and its a much more relaxed environment .

The dealer ,you will always be scrambling for the flate rate hours . and the manegment will like to keep you hours to a certen leven and higher more people when you start making consistent higher hours then they would like .

All and all its not bad if thats what your into and there are good jobs out here . Another thing to think about is every other trade will make doubble what you make ect. plumbers,electrican ....

blackfang

iTrader: (2)

Just to expand on that.

That depends on the dealer. I have worked with techs that have made 90-100k. However they have been team leaders and have been working for a good 25+ years. it will really depend a lot on the dealer. I know all 3 of my techs make over $22 per hour. They have been here for a few years and been in the trade for 10-15 years. Some dealers will work the techs to death some do not. My guys are on a team system so they all share the hours. They are hustlers and can crank out 20-30 hours a man per day. The downfall to a team system is having a slow tech that can't keep up or lacking in diagnosing.

I have worked as a Service Advisor for both independant shops and dealerships and I can say the dealership is where the money is at if you work for a GOOD one.

sspdfreek

I spent about six hours last week diagnosing a mirror problem on a Cayenne with 3 control units involved and CAN lines. Turned out to be some other tech had a problem and fixed it by swapping the two axis wires in the mirror harness. That worked for him but when the ACTUAL problem was fixed it caused that mirror to operate funky(up down was left right and vice versa) I figured it out driving home on the second day and checked it the next morning against the wiring diagram, i was PISSED!! friggin hacks. I really hate that crap but mostly i work on other people's babies. I even had one customer back up against a desk and put his finger in my face and say " that's' my baby, Don't Fu<k with it!" I guess a lot of people have had bad experiences at dealers.

CCF1000

iTrader: (1)

lol I work detailing cars at my local ford dealership i know its not the best job but i'm in college and i plan on trying out a tech position in the summertime. I've cleaned one guys car it was a newer rousch 427 mustang and when i drove it back the guy was just staring at me the whole time i was parking it lol. I sometimes wonder why these guys do this they know we're going to have our hands on their vehicle so why not wash it themselves lol

rekless

iTrader: (3)

i work for a small independent shop and get payed by the hour and its not too bad, mainly because its just me, the boss man and one other tech. the work can suck pretty bad sometimes, but if you dont mind busting your *** its not so bad

SVT WUT 7

I've made good money working for Toyota as a flat rate tech in the last year. I was on target for making over $46,000 my first year as a flat rate tech. I only had 2 years experience in the automotive field before that. I was a lube tech at Ford for a year and a half. Then I went to Toyota as a lube tech and quickly moved up to a support tech. Within 4 months I was moved into full on flat rate tech. I made the transition very quickly and easily. The mechanical knowledge I obtained as a youngster helping my dad with various projects around the house and then working on my own cars starting at 15 really helped. I got very fast while maintaining accuracy.

Now, a year after becoming a full on tech, I'm moving out of the field. The ups and downs of incoming work as well as nasty shop politics have completely drained me of any and all aspirations of continuing on. I've totally lost my love for the hobby I once thrived on. In the last year I sold the last thing that occupied my mind outside of work. (My WS6) I no longer wanted to come home and wrench on it.

As a Toyota tech, I was involved in a team atmosphere. It was by far hundreds of times better than the "dispatch" shop style that I witnessed at Ford. Although, in a team there is still competition. In my last job, my team split the hours 3 ways between us three techs. It was split right down the middle. Yet no matter how good I did.....no matter how many hours I flagged.....it was NEVER good enough for my Team Leader. Even though I could only count 4 times in the 7 months I worked under him that I flagged LESS than him.....it still wasn't good enough. I showed up on time everyday and busted my ***. It was never good enough. Attitudes like his are unfortunately very common in the "older" tech crowd. It seems they are very afraid of us young guys coming in and being more savvy than they in the more advanced automotive diagnostics.

It's a very rough place to be I'm afraid. I always thought it would be fun. And turning wrenches was! I enjoyed being able to do something with my hands that the majority of people were unable to. I was good at what I did and I was very fast. I had a great work ethic and it all blew up in my face.

If it's what you want to do and you are thick skinned enough to deal with salty attitudes and the shop politics that run rampant through them......then by all means go for it. It is not as GREAT as some might lead you to believe. I cannot speak for independent shops as I've never worked at one. I never wanted to work on everything under the sky.

So as I step off my soap box I can only wish you good luck in what you decide to do.

anthony m

iTrader: (1)

Being a tech is great.Just last week about 10 Cook County Sheriffs came in with people from the bank and shut us down.Working as a dealer tech use to be great.It is very hard to earn the money that you really should make as a tech.IMO stay away from the auto business.If you are passionate about cars and really wanna work on cars go to school and work at a chassis shop/performance shop/machine shop.

RWDCelicadude

Being a tech is great, being a dealership tech can be even better, being a race car tech is more work than you can imagine but it's a lot of fun. I spent four and a half years at a sears while I was going to school and did okay ($16/hr.) I had somone tell me "mechanics are scum" then wanted me to work on his car. On the other hand I had customers that wouldn't let anyone else touch their car and always asked for me, that gives you a really good feeling and is worth going to work for. Then I went to an independent shop and stayed at my same pay but I was hourly instead of flat rate. It was okay but my boss sucked so I only stayed there about six months before I got a job at the Mercedes dealership. This is the way to go.

The car are clean, have lots of fun toys, and are usually well taken care of. I made over fifty grand my first year and almost eighty my second year on the job. I got in trouble though because I was flagging too many hours and I needed to let other people get some work. I just ignored my boss and took any work we had if other people were busy. I ended up doing most of our diagnosis and other "crap work" that the slackers didn't want to do but I got used to it and still made plenty of hours. I love working on cars though and there were a lot of people at the dealership that didn't. They were usually the ones that took long smoke breaks and didn't work very hard, then complained that I was making more hours than they were. I just ignored them. As long as you work hard you'll do fine.

Then I got a job with a race team, which is what I always wanted to do. I now work longer hours for less pay, get dirtier than I ever did at Sears, work on the ground, in the dirt and all night long. I do get to take race cars out and play with them when we have time, I travel around the country in a tractor trailer tow rig/motorhome and have a very flexible schedule if we don't have a race. Oh yeah, we won the MX-5 cup national championship the last two years, and took second place both years as well. That's something not many people get to say, and when I see a car I've built take the podium it's a really good feeling. To get an idea of the amount of work it is though I've worked 85 hours in six days and been on the clock for 32 hours straight. I worked a full 24 hours straight a couple times last year, and the 32 hour day was a lot of fun (we won our class and got third overall at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you like working on cars, are a fast learner/good thinker, and don't mind hard work then become a tech, you'll do well. If you want good money for no work or are lazy then don't bother, you'll give the rest of us a bad name.

pastvertical

iTrader: (1)

at my dealership - we have caddy -hummer - saturn- and recently added - sabb..--- going on 2 1/2 years as a full blown tech "on the line" as they say. - i worked as a tech at a local garage before that. for about 2 years.
all i can say -- there is money in there.. but its busting your *** everyday. ---- gotta hustle. ---there is a lot of stuff that you have to put up with. - the older guys that have been turning wrenches for a living---- tell me that im a ******* retard. im young. and i should do something more with my life-- if they could go back and do it all over again -- they would of been a SUIT... .. and then i know guys that wear suits for a living -- that say we have the coolest jobs in the world. and they wish they knew how to fix cars.--

IN THE END . I WAS IN YOUR SHOES A FEW YEARS AGO.. AND MADE A CHOICE. .. -- JUST ALL YOU NEED TO REMEMBER-- WHAT EVER YOU CHOOSE. TRY TO LEARN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT THAT JOB., - -- so you can be good at what you do. ---

and besides. cars are easy to fix .. there just a bunch of nuts and bolts..
you will get the hang of it. sooner or later. DEALERSHIP OR NO DEALERSHIP

.. -- -------
P.S


but anyways- i started working. and made decent money.. became hooked.. -- now i take classes at night -- after work. -- so i can get out. of it in a few years.. i should have stayed in COLLEGE.=----

Tom@SpeedInc

iTrader: (5)

I can relate

You worked at Pauly Toyota or Elgin?

I was at a yota dealer for 5 years, very corrupted service manager. Who wasn't interested in me becoming a top technician, but made sure I was booking, just wanted me to pump out brake jobs, recalls and maintenances.

I pushed back by completing every online test, getting all 8 certs.

Its really messed up, all the Journeymen didn't want to work Saturday, so the service manager, made me a Journeymen provided I work every Saturday, then brought me aside and told me, "screw those guys i'll make sure you get 60hours a week."

In the 5 years I was there, not once was I sent to toyota school, ironically the day I went in give them my two weeks, they started the conversion, "hey your booked for electrical 100 class next month, now what did you want to talk about" at that point I really knew I was out of place.

Toes

iTrader: (1)

I guess like any job it depends were you work. Im a tech for a fleet of 200 window lickin short busses ya i know its sound gay but its not iget paid by the hour, travel to help other divisions, road calls which you get atleast an hour of f off time and are shop is across from some kind of donut bakery and a school for fitness instructors or lots of hot chixs in spandex

ya being a tech is good

SVT WUT 7

Pauly Toyota. Before I moved up here Elgin Toyota asked me to come up for an interview. I did and they told me they wanted to get me in. 3 months later after hounding them with phone calls and showing up to find out what was going on......I gave up. Got the run around for far too long. It was nice working at Pauly after the new shop got built but my service manager was a complete moron.

Which one did you work at?

cwr71667

I've been working at a dealership for about 8 months now and I've learned that you have to bust your *** to get your hours but if you keep track of everything you do and try to get 10 hours a day everyday you will end up with your 40 hours a week. Try to find a dealership that has used cars because all the cars they buy and that get traded in have to have an inspection, so you can get some time off them cars to make up what you don't get on customer cars.

bdyman

i love being a body fender tech, i always loved cars and seeing what can be done with your bare hands, i never worked at a stealership, but i have worked at cars collision, and that shop just drained me physically and mentally, and when they went to a flat booked hour rate, every one including me lost so much money, there was no pride in our work it was push and push and push and cars would come back left and right
now iam back in a small family owned shop i make more money and am stress free, we do insurance work and custom work, and none of us went to a trade school, i never did i think its a waste of time and money, i learned more from people then a school would teach, and iam ppg certified, ase, and i-car no school needed
insurance companies havent raised labor rates in 3 yrs, so the money has been the same , so with thats said you have to love working on cars i still do after 15 yrs, and now i couldnt be happier, but i made a name for my self have to prove your self ya cant just go in a shop and talk your self up with out proving it with your work
you say your going to be a painter, be prepared to ingest allot of nasty chemicals, wear gloves, wear your respirator, if the shop has a down draft wear a mask, if they supply a fresh air system use it, i quit painting about 3 yrs ago due to the paint sickness i was getting, oh ya enjoy that its fun, the painter is always at fault, lol, its true lol but overall its what you enjoy doing

oh ya almost forgot, if i wasnt into the martial arts my body would be fucked, but latley as i get older my knees hurt allot, even my back, my hands cramp up to the point i cant even hold a pen, when iam doin fab work or a door skin the pain in my forearms and elbows are so bad i have to take advil to keep going, so welcome to the automotive field enjoy the pain