Do NOT Become A Collision Tech in 2023

[@dukeofurl7593]

I worked for a major insurer for 20+ years and he is telling the truth

[@paytool]

Thanks for your support.

[@erocker78]

Yeah, but many of us in insurance, unless you're in upper level management, aren't making 100k+ a year. I'm not sure where he got that from. Everything else he said was pretty much correct.

[@pumcarrillo6065]

It hard work . No guarantee you even ge a check, thing need to change estimate make more the tecs , tool cost.

[@freddaniali]

This isn't only happening in the automotive industry, it's in all high skilled trades.

[@dronetrucker]

I get on auction sites, they are totaling cars that were easy fixes 10 to 15 years ago.

[@alphawolffff]

As an automotive tech that works at a dealer there's a very simple solution to this problem: Say no. They want to cut 4 hours from the repair? Cool, tow it out of here we're not touching it. Who are they going to bring it to? As you said the profession is stretched so thin they don't have many options. If you're a skilled technician and know your own worth simply refuse repairs that don't pay what you think they should. They'll either pony up the cash or it'll get towed out. I don't know about you but my shop is 3+ months booked out. There's no shortage of vehicles breaking these days with how poor major brand's build quality has become.

[@driftsmoke877]

Right 😅 but then they will just fire and replace that person.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@JosephEaston-v9f]

Bro I been working in this trade for over 5 years now. Some days I’m drilling spot welds & welding new quarter panel & I feel great cause it looks good. But today I feel so defeated. I spent all day trying to Aline a hood & fenders & ended up cracking the front windshield. Now I have to pay for the front glass & I barely even make a grand a week. Am I ever going to get good at this job? I put my blood, sweat, & tears into my work & I still feel like such a failure.

[@chrisreetz4117]

Started in body shop right out of high-school. By the time i was 25 was a body man getting payed flat rate. At 46 i was semi retired. I work about 6 month a year in a bodyshop. Do what i want rest of time. It is a great profession work hard save your money. Good bodymen are in huge demand

[@oscarperez5539]

So it took you 7 years to hit flat rate?

[@bartman376]

Been doing this over 35 years. Not only do I hate insurance companies but the new cars are way to complicated! I'm 55 and plan on getting out as soon as possible. like within the next year! I make well over 100k a year and I hate this industry, It's not worth it to me. Nice video 👍

[@TheNGplus]

Been in it for 3 years now, can't disagree with anything you said. I've already been looking into other paths. It's not totally impossible to find a shop that works for you but it sure feels like it. The techs who managed to find their groove are gonna keep their groove for themselves and I don't blame them. Also not too many industries I can think of that ask for everything from you including your own tools and expertise and give you almost nothing back, not even benefits sometimes.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@andypandy2848]

All that on top of the hazards to your health with dust and fumes.

[@thomasdameron4095]

It’s true, I was a collision tech for 20 years. Best thing I ever did was did was quit the bodyshop. Insurance is the closest thing to extortion I’ve ever seen.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@nick7.3]

The Gerber collision by me has been trying to hire a tech forever. Everything he said about a shortage of techs, part and insurance issues, tech pay and having to have 5- cars at once is all so true.

[@Isaiah-ft5nx]

I’m 3-4 years in. Cant account for set backs and unpaid time losses. I just l tried to assemble a quick job to get back to the customer before the weekend. The insurance would only buy and aftermarket headlight. Guess what? It doesn’t fit. Now I’m losing time because I have to pack all the parts and hardware up, move the car back off the lift, get mildly scolded by my boss as if it’s my fault, and wait for a headlight for another 1-7 days. Last paycheck I didn’t even make the amount of hours I was actively working. Had to burn my last 2 vacation days, and it’s still not enough money to pay bills.

[@chrisreetz4117]

Find another shop

[@doglegjake6788]

When I write a estimate on a customer's vehicle At my shop when the adjuster comes out to cut it One penny I tell him to tow it off my property immediately And I charge storage and a tear down fee. I charge a very fair price for what it's going to take to make my customer happy period .. I politely tell them to get their fucking ass off my property immediately

[@talkinhogspodcast6545]

As a tech what state do you work in because where I’m at if geico is a DRP if you did something like that they’d just leave the program leaving the shop damn near dead

[@chrisreetz4117]

​@talkinhogspodcast6545 that's why I will never again work at a pdr shop

[@TeddyxxMexx]

I really want to learn so bad collision, had a burning passion but they made me a auto detailer. Now I regret leaving the wind turbines as a technician.

[@scottdarkfonzie1787]

You sir, are a "force to be reckoned with"..

[@carter29288]

What about owing your own shop? Doing everything. Rust, collision, restoration, fiberglass, boats, etc… is it worth the headache? Basically my question is, should I change my goal? Because my goal is to open my own shop.

[@turboimport95]

open your shop trust me you will make tons!! do good quality work though. dont do boats unless you are in a area that has tons of boats. stick to cars, trucks etc. its hard to do resto work if you are worried about production. Cause the quality will drop trying to paid from it quickly. If you are gonna be a 1 man crew like i am stick it what you are best at, and dont over work yourself, and do not take in every job if feels like it is not worth it!!! If the customer seems like a pain in the ass send them down the street. Heres the best tip, "Not all money is good money" remember this and you will do well.

[@bobroberts2371]

People with rusty cars don't want to pay, rust tends to come back unless you spend way more time than the car is worth. The collision market is tied to insurance companies so be prepared to deal with them IF you get approved. Restorations are a losing battle unless you get hooked up with someone with $$ that does not care about how much it costs. Sticking with one series of cars to restore is about the only way to make $$ as you would have built up a knowledge / parts base. If you are going to open your own shop, take a small business course at the local community college. Many businesses fail due to poor management of $.

[@rickybyrd660]

This guy speaks the truth 💯

[@Sumkindawonderful]

This trade sucks!!! 23 yrs in and its sad

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry in the slumps rn all year? Just finished collision program and no on is hiring/industry is super slow

[@Sumkindawonderful]

@@oscarperez5539 not slow, just who is qualified to fix these cars!! Takes too much for what the insurance is willing to pay

[@oscarperez5539]

​@@Sumkindawonderful​ Would you recommend me to contine in this trade? After doing it for 4 months i honestly just wanna do the simple studf like disassembling cars reassembling and fixing minor dents.. do you think shops will hire me just for thay?

[@lancefletcher2963]

@@oscarperez5539 I've worked both sides, and it's the "other" side this year - insurance is a hot mess right now. The carriers are all worrying about losing money, and they've upended how the claims people do their job, and that's rolled downhill to the body shops. Basically, less money from the carriers is going to body shops - less money, less hiring. Normally, shops could expect some out of pocket/walk-in customers - but nobodys really buying things they don't absolutely need this year, either. It sucks particularly bad this year, but it'll pass. It always does.

[@punchinello6537]

Fellow auto body tech here, i make 25$/hr flat rate, and on paper i should be able to make 120k a year pretty easy, but in reality, poor management, parts delays, insurance cutting times, it really turns into 70-80k at the end of the day, not worth it at all.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@punchinello6537]

@@oscarperez5539 Election years are usually slower, also doesn't help the economy is in the toilet so customers dont want to spend the 500-1k for deductibles to get repairs.

[@oscarperez5539]

​@@punchinello6537im sure thats part of it but ive hesrd from many shops that this has never happened before where its abysmally slow. Would you recommend me to contine in this trade? After doing it for 4 months i honestly just wanna do the simple studf like disassembling cars reassembling and fixing minor dents.. do you think shops will hire me just for thay?

[@fourtraxx3921]

I do rotisserie restos by myself everyday. Good help is hard to find and when you find an ace they are strung out. Its always the best that are the worst

[@RickTrajan]

Hi, just want to ask what do you mean by strung out? Never heard of it used before and looking it up the sentence doesn't make sense. Seems like you mean they're not there for a long time but want to know otherwise.

[@johnwilliamson2393]

Strung out on drugs.​@@RickTrajan

[@AndelaPandela]

​@@RickTrajan means they have a drug/alcohol problem generally, and sometimes specifically refers to narcotics like heroin/fentanyl

[@Everythingisgoingtobealright]

I’ve been doing this for 38 years, I still enjoy it. I think a lot of guys that hate it, work at hack shops. Get a job at a good shop that has no DRPs and pays salary. I assume he means $24 a book hour, that means he’s only booking 60hrs a week. That’s not much, I don’t know how many hours I would do in a week, but I’m guessing around 100-120. That’s not because I work harder or faster, it’s because the shop I work for is getting paid more. Stop working at crappy shops.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@Everythingisgoingtobealright]

@@oscarperez5539 It’s up and down, it’s always been that way, no rhyme or reason. It might have something to do with salvage values being so high. The demand for cheap cars is high, so hacks buy totaled cars and slap them together and resell them. That drives the salvage value up and makes cars total easer. Cars are getting more complicated and expensive to repair, so we fix less cars, that means we have to charge more to fix them and that makes them total easier. It’s a vicious cycle, but it actually makes my job easier, I fix less cars for more money.

[@oscarperez5539]

​@@Everythingisgoingtobealright​​im sure thats part of it but ive hesrd from many shops that this has never happened before where its abysmally slow. Would you recommend me to contine in this trade? After doing it for 4 months i honestly just wanna do the simple studf like disassembling cars reassembling and fixing minor dents.. do you think shops will hire me just for thay?

[@Everythingisgoingtobealright]

@@oscarperez5539 It only makes sense if you like it. I started in 1985 it was just a job for me, but I ended up being good at it and really started to enjoy it. I never went to any trade school but I took any training I could find. I’ve taken a couple hundred ICAR classes, chief automotive training, BeeLiner training, ASE testing, factory training from BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche. The more training you have the better. We don’t do many difficult repairs anymore, it’s mostly easy work, but you need to be ready for the disaster job when it comes. If you don’t enjoy it don’t do it. I made about $120k last year working four days 36 hours a week, I haven’t worked more than a couple hours of overtime in 10 years.

[@oscarperez5539]

​@@Everythingisgoingtobealrightdo you think AI/self driving cars will tank tje collisiom industry due to very few wrecks happening/current workers retiring by then and no one replacing them? Or even having AI fix the cars

[@DavidAdams-bp5iu]

I agree with everything you said I was a Body Man for just short of 50 years. I retired at 68 years old. I am 72 now the insurance companies like you said are killing the business. I would not recommend anybody to get into this trade matter of fact, if you’re thinking about making a career in anything if the insurance companies regulate the pay walk away, forget it you’re gonna have to go in with $50,000-$100,000 worth of tools you’re gonna be an apprentice in a shop for if your skilled 2 to 5 years, I hope people read this and watch your video because this is the worst trade anybody could choose You’re going to have to fight every day with insurance adjusters or an estimator from the office. I’ve had a lot of physical damage. I’ve had my knee replaced. I’ve had Tommy Jon surgery carpal tunnel. Arthritis in my hands just had major back surgery. Broken fingers caught up came close to putting my eye out just about tore my thumb off when a heavy cowboy bumper fell on it whatever you guys think about this car business the Collision business you’re not gonna be working for chips you’re gonna be in some filthy dirty body shop working for people that don’t care about you. Please pick something else to do if you love cars do it for a hobby.

[@oscarperez5539]

Oh wow, what do you think of doing mobile dent repair or PDR?

[@oscarperez5539]

Would you recommend me to contine in this trade? After doing it for 4 months i honestly just wanna do the simple studf like disassembling cars reassembling and fixing minor dents.. do you think shops will hire me just for thay? Also, whats yall opinon on windshield glass installer?

[@lancefletcher2963]

Keep in mind that the industry as a whole doesn't have a ton of upward mobility. Your career endgame, best-case, is running your own shop. You can make decent money with it - but it comes with its own headaches. Being a line mechanic or panel beater can be a good job, if you don't go deep into debt for your tools, and you understand that you generally have to shop hop (find a better job at another shop) to get pay raises, benefits, better treatmnent, so on. There are a lot of related things you can do. Tons of mechanics and body people moonlight as mobile mechanics/shadetree mechanics, some of us do windshield glass install/repair (it's decent work - but you're still dealing a ton with insurance, if you're making the real money, and same problems). Some of us do custom paint work, window tint, audio installs, aftermarket stuff, etc. Some do tires. I know a few people who've gotten into PDR (paintless dent removal), and make really good money traveling around working hail damage. There's people like me who work for the insurance companies every now and then, and do estimating work when shops need it, I do appraisals for normal people, etc. It's not a bad field to get involved in - you just really have to be willing to make your own career of it, no matter how you do it. Or you'll end up working a shitty flat rate in a shitty shop for decades, and end up burnt out and miserable. As a whole, it's hard, thankless work for a decent day's pay, but you're not going to probably get rich, and you'll be lucky to see a six-figure take-home year your entire career. But if you like the simple stuff, and you're ok with the kind of pay that entails, and you can find a shop with enough of that kind of business to do it day in/day out, you could make an alright living. BUt it's easier to find work if you can do a variety of things - or be really good at one, specialized thing. There's plenty of people who are good at simple body work. If you wanted to do that work - you'd either need to be exceptionally good at it, or exceptionally fast at it (and preferably the latter). But as glass work goes - try new stuff. Literally only makes you more marketable to know how to do more things, and gives you more opportunity for side work. You're into it, and can afford to get into it (either tools or education or both), absolutely do it. Always be learning and skilling yourself up.

[@oscarperez5539]

@lancefletcher2963 dude thanks a lot for the detailed answer. Yes some of the stuff you said I realized after months of working at shops. Unfortunately no one is hiring rn and was laid off from the shop 4 months ago due to the industry being very slow. I heard about PDR, isn't that very hard to learn I heard? I've seen people doing mobile PDR work or mobile dent repair.. but I think if one just does dent repair they'd need to learn how to paint. If not then they'd have to get into PDR since they can't do traditional methods of fixing dents at a shop

[@kenmcleod8618]

So true I retired from this business about 6 years ago and moved overseas Started as a combo man and worked my way up to manager You’re absolutely right about this industry The insurance companies are the biggest crooks I think that eventually, with the shortage of techs The ones that can hang in there will be able to see a huge increase in labor rates

[@driftsmoke877]

Yes I agree. Might leave the industry for a bit and come back.

[@oscarperez5539]

You think AI will take over the collision repair technicians jobs? Either through self driving cars (very few wrecks) or humanoid robots that do the job, especially with such a shortage of techs they might as well create robots to do the job

[@aidanramirez3357]

I’m 20 yrs old and I’m going to take over my dads small body shop and try to turn it into more of a production shop, do u still think it’s not worth the money?

[@customgarage777]

I think if you have a ton of passion and apply oneself to it, then you can make that all work

[@paytool]

You will have to know your numbers. Also need some techs that are hungry and quality minded. If you can build a customer base and stay away from the DRPs . Good luck to you

[@aidanramirez3357]

@@paytool what’s wrong with the drp shops?

[@markanthonyewart]

Yes you should, just need to find some good body technicians, look outside of your country for good tech

[@GabrielGarcia-ry1if]

I've been an automotive painter in collision shops for 16 years. i make around 150k-160k a year working from 8-5 mon-fri with pto goodbenefits sick days . This industry has been good to me

[@robertwelker562]

With all do respect to you, painters always have book time in there side . Body time is always best guess. An yes painters I’ve known make well above the body time . 160k or just over 100k .

[@GabrielGarcia-ry1if]

@robertwelker562 that's true. There are also a lot of favorites on the body side. I've known a lot of good body men starving in slow times over some butcher's over favoritism, not only that all the tools body men and mechanics have to consistently buy

[@robertdavis5714]

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I can see that happening in Calif. with EQ insurance. Lived very close to Northridge 1994 and Sylmar 1971, when you are close to epicenter, earthquakes are the scariest thing you can live thru, getting worried way too much time since last Quake. Cars, everything you say is why I will never buy a brand new vehicle and continue to buy used with as little computer parts as possible.

[@FATALSHOXX]

I’ve worked for most of the shops you named and they are all on a downward spiral already for sure, and the insurance companies are a pain in the ass to work with and don’t even wanna give the hours needed without arguing back and forth and that’s even if they give them to you.. The part problem is definitely annoying.

[@oscarperez5539]

Do you think the industry will collapse?

[@FATALSHOXX]

@@oscarperez5539 I’m honestly not sure, there’s young guys coming into the field but most don’t last long and a lot of the techs nowadays aren’t really open to having a helper/apprentice so I’m not too sure about that..

[@tbas8741]

If you were a Collision Tech and working somewhere like Australia as just a tech you would be getting $130-150 hour + All Benefits on top of that plus also a pension your boss must pay into ONTOP of your wages.

[@andypandy2848]

where? us or au dollars? even au dollars who is paying 150 per hour to panel beaters?

[@tbas8741]

@@andypandy2848 A Normal Mechanic is $120-$140/hour in VIC (Tho more than $80 of that goes directly to Insurance for Mechanics.)

[@bobroberts2371]

From what I understand, Australia tends to list cars with minor damage as " statuary write off " meaning, they can never be on the road again. I tend to think this was left over from the days of domestic car production as a way to protecting a shaky auto industry.

[@kwamisenaadzeoda60]

do you need a devoted apprentice?

[@turboimport95]

I used to be full time mechanic and transitioned over to body tech, I dont do bondo, I do core supports and side posts, frame rails etc and mech work if needs radiator or suspension work done, I make way more more now then i ever did before, but heres the trick, you have to get a salary job no flat rate crap. Try to find a old mom and pop shop and stick with them. Flat rate metal body repairs dont pay what it takes to do. Bondo work does though for some reason its like it overpays, Our bondo guy can do a 20 hour bondo repair in less then a day easily. I cant put a 20 hour engine swap in that fast, just not possible.. We use a lot of salvage quarter panels etc, imagine the shop paying you to do the job, plus half time for removing the junkyard quarter without damaging it etc. That is why they pay salary lol 😂😂 it works for me.

[@kylelinder4623]

They're already preparing for this to happen. More and more cars are being built out of more and more modules that are simply replaced instead of repaired. As the price of doing these jobs rises, we get closer and closer to a throwaway culture for cars. But are the people doing the repairs making all that money? No, it's the big guys at the top-the insurance companies, owners, and so on. Greed is ruining this country.

[@oscarperez5539]

Do you think AI will take over thr collision industry as in self driving cars greatly reducing wrecks and/or actual AI fixing the cars?

[@kylelinder4623]

@oscarperez5539 AI is a continuously improving sentient being driven entirely by logic and not limited by emotions. Low-level artificial intelligences like what we have today are already capable of designing a automotive that surpasses our standards today as is. It's already done it. Artificial general intelligence, like what open AI is attempting to create, is several multitudes more intelligent than what we have today and is capable of improving itself. With that trail of logic, after a few iterations, it is far more likely that an AGI, benevolent or otherwise, will be able to create modes of transportation far more efficient and safer than anything we humans could imagine. Something designed by AGI is as foreign to us as something made in Andromeda would be. Artificial general intelligence will be capable of utterly replacing humanity.

[@oscarperez5539]

@@kylelinder4623 ok, so you think the collision industry will take a massive hit within the next decade cause AGI is coming out in 5 years

[@kylelinder4623]

@oscarperez5539 Not true. I believe every industry that doesn't involve human emotion will take a huge decline when we achieve AGI. However, barring some huge unforseen leap in progress, AGI is not 5 years away. We are just figuring out how to make LLMs or Large Language Models effective in everyday life. All LLMs are is an algorithm that is extremely effective at predicting what the next sequence of words based off a body of text. That is all. We also have AI that is capable of taking sample imagery and video and creating something that looks extremely similar based on a command. AGI takes that to the next level. AGI is borderline or actually sentient. We need to have a better understanding of the human synapse or what sentience actually is in order to be able to create a single program that is intelligent enough to be able to understand and learn everything similar to the way a human would. Just several thousand times faster. It will then be able to learn based on its own findings and discoveries. We aren't even to an AI level comparable to JARVIS from Iron Man. AGI is Vision from Avengers Age of Ultron. We are decades away from developing AGI. We may have AI in the next five years, depending on how society decides to define that, and that will still have a massive impact on all industries.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@rickybyrd660]

@@oscarperez5539 claims have slowed down and big mso's have more shops than they can handle. There's a shortage of good shops not good techs.

[@jackrabbit4383]

I worked 26 years in both independent and dealers I.car combination , body frame , paint. Direct repairshops for all insurance companies, what a scam this man is soo right I quit in 2020 I started in 1972 .I just retired after 24 years driving a 18wheeler coast to coast border to border. I still have thousands of dollars worth of body shop tools in my garage I'll never use again 😊 I'll throw them away just so no one will be tricked into this shitty under paid predatory job market 😅

[@customgarage777]

Its a shame the industry lost you but I completely understand and agree with you, if its to survive it needs a serious overhaul

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@jamesstewart7365]

All true words!

[@jonathonhancock575]

I'm calling it the auto body Apocalypse. You can go do anything else and make better money. Some of the most talented individuals can't make a living doing this good luck.

[@efrainortiz5915]

Can you give me any suggestions?

[@driftsmoke877]

I'm decent but with bad management and lack of hours from insurance companies. It's very hard to justify continuing it at the time. I might have to go back to non college degree work and probably make more money. With less stress and all that.

[@efrainortiz5915]

@@driftsmoke877what were you thinking about reconsidering?

[@driftsmoke877]

@@efrainortiz5915 estimating, welding, warehouse or painting. Anything to get me into a house. Auto body is fine if you're smart and willing to grind it out. Can take up to 10 years to really be worth it.

[@oscarperez5539]

Why is the collision industry so bad this year? I just graduated collisiom program and no one is hiring cause it's so slow all year.. they all said this has never happened before

[@rickymarin2545]

Man I’m 2 years in and I’m trying to go from hourly and commission. The times I get don’t add up .-. I work at a shop were the owner steals hours from us every check

[@paytool]

You need to call him out and contact your labor board in your state and report him. They love to help employees that have been cheated out of pay.

[@jonathonhancock575]

Get out of the business soon as possible. There's never been a future in it

[@RMJTOOLS]

They will still get guys to become body techs. They will have training centers advertise that you can make $200K working 40 hrs week. The schools make money and the body industry can cycle through body guys, rinse and repeat. This happened to me as an aircraft tech in the early ‘80’s.

[@storiedpluto4360]

Its just the system working as it was meant to and the corporations built it through lobbing the government

[@customgarage777]

True

[@emiliorodriguez3418]

Don’t even get started with the preppers now they make peanuts

[@oscarperez5539]

Paint preppers? How much they uuskaly make?

[@danw1089]

Caliber service king etc … worst employers on the planet

[@ojpayneproduction]

Is working for caliber collision that bad?

[@danw1089]

@@ojpayneproduction yes

[@krazzykiller1]

Body work already costs more then cars are worth. Only the insurance companies can afford paint and body work now. How much more you guys trying to make?

[@deadtreebark]

Can't hate on people for running a buisness and trying to get rich or not be poor

[@asdfasdf-rb3oq]

boomer complaining about a system they voted in, just to get caught into it right before retirement. boomer we were here since 2008, get our level or go retire in your single wide. (if the 1600 a month will even pay for that anymore)

[@deadtreebark]

You're dumb😂