Ideas To Bring In The Next Generation to Auto Repair

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[@bridgetshepherd5202]

As a fledgling mechanic trying to get a job, it’s weird to see the constant complaints about “recruitment” from the industry vets. I have great work ethic, most of my own tools already, and a lot of motivation to make it in this field, but the rare job offers for apprentice mechanics are quickly filled with people who aren’t me. The only way I’ve managed to make progress is by knowing someone who knows someone. The talent is out there if shops were actually willing to take the risk to teach people instead of having every job listing require 5 years experience or a master tech cert.

[@jamesvernon6155]

Go diesel, Peter/volvo have really good apprentice programs usually starting at double with real benefits what the auto industry is offering, or go to CAT/DEERE ……go where the money is….do you want to work for a customer who has 35$ in their bank account or a construction company who has a multi million dollar contract on hold because equipment goes down?….i wish I thought about this 10 years ago when I started in the auto industry….its surprisingly less wear and tear on the body….everything is ment to be lifted with a crane or hoist vs being bent over under a car because your shop has low ceilings

[@Dragon_rls]

I concur. I got out of that dog shit auto repair business in 1997, and have been a diesel mechanic since. I cleared over $114K last year. Many, many double shifts, but the opportunity to knock down that sort of cash was, and is there. Good luck young man 👍

[@jasonkoplen2554]

If you can’t get into marine diesel , heavy equipment , or municipal fleet don’t bother. Cars and light trucks are a dead end career.

[@andygilbert1877]

What these guys said! Less stress, more money doing anything other than cars.

[@zachroberts1988]

Thats how i ended up working on equipment and trucks... Nobody in the auto industry was willing to give me an actual shot at being a technician, just a "lube tech" when i could make double the lube tech pay by going right into heavy equipment repair even having zero experience when i started out!

[@brandenchurch8652]

If the shops started advertising that about these in depth complex systems then they’d have to actually pay us a higher/competitive wage in comparison with other trades.

[@jasonleatherwood2172]

75 k salary for a 8-5 job with a 2500$ year tool allowance every year dealers have people lines out the door

[@PonkyKong]

I won't turn a wrench for less than 100 an hour in my pocket. 75k is like a third.

[@jasonleatherwood2172]

@@PonkyKong lol non dealership shops charge less than that in tennessee

[@PonkyKong]

@jasonleatherwood2172 good. Hopefully the houses and stuff are still affordable. Lowest you could run a single bay here is like 4k a month.

[@emiliog.4432]

Dealerships charge customers $190/hr for service. Techs are only getting $18? Recently took my car in and they couldn’t diagnose the issue. Why do they always say, “could not replicate the problem “? They had my car for 3 weeks! No codes. wtf?

[@chuckmiddaugh7908]

I work at a dealer that charges $200/ hr. I get $30/hr. I drove a certain car 350 miles in 2 weeks. There were no codes, even pending codes. About 5500 miles later it returned with a check engine light and an unhappy owner. My point is these things happen to veteran techs, newbies, dealers, and independents. The honest ones of us want your car fixed, too.

[@eric-tr7gf]

18 for entry level....heck there is a local dealership advertising for a B tech with pay at $22 an hour.....I called my friend who works there as shop foreman and we talked. He said they are totally disconnected from Reality

[@1970chevelle396]

Back in 2008 I applied for a job at a dealership. At that time I had been in the field for 16 years, The service manager said we will pay you $12.50 an hour. I told him off and walked out of there. It should have been 1/3 of the shop labor rate.

[@Jimmy-v8l]

Make techs salary. All the good techs leaving the industry because of the politics and crappy pay from warranty

[@nathank1284]

Business owners also need to stop the mentality of 5-10 yrs experience required. A majority of the shops in my area have that requirement but whine when they dont have anyone to work and blame it on lazy people not wanting to work

[@saucebloks5243]

Its insane to me how i have put thousands into tools and thousands of hours into learning about vehicles, but my cousin with no work experience is getting paid far more working at a fast food joint... What has this industry become. Its a weird time for sure, i just hope this career is worth it for me and that this will only lead to better pay. I love my job, i love tools, working with my hands, i love it all. Its a pain in the rear sometimes, but id rather be working on a car

[@pmpgmc650]

The real $ is in nuts/bolts/grease. Hard to make $ doing diag. The diag is what points to the heavy line work. You make a quick diag and you replace a camshaft or whatever. The diag is 1 hour, the camshaft is 20+ hours. Gotta do it all to make $

[@StrongerThanBigfoot]

Mechanics should be the highest paid trade in my opinion and starting pay should be $25 an hour

[@Themiddleclassmechanic]

SPOT ON with the pay being first thing that needs adjustment. My job at a Diesel fleet hires kids from high school out of the Diesel Tech program from the local tech school. I think the problem is, no matter what narrative they push to get them in the industry, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze still. A mechanic is several trade skills for the price of one (after years of experience/training) AND we buy our own tools.

[@jasonkoplen2554]

They can try to church this industry up anyway they want, but nobody’s going to fall for it anymore. The math don’t lie. Even if you ignore all the better paying less stressful jobs in IT, and just focus on other comparable trades plumbing, hvac, electrical. After you garner 5-10yrs experience in licensed residential housing trades you can get your contractor’s license and have the possibility of grossing $250k+ a yr out of a van with some basic hand/power tools. Versus starting your own shop ($50k - $100k - $300+k debt depending on circumstances) and work yourself to death to gross maybe half of what you would in other trades. I own my shop, and hate it, but I know going to work anywhere else is even more miserable. So there’s the problem, who in there right mind wants to put in the effort to learn a trade when the ladder isn’t worth climbing. Techs have been propping up the auto industry for the last 30yrs , and I’m glad young people aren’t falling for the bs. I wish I didn’t. The only way things are going to change is if techs become more scarce in this over saturated market. These dealerships/shops and the public can cry poverty all they want, but as we all know they have money for everything else they want, but when it comes to fixing their car/truck they’re all broke.

[@BehindTheCounter_TFSO]

It's alarming to hear that young technicians at a large franchise national chain are relying solely on KZbin videos to learn how to perform their tasks. While online resources can be helpful supplements to training, they should not replace comprehensive hands-on instruction and mentorship. It's essential for technicians to receive proper training and guidance to ensure quality work and customer satisfaction. I recently visited a fleet customer, and the manager informed me that one mechanic has been consistently taking Mondays off for the past month and a half. While they would consider letting him go due to this issue, they're facing a shortage and struggling to find suitable replacements. This shortage emphasizes the importance of retaining skilled employees while also highlighting the challenges in finding qualified replacements. I agree with you; technicians' salaries should reflect their skills and expertise. A minimum of $100,000, along with certifications and tool compensation, seems reasonable considering the level of knowledge and investment required to work on today’s modern vehicles.

[@matthewgeniti4235]

Flat rate system isn’t going to cut it all it does is create rushed work. Pay scales are terrible left the gm dealer 10 plus years ago for a municipal fleet. Still go by the dealer for parts guys I worked with are still there earning the same money maybe a dollar or tow raise and the labor times have only gone down.

[@forgedbronco2490]

I work at gm and I make 45 a flag hour, I work 50 hrs a week and average about 60 flag hrs a week. And I’m 23.

[@matthewgeniti4235]

@@forgedbronco2490 that’s about what I was doing at the time back then we had Acadia 3.6 timing chains and racks like crazy and afm lifters. It is good when you are young when I was in my 20s that is what I did learned alot retained alot of knowledge from those days and now in my 30s I still use tricks I learned from there doing cars and trucks on the side that I remember working on when they were new then.

[@PonkyKong]

men don't rush because of integrity.

[@ronijr4918]

​@@forgedbronco2490 not bad for a 23 year old. I'm 24 and almost netted $100k las year. This year I won't even see anything near that. For that reason I'm trying to leave thjs flat rate B.s. Don't forget the constant tools you need to keel buying.

[@CombativeLlama]

I think you've got plenty of new blood ready to go and would love to work in the field even without all of the "this is really an IT industry" talk. You need to train them properly, provide good pay and benefits, and give them a route to retirement. You can get better benefits and pay and lack the damage to your body by working in an office. Pay more and treat them better and you'll have auto techs lining up.

[@dennisgibb7958]

Wrong dude, we need to fix the pay issue, flat rate is crap. Then the schools need to start teaching BASIC diagnostic skills. The computer tells you the SYSTEM to look at, not the real problem. Honesty and transparency is absolutely critical. Nearly every shop I have worked for NEVER told the truth. After 33 years working on EVERYTHING that is an ICE engine, I refuse to work for less than hourly of 30 and there is no way in hell I will ever let someone else tell me how to or when to do my job. That is a big issue in shops.

[@twostroke12v71]

For every hour or so I'm holding a wrench I spend at least that much time behind a computer screen. Between canBUS systems and after-treatment there is always something to do. I maintain a fleet of school buses and make less than a fast food job. Less than 20 the hour in Oregon.

[@joecummings1260]

I'm 62 years old and I was literally in my grandfather's ESSO service station while I was in diapers. My earliest memories are of fetching tools and scraping off gaskets. My thought about it now is screw it, Let society try to function without us, they can all go ride the damned bus for all I care, that is if they can keep the busses running. We are always going to be like Goober from Mayberry or Fonzie from Happy Days to them until they have to do without us

[@kennethharless9696]

Id still rather work on sub 2000's vehicles...and yes my shop starts at 17. 3 dollars added per hour after 100 hrs on the books and previous shop was 15:50..

[@jazzmunkyy]

a big thing im seeing here in canada is people leaving flatrate jobs to go work in salary shops. shops will charge 160 an hour but only pay 34-38 and management will laugh at the notion of guarantee hours or straight time but expect you to sit there idle while no work is coming it. its a joke, everyone makes a salary but the techs and anytime another department is slow its up to the tech to make up for their inefficiency

[@selfworkshop8646]

Plenty of young workers ready to work. Not everybody is gonna be great at tech. You can pay for as much certs as you want, if doesn't matter, they need hands on training.

[@smitty2jones]

One of our apprentices just left because his second job (fast food, but nicer one) paid more per hour, and would give him more hours, and had - all around - better benefits.

[@markm0000]

Auto shops are such a silly place.

[@serbiansfinest]

Very good points but there will always be nuts and bolts hands will get dirty.

[@cjayjayjay2973]

Get rid of flat rate and do what they do for welders and other trades

[@thisisausername1265]

Counter point, I spend more time with a torch than a labscope. And I have 3 labscopes. Just saying, "clean/techy" simply isn't an accurate presentation of the profession. 100% agree on pay.

[@truestep9786]

Yea the industry pays the diag techs good money but want to short change them when it comes to diag time. I made way more money turning and burning than diagnosing.

[@dharley189]

Mike I think we may still be a generation away from what you describe. Advertising still chases looks over tech. When have you ever seen a commercial that described safety features with more than 1/2 a sentence or 2 seconds of video. We’ve seen whole ads devoted to seat belts. How about how cameras use the lines on the road for lane keeping. How about GM “disappearing” trailer operation. I had to look up KZbin video on how it worked. Truth is most people don’t want the technical details. I know us techs do , but most appeal to the appearance and the lifestyle that owning this vehicle depict. Advertisers know what triggers us and use that to their full advantage. Have you seen pharmaceutical tv spots. I think most of us older folks take that stuff to keep us upright. Doubt I’ll ever frolic around like they do. Nothing is gonna fix a 70 yr old body that got used up in 50 yrs of bending over fenders ‼️

[@sonofmontezuma3732]

My godson went to tech school and spent an extra year focusing on BMW. He goes from school straight to dealer spent 7 months there and left discussed. He now does catering and used car sales and doing far way better than a shop tech. The industry is geared to profits to the owners or share holders and pay 1998 flate rate wages

[@keithk1454]

That has been happening for 30 years! I've seen techs come and go all the time and no one ever stops the cycle of hiring more techs than they need or paying them a good starting salary!

[@sonofmontezuma3732]

@@keithk1454 every now and then you will find a good spot where they value experience and retention is #1 but those unfortunately run there course and faded away but for some time things are perfect

[@greymccann6307]

As a young aspiring mechanic I think the absolute best way to get kids into the industry is to make apprenticeships available and reliable. In my situation there is no way I’ll ever afford to go to school for this and based on how things are going my peers are in the same situation. Like when I was straight out of high school I got a job at a shop, the owner was kind of old school so I thought that he would be even more likely to actually teach me the trade but he stopped after 3 months and kept me as the service writer for almost 2 years and I was still making $15 an hour as a 20 year old, this was recent so shit pay, still the only money I spent was on tools so I could do more work on cars if my manager didn’t wanna do a job or I could buy parts for my own car and learn to install them myself with KZbin, nobody wants to teach anyone anymore. And I was a great employee I never did anything displeasing to an employer, I was always on time, I’m a smart kid I just wanted to learn, I shouldn’t have wasted my time but I thought my loyalty would give him some incentive to train me

[@jasontinkham5570]

The pay needs to increase drastically! Flat rate is fine but not without a guarantee. On the technician side, we need to be willing to go to training and strive to learn more about this trade. No the employer that you've worked for three months shouldn't be paying for your ASE certification, you should be investing in your career.

[@willdean9327]

I think there is still money to be made in this industry,it needs some restructuring but most of all it needs people to stop bitching about it and make positive changes!There are some many tool buying resources now, you don’t have to start out with the high dollar tool trucks.Most the problem is complaining inside the industry and it leaking out and tainting the young impressionable people!We always forget flat rate ,in this I mean if you break it down to your average earnings you should see your higher then your actual set dollar amount.If you want to succeed and make a good living in this industry it’s up to you!

[@EXiiLeDxSlaYre]

"What do you mean you cant afford your own tools we pay you 19 a hour" mean while 1 four pack of chicken breast is 17 dollars. My past two shops wont even allow us to work overtime even if we wanted to

[@JeffRobertsFix]

Flat rate was the biggest issue for me. I’d love a shop that had guaranteed hours/pay to make life easier and less unpredictable.

[@barrymccaulkiner7092]

Plus mcdonald's give raises periodically.

[@HAHA.GoodMeme]

starting pay in every industry is trash. Immigration is a big problem. Raise your wages and raise your prices. You cannot operate long term without fresh talent coming in periodically. Young people would work more hours if the pay wasnt trash. Our minimum wage is worth 1/10th of what it was worth for Boomers. Why work hard to climb when the starting point is so trash? I'm not a young person any more but it's obvious why they have different values. They are not rewarded for their efforts. Owners need to know the real inflation rate of the economy and keep their wages and prices up to date.

[@abdul-kabiralegbe5660]

Why don't more techs go their own way?

[@kkovler1]

what automotive repair needs is electronic technicians

[@JOMaMa..]

You tell us

[@biometal770]

For the young guys, barrier to entry is too low. Find a niche where the barrier to entry is high. For a career where it almost takes an engineer level knowledge to be good, the work environment and compensation for a mechanic sucks ass.

[@carlbyington5185]

A good Tech should NEVER make less than $100K per year !!!!!!!!

[@keithk1454]

This industry is dead! Fleet or government is the only way to go! You spend 20-30k for training and tools and get offered 15-17 to start. Even people that no nothing about automotive think that's stupid. The dealer where I work hasn't kept any techs that they hired. They all left after 2 or three months..

[@truestep9786]

Very well said Mike.

[@crcdesign9886]

I couldn’t agree more! I can’t stand people thinking we’re grease monkeys😊

[@CharlesJohnstone-c2n]

i work im automotive because my truck was breaking down. its going pretty good but im tired as hell.

[@frugalprepper]

The problem is you can make far more working on computers, a programer, network engineer, or just a basic IT guy that answers the phone. And guess what, you only have to learn one kind of network, because PC's follow standards. Unlike cars that all do there own thing, talk there own protocols and program with there own software. And you are going to get dirty working on cars. Even if you determine that CAN bus has a shorted wire, you still got to go find it. If they truly want to change the Auto Industry and make it better for everyone, the will have to come up with Standards. On J-Box can program every car, they all use the same software and the same protocols.

[@JOMaMa..]

These comments imply English is now an elective course.

[@leealtmansr.3811]

Sadly, you are speaking about ALL trades.

[@chrisevenson9454]

The industry also needs heavy line techs too. I have worked with alot of younger techs that refuse to get dirty. Heavy line techs a hard to find also.

[@thisisausername1265]

I see ads for heavy-line engine/trans work for ~$20/hour. No kidding people don't want to get dirty for that, neither would I.

[@aleskyfinis1025]

Yes 😮

[@ImmVract]

This is exactly why i switched industries, i used to be an ag tech for a john deere dealer (salary with commission) pay was crap and never improved and the expectations would only rise when my pay never increased. Im now working for a company servicing their own equipment on generators and hvac equipment that they rent out, and im already much happier. Better pay, better benefits, less tool cost, more advancement opportunities, less work. Im 23 btw and am a genz. The auto and other similar industries at this current time is a lose lose situation, not worth it at all imo.

[@fumanpoo4725]

It's frightening how this younger generation swings...

[@JOMaMa..]

The lack of communication thru basic writing skills is telling

[@jasonkoplen2554]

You know it’s more than just some new sensation