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I would like to get some opinions here.. What do you think is better working for an independent shop or at a dealership? And if dealer then what brand? My self I only worked for a dealer once.. Dodge.. it was OK just a bunch of cry babies there. I like independents, only problem is getting training for new stuff..
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I will start of by saying I have never worked for a dealer. From what I have read on here and other forums, you are likely to find a better paying job at an independent shop than a dealer. I applied to a couple dealerships in the past and interviewed at one they wanted to pay me $6/hr, not flatrate, and I had to write my own estimates and if I left something out I had to cover it. I dont think so. Anyway dealerships may have better training opportunities, but I would think it would be brand specific. Your are going to have more warranty work at a dealer that pays less than customer pay. My suggestion would be to find a place that pays well and has decent benefits.
I prefer independent shops. My only dealership experience had competitive pay, good benefits, and was an overall good atmosphere to work in.
At the independents, we got no benefits whatsoever. No vacation time, no sick leave, no paid holidays, no nothing.
Warranty work isn’t that bad, unless that’s where a majority of your work is coming from. I only had a few warranty jobs each week, so it didn’t bother me.
The one thing that i will never do is work at another Franchise Shop(Midas and Canadian Tire). Simply because they do not give a shit about you. Overtime without pay, Service “Managers” that have no idea how a shop should be run, getting yelled at for taking to long and getting paid peanuts.
I only worked at Midas as a lube/light maintenance tech for about 6 weeks, I was fired for making to many mistakes and also because they wanted someone with more experience. I wash fresh out of college with little to no experience, they knew that when they hired me. Maybe if they were willing to give me advice and help me instead of treating me like an idiot i wouldn’t have made mistakes.
Canadian Tire was better but still sucked big time. There were days that I worked 10 hours straight with no breaks because we were so busy at the time. 99% of the time they would overbook us and its always the computers fault, never theirs….
I now work at a small 2 bay independent shop and I have never been happier.
my opinion is go for a independent garage. With it being a Independent garage you get to work on everything. at a dealer shop 98% is that shop vehicle only i.e dodge, ford, honda,mazda etc
Well, I was just thinking about posting a similar thread, so I can’t wait to jump into this one.
I worked at Hyundai for about 45 calendar days (not business days) before I was told to either get on the flat-rate system, or get into the unemployment line. It was a small 8 stall shop with 7 techs, 1 and a half virtually clueless parts people, 1 service advisor, and 1 Service Manager who spent most of his time as the second Advisor.
To be fair, we started out with 2 parts people who were established in the shop when I started. Then the Parts Manager was fired because he was basically an F’n jerk. We spent about 3 1/2 months with only a halfway decent but mean-as-hell parts counter woman. Then they hired on a good parts manager, who inherited a mess and he didn’t know the Hyundai stuff, so it was a learning curve. He was a really good guy, but I still had to deal with the bitch most of the time.
You guys have all seen my posts where I’ve talked about working there, and a few people asked me if it was a shop or a circus…
Anyways, it was a good gig in the sense that the foreman was the “Service Manager behind the scenes” as I called him, and he liked to hire on the really young, inexperienced, but somewhat talented kids and try to train us all up. We would spend most of our time doing LOFs and shit like that, but if you upsold the job, he would usually give you a crack at it. The downside there was that all of the Flat-Rate guys were standing around while I got the gravy work. That made me feel bad like I was taking food out of their mouths.
We were really a close-knit group of guys, kind of like a big family. Everybody was more than happy to help everybody else, and I started to learn how to do stuff. I got a great education in Tech School, but you experienced Technicians all know that there is a difference between school and the real world. I started doing brake jobs almost from day 2, I got good at clock-spring recalls, I was struggling with inner door panel work. Jobs like power window and lock regulators and switches, the occasional handle, etc. I hated the BCM jobs that I did. I got royally owned by a R/R wheel speed sensor that paid 0.8 warranty but took me nearly 11 hours between the work, waiting for someone to help me, waiting for the parts counter, waiting for Techline to answer their damned phones, and waiting on the Advisor.
I was breaking even on oil pan reseals, and got myself destroyed when a V6 valve cover gasket replacement took me way too long. And then nobody told me that I also had to replace the gasket between the 2 halves of the intake manifold, so the customer came back pissed off, and the foreman spent about 3 or 4 hours figuring out how to fix it. I felt really bad and tried to give the guy a bit of cash, but he refused it.
I did a few but less than 10 C/V axles, and I did all sorts of flushes. Light bulbs, belts, the occasional radiator hose, I struggled with tires, Learned how to make some bank with PDIs…
Overall, it wasn’t a bad gig as long as there was work. The problem was the dealership was having growing pains and mysteriously suffered a slow season in the middle of the summer. Even the foreman, a 20 year veteran tech was complaining that he was getting smaller paychecks than he got during the recession of 08-09.I’ve been with a GM shop since July ’12. I was careful during my interview to speak up about my abilities to do basic services, but I was also careful to stress the fact that I am still green. I was hired as the assistant to the used car tech. He is an extremely cool dude and once he saw how green I am, he was extremely patient with me, and never seemed to be too busy to help me. Sure, I might wait 5-10 minutes for him to get away from the task at hand, but he never got pissed off when I would need help mounting all 4 tires, and then couldn’t figure out the balancing machine. He always seemed nearly careless about the fact that I would be struggling with the tire machines, only to have him keep coming back to show me tricks and basically doing all of the work himself, on top of the 2 cars that he had going, dealing with the politics of the business, and calling most of the shots.
After 2 months, he was taking a week long vacation, and told me that the SM wanted me to help out with the LOFs. He told me that he figured it would be just for the week or maybe a bit longer, because the SM didn’t want me working alone and potentially burying myself in work. Plus, he had a lube guy quit without notice, and one going to part-time so that he could also go back to school.
I’m ex-Military, so I don’t really like talking with my superiors if I can avoid it. My Service Manager sometimes reminds me of my old Sergeants, so I just shut up and listen to my orders before giving it my best efforts. Consequently, I haven’t really been able to talk with him about my ambitions. I’m not scared of the guy or anything, I just don’t want to be the guy who asks questions that are above my paycheck, and I don’t want to be the guy who complains.
I have had my share of mistakes on the lube racks, and even though I’ve been mistake free for about 2 1/2 or 3 months, I’m still skating on thin ice. Plus, I accidentally pissed off the dispatcher before I knew that he was my boss. One of those times where the words were supposed to stay in my head, but I started thinking out-loud… Fail. I hate to make excuses, but I went from Hyundais which for the most part are all 4 QTs of the same 5W30, with most of them taking the same oil filter, to being at GM now where I still can’t count how many different engines take how many different filters, and how many QTs. I have a cheat-sheet, but sometimes it’s faster to guess on the low side, check AllData (Faster for me than SI), or grab the filter book.The troubles I am finding with the large dealership, is that even the old guys are saying that it’s less of a dealership, and more of a quick-lube. Somebody always gets the bright idea that this or that customer will be more likely to return if we do a wash & Vac on their car. This one is a major sore spot for me. My thought process is that if the customer brings us a filthy car to fix, and don’t request the free wash and vac, then they obviously don’t give a shit to take care of it. They just want the problem(s) to go away. My philosophy is this: If the customer doesn’t care enough to clean their pig sty, then why should we? There isn’t much room for professional growth, which is multiplied by a pissed off dispatcher, and the SM says he won’t let me do bigger jobs because “We don’t learn on customer’s cars, we learn in GM training classes.” And I’ve got no idea how to earn myself a ticket into those classes.
Lastly, I can’t even buy some constructive criticism. Nobody wants to tell me what my strengths and weaknesses are, so I’ve got no idea what I need to do to improve myself. I know that there has to be a simple solution to my problems. Most of the older techs are cool as hell, and seem to take enough pity in me to answer my questions about how to make it in this gig. I am somewhat admired by one or two of them for my deep passion for cars and my desperate hell-bent desire to fight my way up in the world.
One of these guys is the “Lube Rack Manager” who got the honors bestowed upon him to be our go-to guy. The other guy is the Shop Foreman, Diveability guy, shop go-to man, shop problem solver, and he’s just a general whizz kid. He* at least takes lots of time to give me advice, and he’s in good with the powerful people.Anyways, that’s where I’m at now. Struggling without guidance and direction. Sorry to go WAY off topic, but to bring it back around to the OP in this thread: Take some learning away from my dealership experiences. I get along with nearly everyone in my shop now, and they all seem to like me enough to tolerate my relentless quest for knowledge. But I can’t stand how I seem to get my life effected by the politics of business. I’m just the little guy, you know? I don’t make enough money to have an influence on politics, therefore, I don’t make enough money to be screwed by it. But for now, the pros still outweigh the cons.
Seems to me that Apprenticeships have gone by the wayside. Which my current Foreman has shared lamentations about that lost opportunity. I have heard that some independents will hire an apprentice, but they’re few and far between. Then there’s always that asshole who needs a job and has 10 years of experience, so he scoops up the job. He negotiates higher wages than the mom & pop shops were thinking about giving out, and he walks into the apprenticeship as a Technician, not an apprentice. Thank you very much…
Lately, I’ve been wondering what kind of luck I would have in an Independent shop. Trouble with that is the fact I have already been working for 2 shops within a year’s time. I don’t want to look like a job hopper.
For what it’s worth, I’d say go with what you know. You said you worked for Dodge, maybe those are your strong point. Or maybe your other shops have given you a strong knowledge of Kia. Go to a Kia dealer…
My first professional job was for an independent shop. I then went on to a dealership. Each has their pro’s and con’s, I guess it just depends on what you’re preferences are. The work is pretty much the same, but the capabilities are certainly different. Working for the independent shop ( a contractor with a large fleet of pickups/cars and equipment) I learned how to make do with less, as we couldn’t afford either the right tooling or just didn’t have the time. I worked a lot of hours and certainly learned a lot as well.
Going to the dealership was a whole different experience. The “command” structure is way different, as is the repair process. The capabilities of the dealership I went to were second to none, so much so that we often have do work that our competitors cannot do themselves. The training and ability to move up are also much better. At least in my industry, the pay is usually better as well.
I love where I work, the only thing I would change is my stupid boss, but otherwise all’s good. I do miss the independent shop on occasion though. It was much more personal and I actually knew my boss/company owner personally. Either way, at the very least you’ll have a job that pays in a field of work that you wanted. Good luck!I best mechanic job I had was at a taxi/wheelchair van company. The training was nowhere near as good, but the owner paid a good living wage once I proved my ability and loyalty. The working conditions were less stressful and more flexible. I think I prefer a driver that I know as a customer to a person off the street. I have moved on to doing machine repair at a brewery, but I still work for them when there is a need. (Like vacation coverage or large backlogs) Slightly off topic, but if you can break into machine repair, it is a good job also.
fleet dept will win over a dealership all the time or better yet get into diesel repair thats where the money at 🙂
Stingray,
My second cousin is being trained in diesel mechanics in The Marines right now. He loves it, and is very enthusiastic about learning everything he can. What kind of money is he looking at when he gets out?Stingray,
My second cousin is being trained in diesel mechanics in The Marines right now. He loves it, and is very enthusiastic about learning everything he can. What kind of money is he looking at when he gets out?I’m at the point where I have to decide between a dealership and an independent shop for my apprenticeship. From what i’ve gathered by my instructor, you’ll receive better training at a dealership and most likely make more money (not sure if I agree with this). Also dealerships have benefits whereas independents don’t. However, the straight pay, weekends off, some benefits, and ability to work on all makes and models makes the independent more appealing to me than a dealership, where you may get lost amongst all of the other techs. I had an interview for a place with 30 techs…. not something that I’d be interested in. Would much prefer a place with 5 or 6 solid techs.
for the life of me I don’t know why these instructors keep pushing dealerships
I am 60 years old started out in 1963 had a ASE master tech (don’t mean crap) if you want to make good money go fleet or heavy. duty diesel tech THAT’s were the money is tell your instructor my benefits I got in in fleet at DHL NO
dealership could ever match. plus in the long made a lot more money
To get. any kind. of training at a at a dealership you will have to be there a few years plus you got all of the mickey mouse politics with other techs all trying to beat you out at a dealership
if you go dealership I guarantee with in a year you will burn OUT. seen this way to many times
also a thing to think about is your tools in a dealership you have to keep buying updated tools in fleet you buy a set and your fineWell I went to work for a toyota dealer. I was promised that there was plenty of work to do. The sm that hired me told me I could avg 80-100 hrs a pay period in the man shop or I wanted the used car dept I could get 120-140 hrs. I took the used car dept because I am use to working on everything. Well my first day here I was busy and did like 15 hrs and then the next day nothing. The third day I did 10hrs. I am trying to give this place a chance but seems like we run out of work over here and I just sit around. This week I have 35hrs for 6 days. The next problem is the sm that hired me left 2 days after I started. I think I might be done working for a dealer and am going back to an indendent shop.
Sorry to hear about that man. Best of luck.
I thought about working as a heavy duty diesel mechanic but I love working on cars, and it’s really not about the money for me. I’d rather work in a place where I feel valued and part of a real team as opposed to just being brushed off to the side and left to my own devices. Working in an independent shop, from what i’ve gathered, is much more of an enjoyable atmosphere and I feel like I would learn a lot more there than at a dealership, and there are a few great independent shops where I live.
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