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Hey everyone! New to the fourms here. I just finished completing all my ASE certifications and now hold masters. I came here to see what y’all guys thought about getting back into the field. I’m 27 years old and love working in the shop. I have had two years experience right out of college working for Mitsubishi dealer. I was 20 back then and didn’t know what I was getting into. I was only turning 20 hrs max a week at $19hr flat rate. With that said I got out and went work in the oil field where the money was easy. I regret getting out of it and have a passion for this an becoming a great tech. All I hear is horror stories and every tech I talk to telling me I’m nuts for trying to get back in it. Give me your opinions. Also trying to get on a Chevrolet/Cadillac dealer in my town and wanting advice on what should I expect just getting back in it and what would be a good starting flat rate pay for someone being ASE master. I know dealers looking for tech’s that are factory trained these days. Advice anyone? Thanks!
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The field is probably the same now as it was when you left.
Some of the big manufacturers don’t look at ASE certs anymore as they prefer to train there own techs.
I would recommend a good independent repair facility to work at rather than the dealer. That way you wont get ‘stuck’ doing warranty work all the time.
I want to be positive for you, I want to tell you to do what you love, because I do love working on cars.
I also want to sleep at night. Working in this industry is getting harder and harder and sucks more and more as each week goes on. It use to be that if you wanted to turn 60 hours all you had to be was motivated and skilled because those hours were there for the taking, but now, most shops don’t get enough hours in to ensure everyone can make at least 40 in their 50 hour work week. Customer’s are getting dumber and cheaper. Sorry customer, but when you make comments like “they never told me I had to change my oil,” you are dumb.
You will find that most people come in for the 19.95 oil change and look at the list of things that are needed on their car and say no to them all, but answer your Craigslist ads for side work (if you do side work like I do). That side work is needed to stay afloat now-a-days. Warranty times are shrinking, the book times are too, now that Mitchell and AllData are figuring out it is easier to just take manufacturer warranty times and add a couple tenths to them, rather than actually determining the real time it takes.
Most places use “rules” that basically equate to you working for free. Tool prices are up, the amount of specialty tools required is high and at the end of the year, if you clear 40K you are doing okay, but if the service write clears under 80K he is doing bad.
My advice, become a service writer.
I understand where you guys are coming from. I really love auto repair and I want to get back into it but I don’t want to starve either. I’m unsure on what to do but I make a really good salary being an engineer on these offshore vessels but it’s just boring to me bc I don’t get to tear into things and its the same thing everyday. Auto repair every day is different. I’m never home. I’m offshore for 6 weeks and home for 3. I’m a big gear head and if I can just make around 50k I would def get back into it knowing I can wake up and do something I love. I guess I’d just have to take a risk and jump back into it. What would y’all do if you were in my shoes? Service writer is def not for me. By the way nice 2nd gen. I had a 97 with the 420A. Built it up with star turbo kit and forged internals. I still miss that car. Wished It had the 4g63 though haha dang MOPAR!
There is also an independent shop in town hiring. They do hourly plus flat rate. Going to check it out when I get home. Also going to see if the dealership will consider me and what they will offer and go from there. My Toyota dealership told me they will contact me when there next tech position opens. Any thought to which dealers would be best to work for? Seems more Chevy’s on the rode means more hrs made but also more techs in the shop. Thanks guys
If I were you there is NO WAY I would go back. And as far as a dealership tech, they are all dyeing
Working at DHL as a fleet mechanic was the best thing I ever did .What I liked was At the end of the day I knew what I was taking home
and there was always over time and man did I clean up :cheer: NO flat rate B/S NO warranty B/S, Plus the benefits was WAY better that any dealership
So If you are hell bent in going back in to it go work as a fleet mechanic, At least you wont be dog tired broke at the end of the week
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