Thoughts on UTI

[SpawnedX]

I would like to hear your thoughts on UTI. I personally think it is a complete waste of time and suckers people in. I also think they prey off people who are not cut out for this industry, by making them think anything you learn in a school can make you a master technician.

I have been trying to convince someone away from this path and into a local school, but they don’t seem to believe me when I tell him the things I witness with UTI graduates,

Topic

[Dreamur]

[quote=”SpawnedX” post=32248]I would like to hear your thoughts on UTI. I personally think it is a complete waste of time and suckers people in. I also think they prey off people who are not cut out for this industry, by making them think anything you learn in a school can make you a master technician.

I have been trying to convince someone away from this path and into a local school, but they don’t seem to believe me when I tell him the things I witness with UTI graduates,[/quote]

I couldn’t agree with you much more. UTI is a school that promises alot and well it’s not really meant for everyone. I attended UTI there were alot of immature people there and well it was kind of like high school all over again. As far as the core program of the school not much you can benefit if you go in knowing most of how to’s more paperwork to fill out and they go too much into detail on part etc. as far as their Diesel Program it’s a fair program you’ll get basic knowledge. The best program was Ford Fact alot of electrical and diag . . worth the 7k. well that was the pros and cons worst one of all their promise to get you a job upon graduation ya they really don’t have connections with dealerships or independent shops even if you took their manufacture programs it’s just more money dumped into the company.

PLEASE BE ADVISED 33K IS NOT WORTH SPENDING ON UTI PLEASE CONSIDER A DIFFERENT VOCATIONAL SCHOOL. JUST BECAUSE YOU ATTEND UTI WILL NOT MAKE YOU A PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIAN DEALERSHIPS WONT SEE YOU ANY DIFFERENT TO THE LOT ATTENDANTS.

P.S. THE TOOLS THAT YOU GET AS A GIFT, YEA YOU ACTUALLY PAID FOR THEM IN THE TUITION

FORD CERTIFIED TECH

[SpawnedX]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=36810]It’s hard to say if the cars of yesterday were ‘built better’ if you look at the big picture. Think about it, words like “planned obsolescence” where the topic of the day with those cars. Some would argue that the older vehicles were designed to fail shortly after they were paid off so that the customer would come back and get a new car. After all manufacturers don’t get paid for selling cars that last forever. The new maintenance schedules are a marketing ploy and in a way come from the same place as “planned obsolescence”. The flip side to that is it’s better design and manufacturing practices that have given us a ‘higher build quality’ that allows for these extended warranties, it really is better engineering at the end of the day. A customer buys a car and doesn’t’ have to do ANYTHING to it till the warranty is up, once that warranty is up however they just might have a pile of junk on their hands and be inspired to buy a new car rather than sinking a bunch of money into repairs for their old one. It’s true however that manufacturers seem to be cutting out the service sector of their operations, I think mainly because it’s what the public seems to want. Gone are the days of regular maintenance and now we live in a world of warranty write ups as a result. No one that buys a car these days wants to deal with unexpected repairs they have to pay for and most can’t afford it, the car payments alone can be killer. This leaves the service industry in a real bind in my opinion because on one hand they can’t do without us but on the other they seem to be squeezing every last bit out of us by giving us less to do and less pay to live on. How long will it go on before something breaks? TIme will tell I suppose.[/quote]

Customers seem to think that changing the oil prevents everything.

True quote:

“Why do I need a new wheel bearing? I changed my oil as suggested.”

Still yet, customers believe cars now-a-days are able to run free of maintenance.

Lady who had to replace an engine:

“They never told me when they sold me the car that this was one of the cars that still needed oil changes.”

[EricTheCarGuy]

There have always been and always will be ignorant customers. Think of them as ‘comic relief’.

[fordranger]

i go to a community college and cant be happier:lol: . ive been to uti its garbage, they try to lure you in with the svt f 150 and porsche:sick: . and promises but ask them if their credits can tranfer anywhere mine can at triton. i plan to go to ferris state in big rapids michagin fter my two yrs at triton. i have some of the smartest teachers ive ever metbanana:

[Bluesnut]

Regarding SpawnedX’s comment about the lady who did not know her car needed oil changes, I got involved with a gentleman like that once while working as a shop foreman for a multi-line dealer.

We were extremely busy and this 2 year old, 25k miles Subaru was towed in with a “No Start” complaint. Figuring it might be an iffy problem I took it to keep it off of the regular mechanic’s backs and when hitting the key all I heard was a solid clunk sound.
Inspection showed the oil was filthy but full and the engine was seized up solid.

Once on the rack I removed the drain plug and found the oil would not run out; not even one drop. With the pan removed I found the oil was just like cold tar and (seriously) the oil would not run out of the pan even with the pan turned upside down.
The crankshaft was purple from one end to the other due to oil starvation.
The customer stated that the oil in the car was the original factory oil that came in it and the oil had never been changed. He expected warranty to pay and when I told him no way he went ballistic and sicced corporate Subaru on us.

Of course he did not tell Subaru the part about never changing the oil and Subaru dropped him once I filled them in.
A few weeks later I get called up front and had to talk to a lawyer that this guy had retained. Per the usual, the car owner did not tell the lawyer about failure to change the oil and the lawyer dropped him right after that phone call.

The car owner eventually paid for an engine swap but was still cursing us the entire time.
His logic that it was not his fault was based on one thing: “No one told me I had to change the oil when I bought the car brand new so it’s still your fault”. *Sigh* 🙁

Most customers are good but that handful like this can sure push one to the brink.

[EricTheCarGuy]

With my experiences with those customers I do what I can to keep smiling and being polite till the work is done. Then once they’ve paid I thank them and tell them they can never come back. It’s funny how when you say something like that to someone how much they beg you to change your mind. They just don’t understand that their attitude is the problem.

[Chevypower]

If you get a Urinary Tract Infection, you should see a Dr. before the UTI can get worse. lol

-Sorry, I went to WyoTech.

I saw the same stuff you guys are talking about. Kids who’s mommy and daddy paid for everything. They just want to do drugs and get drunk or go get into a fist fight. They would rather study the University females down the road than study Electronics. And all they care about is putting an exhaust system on their piece of shit trucks.

I did my homework, watched ETCG, never really studied, and I got 1 A, 4 B’s, and a C. I attribute the C to a couple of things. Hydraulics was really hard for me, I kinda screwed off in that class, and it was my last class AFTER deciding I want nothing to do with HD Diesel and last class before graduation. I regret not caring how I did in that class because I graduated with only a 3.0 GPA and could have gotten a higher GPA.

Anyways, now that I have been at 2 different stealerships, I would caution a fellow noob against going to any school. WTF is the point? You spend ungodly ammounts of money that you don’t have, and then you’re fighting for 40 hours. You’re driving the shuttle. You’re vacuuming cars. Washing cars. Sweeping floors. Changing oil. You might get a Serp. belt.

F-it. Don’t go to school. Figure out what you want to be when you grow up while you’re still a kid. Get a job sweeping floors every day after High School. When you graduate HS, you can ask to change oil full-time. Let the shop pay for your education or learn on the job.

$30G plus interest in debt was the biggest mistake of my life.

[Joe]

I start at UTI in Mooresville on January 22nd, for the ones who think it’s a bad decision don’t say anything because it’s my decision, I have a passion for NASCAR racing, and cars in general and how everything on them work and how to repair them. Stock cars happen to be part of what that campus teaches which is what i’m going to be doing at the school. Just like anything you get what you put into it and thats what i plan to do, give everything i got and then some and nothing less. And this part is what gets a lot of people steered down the wrong path is they think upon graduating the school is going to give them a job and when they find out thats not how it works they give the school a bad review/name. they help you prepare for the steps it takes to go get a job. You can do well in school but you have to work hard and put the effort in to getting a job, you have to be worth hiring! No one is going to hand you anything. You all might think i’m wasting my money chasing a dream getting into racing is stupid but it’s not impossible. And even if it doesn’t work out, the school opens up many opportunities else where.

[W00DBar0n]

[quote=”Joemaj939″ post=42140]I start at UTI in Mooresville on January 22nd, for the ones who think it’s a bad decision don’t say anything because it’s my decision, I have a passion for NASCAR racing, and cars in general and how everything on them work and how to repair them. Stock cars happen to be part of what that campus teaches which is what i’m going to be doing at the school. Just like anything you get what you put into it and thats what i plan to do, give everything i got and then some and nothing less. And this part is what gets a lot of people steered down the wrong path is they think upon graduating the school is going to give them a job and when they find out thats not how it works they give the school a bad review/name. they help you prepare for the steps it takes to go get a job. You can do well in school but you have to work hard and put the effort in to getting a job, you have to be worth hiring! No one is going to hand you anything. You all might think i’m wasting my money chasing a dream getting into racing is stupid but it’s not impossible. And even if it doesn’t work out, the school opens up many opportunities else where.[/quote]

This reminded me of when i was in school. Our class was going reviewing our work practicums(voluntary work experiences), and most of the class was talking about how they DIDN’T get jobs out of it(i didn’t either) but how we weren’t going to give up and that it taught us what the field was really like… how its not all rainbows and sunshine like on the TV commercials for trades. Any how, at the part way through one of the younger ids rants about how they treated him like shit and how he thought he deserved the job our instructor interrupted and told us about a phone call he got a few days before. He went on about how a former students from the year before mother called and was ranting about how her son hadn’t found a job, and asked him “aren’t you suppose to find him a job?”
My instructor just laughed at the lady and told her “Maybe it’s because his cover letter sucks and he isn’t handing out any resumes, and no we DO NOT find our students jobs, that’s is part of the earning experiences is to find their own way”

In the end, some of my classmates had it easy getting jobs through the work practicum, and others like my self not as easy, having to hunt and hunt for jobs and ending up 1,700KM’s away from my home.

[Joe]

Exactly! it may not be easy but as long as your willing to do whatever it takes to do what you want to do and not give up it will work out, even if it does mean moving far from home and your okay with it. If someone kicks you down get up n try again! your story about that kids mom is pretty funny though, its ridiculous how a lot of people think about things and expect things to be handed to them

[W00DBar0n]

I got tons like that. I even got a few about the instructors son asking for help and my instructor always answered “You make more then me a year, figure it out your self i am not being paid by the hour”

[jeep72]

I agree Totaly I went To UTI You get what you put into it.And when you get out of school they are not going hand you a job you have to do for yourself. You have to go out hand out resumes fill out apps. if you get knock down you have to get back up.

[hondaguy453]

I just thought I’d add to this since I graduated from UTI and the Ford Fact program in 07. I learned a shit load there and attribute my success to UTI. However, I could have had the same training AND received an AA at a local community college. Not only that, but if you go through an automotive program at a junior college, they require you to work while you go through the program. Also, since going through the program at a JC takes a little longer than UTI, ASE rewards that by using those 2 years as your two years of “in the field” training. So you get your blue seal as soon as you pass your test.

[Chevypower]

As far as ASE goes, I was under the impression that school only counts for 1/2 of the time spent. Meaning a 2 year AA with only 6 months in the Auto program and 18 months doing the bullshit classes, you get 3 months.

I disagree with ASE giving any credit for school time. I always knew that school was totally different from the real world, but how different is shocking.

[Dan]

One of the kids in my program at a Community College is a UTI graduate… He says he’s gotten a lot more out of the program at the CC and regrets not taking this program first… He feels like he wasted 20 or 30 grand when he could have just spent 5 grand for a program that has a great success rate for employment.

[Author]

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