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Lol we had the same stuff with the for dealership. Our interface is called “ford sync”. I’m agreeing with all you guys all the customer care’s about is having there blue tooth synced up or making sure that there I pod plays. I’ve said this time and time again as all of you have.
The newer technicians usually only last 1-3 years and then go back to school cause they see how there getting underpaid by working longer hours and getting abused by the flat rate system & conditions they work in. As the Baby Boomer retire in massive quantities and non of the new generations want to be technicians the dealership’s will suffer and put there service department out of business. I’m going to be laughing when this happen because when recall’s & warranty work can’t be done because lack of technicians car sales start to go down.
Lol we had the same stuff with the for dealership. Our interface is called “ford sync”. I’m agreeing with all you guys all the customer care’s about is having there blue tooth synced up or making sure that there I pod plays. I’ve said this time and time again as all of you have.
The newer technicians usually only last 1-3 years and then go back to school cause they see how there getting underpaid by working longer hours and getting abused by the flat rate system & conditions they work in. As the Baby Boomer retire in massive quantities and non of the new generations want to be technicians the dealership’s will suffer and put there service department out of business. I’m going to be laughing when this happen because when recall’s & warranty work can’t be done because lack of technicians car sales start to go down.
[quote=”fordranger” post=39209]well i thought this would be a intresting and stress relieving topic. im not going to lie i feel used by my friends family and girlfriends family espically them 🙁 .they treat their cars like junk then when they break who do they call me? then talk bad about me or the work i do. then the kicker is the people in your family who only talk to you when they need something lovely right? anybody else go threw this?[/quote]
I think many of us feel this way as technicians. I can relate to you because when I first started off in the field I wanted to help everyone that I could. Including family, friends, relatives. I used to do a lot of side work on my own time just to help friends out to save money & charged nothing.
It came to the point were they were used to me doing it and expected me to do it (For free) and that’s were it became the problem and I decided to use the same quote as another member on this forum “You couldn’t pay me enough to work on your car” or used my second favorite quote ” I don’t have the proper special tool for this job”
You need to stand up for yourself just do the work on your girlfriends car & your car. When your friends & her family ask you todo the work you need to say no & bring it to a mechanic especially if there talking crap behind you back & trying to be critic’s about the work you do. It’s funny how it works like you said “They only call when they need a favor” because your story about this is one of my own. You just got to say No and it really is hard to say no sometimes.
It needs to be done though because you’ll get screwed in the end. I’ve had it happen twice to me I try and be a nice guy but even my own friends have screwed me. I really don’t want this to happen to a fellow ETCG member. They’ll ask you todo the work and “Buy” the parts. You’ll finish the work and they will come by and pick up there car and tell them it was (For Example) $100 in parts and let’s say you charge them $50 for labor. They will say “Money is short, I forgot my wallet, I get paid friday” can I pay you then. I was dumb enough to say “Yea thats fine” and to be honest I never got any money to this day and its been over a year. This happen to me when I was working Flat Rate & shop hours were minimum so the $100 dollars that I put down to buy his parts vanished and at that time money was very tight for me.
I hope you don’t take anything personal I just wanted to tell you my story so you don’t end up taking your own money and loosing it.
[quote=”fordranger” post=39209]well i thought this would be a intresting and stress relieving topic. im not going to lie i feel used by my friends family and girlfriends family espically them 🙁 .they treat their cars like junk then when they break who do they call me? then talk bad about me or the work i do. then the kicker is the people in your family who only talk to you when they need something lovely right? anybody else go threw this?[/quote]
I think many of us feel this way as technicians. I can relate to you because when I first started off in the field I wanted to help everyone that I could. Including family, friends, relatives. I used to do a lot of side work on my own time just to help friends out to save money & charged nothing.
It came to the point were they were used to me doing it and expected me to do it (For free) and that’s were it became the problem and I decided to use the same quote as another member on this forum “You couldn’t pay me enough to work on your car” or used my second favorite quote ” I don’t have the proper special tool for this job”
You need to stand up for yourself just do the work on your girlfriends car & your car. When your friends & her family ask you todo the work you need to say no & bring it to a mechanic especially if there talking crap behind you back & trying to be critic’s about the work you do. It’s funny how it works like you said “They only call when they need a favor” because your story about this is one of my own. You just got to say No and it really is hard to say no sometimes.
It needs to be done though because you’ll get screwed in the end. I’ve had it happen twice to me I try and be a nice guy but even my own friends have screwed me. I really don’t want this to happen to a fellow ETCG member. They’ll ask you todo the work and “Buy” the parts. You’ll finish the work and they will come by and pick up there car and tell them it was (For Example) $100 in parts and let’s say you charge them $50 for labor. They will say “Money is short, I forgot my wallet, I get paid friday” can I pay you then. I was dumb enough to say “Yea thats fine” and to be honest I never got any money to this day and its been over a year. This happen to me when I was working Flat Rate & shop hours were minimum so the $100 dollars that I put down to buy his parts vanished and at that time money was very tight for me.
I hope you don’t take anything personal I just wanted to tell you my story so you don’t end up taking your own money and loosing it.
[quote=”canucktech” post=38127]Im truly with you on all of your posts on this topic i work at a Nissan dealer in canada and have read all of your comments pertaining to this you make a great point. I see the same things you do. Flat rate has to be done with. The other day I watched a rookie tech (licensed mind you) ask how to hook a fuel pressure gauge up? REALLY!!!! This clown makes the same wages I do? He brings home the a bigger pay cheque because he avoids the diagnostic, warranty, electrical, trim, RO’s. But he’ll be first up for work when there is a Maint. or brake job coming through the drive thru. The kids coming into this trade have to understand who they work with. When they screw the older (not calling myself old really but I do have the highest seniority)techs those tech aren’t going to help them when they run into problems. I actually laugh when I watch them scratching their heads at a simple problem that I have figured out previously numerous times, yet i will never speak up, I have actually steered them in the wrong direction just for the sheer enjoyment for myself and other more senior techs.[/quote]
Are you serious? ” I’ve actually steered them in the wrong direction just for the sheer enjoyment for myself and other senior technicians” I’m so disappointed & disgusted to hear that from a fellow technician in the industry. Do you not understand by doing that your only screwing yourself? His customer’s are your customer’s by pointing him in the wrong direction only makes it worse for the dealership & makes the customer more angry because it’s taking longer for the repair to be made. Or hence if something breaks because u steered him in the wrong direction.
There’s many more parts that I disagree on in your post like “Laugh when I watch them scratch there heads on an easy problem I have already figured out” Why not help and educate the younger the technician?
“He avoids the diagnostic, warranty, electrical RO’s” no ones avoid’s those RO’s there specifically handed out according to the difficulty thats why we have “A” “B” “C” technicians or the service manager issue’s them according to the skill of the technician.
I mean to be honest i’m a technician and i’m one of the younger ones that has done pretty well at the age of 21. I specialize in electrical & driveability and currently trying to master my way into transmission work now that my side business has slowed down. But it is so disgusting to hear someone that’s a fellow technician talk bad about the “lower level” technicians, because you were one of them at one point.
I
[quote=”canucktech” post=38127]Im truly with you on all of your posts on this topic i work at a Nissan dealer in canada and have read all of your comments pertaining to this you make a great point. I see the same things you do. Flat rate has to be done with. The other day I watched a rookie tech (licensed mind you) ask how to hook a fuel pressure gauge up? REALLY!!!! This clown makes the same wages I do? He brings home the a bigger pay cheque because he avoids the diagnostic, warranty, electrical, trim, RO’s. But he’ll be first up for work when there is a Maint. or brake job coming through the drive thru. The kids coming into this trade have to understand who they work with. When they screw the older (not calling myself old really but I do have the highest seniority)techs those tech aren’t going to help them when they run into problems. I actually laugh when I watch them scratching their heads at a simple problem that I have figured out previously numerous times, yet i will never speak up, I have actually steered them in the wrong direction just for the sheer enjoyment for myself and other more senior techs.[/quote]
Are you serious? ” I’ve actually steered them in the wrong direction just for the sheer enjoyment for myself and other senior technicians” I’m so disappointed & disgusted to hear that from a fellow technician in the industry. Do you not understand by doing that your only screwing yourself? His customer’s are your customer’s by pointing him in the wrong direction only makes it worse for the dealership & makes the customer more angry because it’s taking longer for the repair to be made. Or hence if something breaks because u steered him in the wrong direction.
There’s many more parts that I disagree on in your post like “Laugh when I watch them scratch there heads on an easy problem I have already figured out” Why not help and educate the younger the technician?
“He avoids the diagnostic, warranty, electrical RO’s” no ones avoid’s those RO’s there specifically handed out according to the difficulty thats why we have “A” “B” “C” technicians or the service manager issue’s them according to the skill of the technician.
I mean to be honest i’m a technician and i’m one of the younger ones that has done pretty well at the age of 21. I specialize in electrical & driveability and currently trying to master my way into transmission work now that my side business has slowed down. But it is so disgusting to hear someone that’s a fellow technician talk bad about the “lower level” technicians, because you were one of them at one point.
I
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=37742][quote=”entryleveltechh” post=37432]All us technicians know that are in the field or have recently left the field that this has become a harder career to stay in because of work hours and lessening pay. All I got to say is, there’s a reason why our tool boxes have wheels if you don’t like the dealership life try working at a “Mom & Pop” shop i’m sure you will be a lot happier with hourly pay & possibly more work because your servicing all makes and models (Even though most dealers service all makes and models now a days).
There are also many ways to bump up your pay or “keeping” more of you pay concerning buying tools. Stop buying from the tool truck and having an extra payment each week thats what eats up most technicians they buy over inflated tools. There are many great websites Amazon,ToolTopia,ToolWeb ect that can save a lot of money from rather buying the tools from the tool truck. I personally own a lot of Armstrong USA tools which are awesome (Also to say they have a contract with the military so they are outstanding tools). Also more great tools Gearwrench are awesome.
I’m tired of hearing technicians complain about the field (I used to be one of them) it’s not gonna change so if you don’t like it roll your tool box out the door or become proactive about it. Do side work, make your own youtube repair channel & add google adsense, start your own blog about being a technician and be an affilate marketer, become an automotive teacher and teach what you love, try out “Mom & Pop shop”, Buy & Sell used cars (Flipping Cars), Get into diesel repair, work as a automotive technician for government vehicles, start your own small business and sell automotive tools.
I hope no one takes my post as disrespect i’m not trying to be, but sitting here on this forum and complaining is not helping you in anyway.[/quote]
Your comment is spot on and speaks directly to my point EntryLevelTechh. There is more than one way to make a living in this industry so if you’re not happy find a way to be happy. Just because you’ve been dealt a crap hand doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone. The industry won’t change until we change our attitudes, our outlook, and our approach to the problem. My goal is to at the very least get the conversation started so that we can work toward something positive instead of complaining about how much our paychecks suck because that’s not productive at all.[/quote]
+1 Don’t forget too Service writers & parts guys make pretty good money and they get Heat & A/C lmao =-p
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=37742][quote=”entryleveltechh” post=37432]All us technicians know that are in the field or have recently left the field that this has become a harder career to stay in because of work hours and lessening pay. All I got to say is, there’s a reason why our tool boxes have wheels if you don’t like the dealership life try working at a “Mom & Pop” shop i’m sure you will be a lot happier with hourly pay & possibly more work because your servicing all makes and models (Even though most dealers service all makes and models now a days).
There are also many ways to bump up your pay or “keeping” more of you pay concerning buying tools. Stop buying from the tool truck and having an extra payment each week thats what eats up most technicians they buy over inflated tools. There are many great websites Amazon,ToolTopia,ToolWeb ect that can save a lot of money from rather buying the tools from the tool truck. I personally own a lot of Armstrong USA tools which are awesome (Also to say they have a contract with the military so they are outstanding tools). Also more great tools Gearwrench are awesome.
I’m tired of hearing technicians complain about the field (I used to be one of them) it’s not gonna change so if you don’t like it roll your tool box out the door or become proactive about it. Do side work, make your own youtube repair channel & add google adsense, start your own blog about being a technician and be an affilate marketer, become an automotive teacher and teach what you love, try out “Mom & Pop shop”, Buy & Sell used cars (Flipping Cars), Get into diesel repair, work as a automotive technician for government vehicles, start your own small business and sell automotive tools.
I hope no one takes my post as disrespect i’m not trying to be, but sitting here on this forum and complaining is not helping you in anyway.[/quote]
Your comment is spot on and speaks directly to my point EntryLevelTechh. There is more than one way to make a living in this industry so if you’re not happy find a way to be happy. Just because you’ve been dealt a crap hand doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone. The industry won’t change until we change our attitudes, our outlook, and our approach to the problem. My goal is to at the very least get the conversation started so that we can work toward something positive instead of complaining about how much our paychecks suck because that’s not productive at all.[/quote]
+1 Don’t forget too Service writers & parts guys make pretty good money and they get Heat & A/C lmao =-p
[quote=”jeepguy45″ post=37471]your are right on the money dude…all I see is complaining on here and no other options, I plan on becoming a tech and working in a mom and pop shop and flipping cars, all I see is negative post about dealerships, which is not very motivating. I like your post!!![/quote]
If I was you i’d become a diesel tech working on big 18 wheels & construction equipment thats were the money is now in being a technician, because people who own industrial equipment (CAT Equipment, 18 Wheelers that carry cargo, Construction Equipment) make a living with these items and need them to be fixed ASAP and they normally don’t skip on on any services and say “I’ll just do it next time”. Wether they transfer 1 Million dollars worth of cargo in the 18 wheeler or are working to build the next big million dollar apartment complex.
But as you said flipping cars can be very profitable I did very well doing that this summer. But sadly enough I don’t have a garage for winter so that had to come to a stop.
About tool’s don’t get stuck up like other technicians about only buying Truck Brand tools (snap-on, mac, matco, cornwell ect). Start off with craftsman, armstrong & gearwrench all 3 are great tool brands and I use my tool daily. If you feel like they don’t meet your standards then upgrade to the tool brands. Don’t be one of those new tech’s which i cringe about they come into work the first week and by friday they have over 5k in debt from the tool truck and pay it off every week and at the end there left with a $50 dollar pay check.
I hope you take my advice into thought. I also wish you the best of luck with planning on becoming a technician this is a great forum and you will be able to learn a lot from Eric & other technicians that work in the field or have left there great knowledge here.
[quote=”jeepguy45″ post=37471]your are right on the money dude…all I see is complaining on here and no other options, I plan on becoming a tech and working in a mom and pop shop and flipping cars, all I see is negative post about dealerships, which is not very motivating. I like your post!!![/quote]
If I was you i’d become a diesel tech working on big 18 wheels & construction equipment thats were the money is now in being a technician, because people who own industrial equipment (CAT Equipment, 18 Wheelers that carry cargo, Construction Equipment) make a living with these items and need them to be fixed ASAP and they normally don’t skip on on any services and say “I’ll just do it next time”. Wether they transfer 1 Million dollars worth of cargo in the 18 wheeler or are working to build the next big million dollar apartment complex.
But as you said flipping cars can be very profitable I did very well doing that this summer. But sadly enough I don’t have a garage for winter so that had to come to a stop.
About tool’s don’t get stuck up like other technicians about only buying Truck Brand tools (snap-on, mac, matco, cornwell ect). Start off with craftsman, armstrong & gearwrench all 3 are great tool brands and I use my tool daily. If you feel like they don’t meet your standards then upgrade to the tool brands. Don’t be one of those new tech’s which i cringe about they come into work the first week and by friday they have over 5k in debt from the tool truck and pay it off every week and at the end there left with a $50 dollar pay check.
I hope you take my advice into thought. I also wish you the best of luck with planning on becoming a technician this is a great forum and you will be able to learn a lot from Eric & other technicians that work in the field or have left there great knowledge here.
All us technicians know that are in the field or have recently left the field that this has become a harder career to stay in because of work hours and lessening pay. All I got to say is, there’s a reason why our tool boxes have wheels if you don’t like the dealership life try working at a “Mom & Pop” shop i’m sure you will be a lot happier with hourly pay & possibly more work because your servicing all makes and models (Even though most dealers service all makes and models now a days).
There are also many ways to bump up your pay or “keeping” more of you pay concerning buying tools. Stop buying from the tool truck and having an extra payment each week thats what eats up most technicians they buy over inflated tools. There are many great websites Amazon,ToolTopia,ToolWeb ect that can save a lot of money from rather buying the tools from the tool truck. I personally own a lot of Armstrong USA tools which are awesome (Also to say they have a contract with the military so they are outstanding tools). Also more great tools Gearwrench are awesome.
I’m tired of hearing technicians complain about the field (I used to be one of them) it’s not gonna change so if you don’t like it roll your tool box out the door or become proactive about it. Do side work, make your own youtube repair channel & add google adsense, start your own blog about being a technician and be an affilate marketer, become an automotive teacher and teach what you love, try out “Mom & Pop shop”, Buy & Sell used cars (Flipping Cars), Get into diesel repair, work as a automotive technician for government vehicles, start your own small business and sell automotive tools.
I hope no one takes my post as disrespect i’m not trying to be, but sitting here on this forum and complaining is not helping you in anyway.
All us technicians know that are in the field or have recently left the field that this has become a harder career to stay in because of work hours and lessening pay. All I got to say is, there’s a reason why our tool boxes have wheels if you don’t like the dealership life try working at a “Mom & Pop” shop i’m sure you will be a lot happier with hourly pay & possibly more work because your servicing all makes and models (Even though most dealers service all makes and models now a days).
There are also many ways to bump up your pay or “keeping” more of you pay concerning buying tools. Stop buying from the tool truck and having an extra payment each week thats what eats up most technicians they buy over inflated tools. There are many great websites Amazon,ToolTopia,ToolWeb ect that can save a lot of money from rather buying the tools from the tool truck. I personally own a lot of Armstrong USA tools which are awesome (Also to say they have a contract with the military so they are outstanding tools). Also more great tools Gearwrench are awesome.
I’m tired of hearing technicians complain about the field (I used to be one of them) it’s not gonna change so if you don’t like it roll your tool box out the door or become proactive about it. Do side work, make your own youtube repair channel & add google adsense, start your own blog about being a technician and be an affilate marketer, become an automotive teacher and teach what you love, try out “Mom & Pop shop”, Buy & Sell used cars (Flipping Cars), Get into diesel repair, work as a automotive technician for government vehicles, start your own small business and sell automotive tools.
I hope no one takes my post as disrespect i’m not trying to be, but sitting here on this forum and complaining is not helping you in anyway.
[quote=”Pollo Dustino” post=37289]The factory wiring diagrams aren’t that great either, lately. Have you seen Chrysler’s new abortion of a diagram system? It’s illogical, doesn’t show the entire circuit, and you have to manually tell it to show you important items. Every single technician I know hates the thing, and so do the official Chrysler trainers.
Oh, and they’re correct about seventy percent of the time. There’s still a lot of vehicles out there that the wiring diagram team obviously didn’t read the build data.[/quote]
Well i’ve never worked for chrysler so i’m sorry to hear that the wiring diagrams are not up to par. But i’ve used Ford’s factory wiring diagrams off the PTS website (There technician website) & also General Motors Factory wiring diagrams. Let me tell you there amazing =-)
To SpawnedX: Think positive buddy ya AllData Cost’s a pretty penny and i’m not arguing that but i’m the type of person that would pay for information (AllData)because I enjoy learning and investing in myself. If it’s going to benefit me on a repair or even help me as a technician i’m down. But most of the time I can do it without help. But my favorite part of diagnosing is printing out the wiring diagram & using my highlighter =-0 & I also love when you have a scantool that can take output state control =-0