Automotive Careers?

[josh220]

I'm thinking about changing my major from criminal justice to something in the automotive area, and will be taking some auto classes next semester to see if I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed installing my lift, HID kit, etc. Besides, I want to learn everything I can so I can do ALL of my own maintenance.

What kind of careers are there in that line of profession? Anything I could aim for that makes good money? For those of you who are already in this line of work, do you have any opinions?

 

[<<<<]

Automotive Enginering or Design would be fun.

 

[blindside]

A friend of mine is in auto design and he enjoys it.. i'm also leaning in getting into automotive.. someone that deals with engine, could be auto mechanic or aircraft

 

[Even Steven]

Believe it or not, you can make a six-figure salary working on cars at a dealership. People may think of mechanics as "grease monkeys" even today, but the truth of the matter is that someone with a specialization (such as electrical system diagnoses & repair) is worth his weight in gold to a dealership. Same thing is true with transmission specialists.

I worked for many years as an auto tech for Toyota and ended up an ASE Master Tech with plenty of Toyota-specific training certifications. I never specialized in anything in particular because I liked to do a little bit of everything, but I do have a good electrical system background and even got into electronics a bit. The only reason I got away from working with my hands was because I went into engineering and then went back to school to get my MBA. Now I'm in a management position, but my mechanical background is considered a huge advantage in my industry.

In the end, just do whatever you LIKE to do and the money will come to you. Any experience you get will most likely help you out tremendously in the future. I can't tell you how many guys I see come out of school with engineering degrees that don't know the first thing about mechanical systems.

 

[mredskins]

Working on cars is a good job for a young guy. Office work in the long run is a better option. I saw plenty guys turning wrenches making good money but their body's were simply breaking down. It is hard work.

 

[Even Steven]

Working on cars is a good job for a young guy. Office work in the long run is a better option. I saw plenty guys turning wrenches making good money but their body's were simply breaking down. It is hard work.

Exactly. That kind of work takes its toll on your body after many years.... A lot of guys end up with bad backs or knees after working on cars for 20+ years. The best bet is to go into management after getting the mechanical experience, but that means a commitment to education.

 

[4rnr4me]

Working on cars is a good job for a young guy. Office work in the long run is a better option. I saw plenty guys turning wrenches making good money but their body's were simply breaking down. It is hard work.

YES! I know some REAL WELL paid mechanics...one is the number 2 mechanic is the USA for porsche, and him and the other guys I know are just in bad physical shape or getting there...

I'm not fond of math or I would be interested in automotive engineering or design...that would be LOADS of fun I think...

Or you could work as a mechanic and work your way up to management like steven said...always a good choice

 

[mredskins]

what was really sad is you see these guys making close to six figures, their lives were depended on that income and their bodies were simply breaking down.

In this industry if you are standing around and their is no work you are not making any money. you only get paid for the jobs you do. So in order to make those six figures you literally need to working that amount of jobs. there is no base pay.

 

[juneau92]

I'm sure it could be a very rewarding job for a younger fellow, just don't do it if you live in Arizona! Man o man, I feel sorry for these guys in the summertime here. It's like 115 degrees outside, and the mechanics are in the hot garages underneath hot cars turning those wrenches. Very tough job from what I can tell. Now Arizona winters would be much nicer!

 

[Falls]

I know some sales people that make six figures . If you follow what your passionate about the $$$ will follow.

 

[toto]

To make big money as a mechanic, you need to work your butt off. A dealership considers you a great mechanic if you can sell 24 hours of labor a day. That means you have to be able to work 3 times faster than the "book time" for a job if you plan to go home at a reasonable hour. The customer gets charged the "book time" no matter how long it really takes, so the faster you can really do the job, the more money for you and the dealer. The "book time" does have some padding in it, but not 3x.

I'll second the comment about doing what you like to do. With work and dedication, the money will come over time.

Here's another thought...
In the western suburbs of Chicago, there is an absolute lack of companies that can install electrical accessories in emergency vehicles (like lights, sirens, radios, and mobile computers). The demand for that service far outweighs the supply of people doing the work, so the few radio places I can think of that do it have a huge backlog. It's insane to have a $700,000+ fire truck sitting around and waiting for radios to be installed, but it happens. If you could do that job well (wiring has its quirks, especially in the quantity I'm talking about in one vehicle) and provide great customer service in the process, then there's an area where you could potentially make lots of money without killing yourself. The places that exist need more people, or you could start your own place.

 

[Thai]

Go into the medical field (any one of them) and then use your automotive interest as your hobby. But, again, i am bias.

 

[Falls]

Believe it or not, you can make a six-figure salary working on cars at a dealership. People may think of mechanics as "grease monkeys" even today, but the truth of the matter is that someone with a specialization (such as electrical system diagnoses & repair) is worth his weight in gold to a dealership. Same thing is true with transmission specialists.

I worked for many years as an auto tech for Toyota and ended up an ASE Master Tech with plenty of Toyota-specific training certifications. I never specialized in anything in particular because I liked to do a little bit of everything, but I do have a good electrical system background and even got into electronics a bit. The only reason I got away from working with my hands was because I went into engineering and then went back to school to get my MBA. Now I'm in a management position, but my mechanical background is considered a huge advantage in my industry.

In the end, just do whatever you LIKE to do and the money will come to you. Any experience you get will most likely help you out tremendously in the future. I can't tell you how many guys I see come out of school with engineering degrees that don't know the first thing about mechanical systems.

Do you still work at a Toyota dealership ? If so in what position ? If you don't want to elaborate here PM me I would be interested in what you have to say. ( if you would be so kind )

My dealer knows my past history being in corp. sales and know that I'm a part time U.S. Marshal service for the next 7 month ( till I get my 7 years in so I have lifetime full paid , full insurance) They are a very quality dealership , and the chiefs always tell me I have an open invitation to come sell for them.

I'm semi retired at 45 y/o and have a passion for cars and trucks , might just do mite someday for fun. I've got a few other business going too , so keeps me busy and on my toes.

 

[ERG2008]

I am only 25 though I have dabbled in my far share of experiences in various parts of the world (mainly Europe) and spent my fair share of time as a traveller (more extensive). I am a firm believer in doing what your heart and desires push you to do.

I took the 5 year plan through college (University of Denver) and think I touched on at least five majors, from photography to business to pre med and so on. In the end I graduated with a degree in International Business. I have been in Spain for the past two year working for a company called IMTBike, we do motorcycle tours and rentals through Europe (motorcycles are a passion of mine) and it is absolutely amazing.

Since I was in high school I have wanted to be in the medical field but always made excuses as to why I wouldn

 

[Even Steven]

Falls,

No, I'm not working for Toyota. I made a move into the corporate world and never looked back again. I'm not putting down the dealership level of the automotive biz....I'm just saying that I needed to go a different route to get where I really wanted to go. Believe me when I say that my experience at Toyota was very important to me...

 

[charlier180]

Making six figures as an auto technician is certainly possibly given the right circumstances.
Earning that kind of money is far from easy and more the exception than the norm.
Problem is, not nearly as many dealership's think their Techs are "worth their weight in Gold".
That is one of the reasons why there is turnover at dealerships.

Walk into the service bays of most auto dealerships today and look for auto techs in their 40s or 50s. How many do you see?
There are not a lot of them there. The physical punnishment that the body of an auto tech suffers each and every day takes it's toll.
That and the ever increasing pace of the work in order to make money just gets to be too much for the vast majority of older techs.

Some ASE Master Techs with MULTIPLE Certifications that I know commonly work on 2 or 3 vehicles at ONE TIME.
That is the only way they can keep their hours up and make good money.
When they do not have enough work or get stuck with difficult warranty jobs they get HOSED financially speaking
(ie they fall behind in hours and lose money).

Good Automotive Techs deserve our respect for a the tough job they do every day.
Auto Techs that do half-assed work because they are more concerned about making money than doing the job right deserve to be drug
face down behind a 4Runner over the sharp rocks in a creek bed.

 

[Falls]

Falls,

No, I'm not working for Toyota. I made a move into the corporate world and never looked back again. I'm not putting down the dealership level of the automotive biz....I'm just saying that I needed to go a different route to get where I really wanted to go. Believe me when I say that my experience at Toyota was very important to me...

It's kind of funny how I did just the opposite , and spent 15 lots of years in corp. field . I have been taking classes in medical field over the last year. I started my own couple of enterprises & work for U.S.M. at this point. Keeps me happy . Sometimes though I get tempted to go into the automotive field , just because of my passion for trucks mainly , but I would want to be in sales , which is tough I know , but I'm in a position where I can have fun with it and not worry about the money or lack of on slow months .

 

[Even Steven]

Making six figures as an auto technician is certainly possibly given the right circumstances.
Earning that kind of money is far from easy and more the exception than the norm.



We had six A techs that were making more than $100K/year in my shop. It's not nearly as hard as you think. If a tech can "beat the book" by an average of 50%, then he will hit the $100K mark by the end of the year.


Problem is, not nearly as many dealership's think their Techs are "worth their weight in Gold".
That is one of the reasons why there is turnover at dealerships.

Dealer turnover is much higher for salesmen than for techs. And the competition between dealerships for good technicians is amazing. Dealerships try to "steal" good techs from other dealerships all the time. This is especially true with BMW, because every dealer's allotment is based in part on the number of Certified BMW Master Techs they employ. In fact, some dealerships require their new techs to sign a two-year contract just for that very reason.



Walk into the service bays of most auto dealerships today and look for auto techs in their 40s or 50s. How many do you see?
There are not a lot of them there. The physical punnishment that the body of an auto tech suffers each and every day takes it's toll.
That and the ever increasing pace of the work in order to make money just gets to be too much for the vast majority of older techs.



That's not the real reason why you don't see many older techs. Sure, it's a physically demanding job, but the reason most older guys leave is because they are not willing to learn the new technology. And if you're not willing to keep learning, you'll quickly become as obsolete yourself. Many of the older guys do not want to go back to school, so they eventually end up on menial jobs and eventually get out of the field completely. It's a real problem and it's very common these days.



Some ASE Master Techs with MULTIPLE Certifications that I know commonly work on 2 or 3 vehicles at ONE TIME.
That is the only way they can keep their hours up and make good money.
When they do not have enough work or get stuck with difficult warranty jobs they get HOSED financially speaking
(ie they fall behind in hours and lose money).



Most shops have one lift per tech, so it is basically impossible to work on more than one vehicle at a time, unless it's a weekend and the next lift is available. Most techs can do a 4 hour (book time) job in 2 hours quite easily, so after 8 hours of work, they can earn 16 hours of pay. Flat rate work can be quite beneficial if you're good at your job.



Good Automotive Techs deserve our respect for a the tough job they do every day.
Auto Techs that do half-assed work because they are more concerned about making money than doing the job right deserve to be drug
face down behind a 4Runner over the sharp rocks in a creek bed.

There is a system of checks and balances when it comes to auto techs. It's called "the comeback"

If a customer "comes back" because there's something wrong with the work done to his/her car, the technician who worked on it will have to fix it again the right way without getting paid for his time. That's how dealerships encourage techs to work fast, but do the job right the first time. It makes no sense to rush through a job to make money, only to lose that money when a customer comes back complaining that something is wrong with the job.

 

[charlier180]

We had six A techs that were making more than $100K/year in my shop. It's not nearly as hard as you think. If a tech can "beat the book" by an average of 50%, then he will hit the $100K mark by the end of the year.

I have no doubt there there are some shops that have $100K techs just like there are many others that do not. When it comes to auto tech compensation the location of a shop and how the shop operates (teams, flat rate, apprentices, etc) can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in how much work there is, how much a tech can "beat the book" and how much a tech takes home. Just out of curiousity, what was the manufacturer that had a dealership with six "A" techs?? How many total techs were in the shop ("A", "B", "C","D")?

Dealer turnover is much higher for salesmen than for techs. And the competition between dealerships for good technicians is amazing. Dealerships try to "steal" good techs from other dealerships all the time. This is especially true with BMW, because every dealer's allotment is based in part on the number of Certified BMW Master Techs they employ. In fact, some dealerships require their new techs to sign a two-year contract just for that very reason.

Agreed, this is another reason why techs move around.
However, if some dealerships truly cared about keeping their techs (and showed them the money) it would not be so easy to steal another dealer's personnel, would it?

That's not the real reason why you don't see many older techs. Sure, it's a physically demanding job, but the reason most older guys leave is because they are not willing to learn the new technology. And if you're not willing to keep learning, you'll quickly become as obsolete yourself. Many of the older guys do not want to go back to school, so they eventually end up on menial jobs and eventually get out of the field completely. It's a real problem and it's very common these days.

I agree that the unwillingness to keep learning did purge a lot of the older techs 10-15 years ago. The ones that hung around and the younger ones that came up through the ranks that are in their late 30s to early 40s that are left are "walking wounded".
Bad shoulders, knees, backs, wrists are just a few of the health problems that will side-line these techs, not their unwillingness to keep learning. BTW, I do see the older Techs still in the business just NOT at the dealerships. They have moved to the indy shops where the pace of work is not as fast which is helping them to continue to work even with their health issues. FYI, these techs are still learning.

Most shops have one lift per tech, so it is basically impossible to work on more than one vehicle at a time, unless it's a weekend and the next lift is available. Most techs can do a 4 hour (book time) job in 2 hours quite easily, so after 8 hours of work, they can earn 16 hours of pay. Flat rate work can be quite beneficial if you're good at your job.

One lift per tech is the norm in most shops. Some of the newer dealer stores being built have more flexible space than before.
Some "A" Techs I know take the end lift position in a shop because they can fit another vehicle next to the one on the lift with enough space to work on both.
Whenever another tech is out sick or on vacation the remaining techs use the open lifts usually based on seniority.

There is a system of checks and balances when it comes to auto techs. It's called "the comeback"

If a customer "comes back" because there's something wrong with the work done to his/her car, the technician who worked on it will have to fix it again the right way without getting paid for his time. That's how dealerships encourage techs to work fast, but do the job right the first time. It makes no sense to rush through a job to make money, only to lose that money when a customer comes back complaining that something is wrong with the job.

Glad you brought up "come backs". You are correct that this is a check & balance. Unfortunately, there are times when a good tech has to clean up the mess another tech made (due to sickness or vacation of the tech that made a mistake). This happens a LOT more often in smaller shops. Then there are times when a "B" tech is given a job that is over their head and when it "comes back" an "A" tech has to clean up the mess. In these cases, shop management is usually to blame but until something is done about it, moral in the shop is low and tension is high.

"Come Backs" can also hose a Tech when the repair done was "recommended" by the manufacturer's tech-line and did not solve the problem. In this case, the Tech did what was recommended but the repair did not work. This can be even a bigger problem if the repair was under warranty and the manufacturer is trying to trim warranty claim costs.

 

[Even Steven]

I have no doubt there there are some shops that have $100K techs just like there are many others that do not. When it comes to auto tech compensation the location of a shop and how the shop operates (teams, flat rate, apprentices, etc) can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in how much work there is, how much a tech can "beat the book" and how much a tech takes home. Just out of curiousity, what was the manufacturer that had a dealership with six "A" techs?? How many total techs were in the shop ("A", "B", "C","D")?



This was at the Toyota dealership that I used to work. Keep in mind that I'm in a high wage area (New York) and shop rates average over $80/hour. Our shop is 14 bays (not including two detail bays) with 6 A techs. The majority of the others were B techs. I believe we had 2 C techs to do most of the tire/brake/oil change jobs.


Agreed, this is another reason why techs move around.
However, if some dealerships truly cared about keeping their techs (and showed them the money) it would not be so easy to steal another dealer's personnel, would it?



The competition for techs can get insane, which is why they can be so highly paid. Sometimes it comes down to a bidding war for a good tech. That's not good for the dealership (or customer), but it's sure a good situation for the tech. I don't think it's so much about caring, but more of a business decision. Management has to walk a fine line between what they pay a tech and what that same tech can give them in return.




I agree that the unwillingness to keep learning did purge a lot of the older techs 10-15 years ago. The ones that hung around and the younger ones that came up through the ranks that are in their late 30s to early 40s that are left are "walking wounded".
Bad shoulders, knees, backs, wrists are just a few of the health problems that will side-line these techs, not their unwillingness to keep learning. BTW, I do see the older Techs still in the business just NOT at the dealerships. They have moved to the indy shops where the pace of work is not as fast which is helping them to continue to work even with their health issues. FYI, these techs are still learning.



Right, and the reason that the older guys are at independent shops is because most of those shops do the majority of work on older vehicles. Working at a dealership means you must commit to continuing education. Look at all these hybrids out now....I've been out of the business long enough that I've never even worked on a hybrid because they really didn't exist at the time. Now, there are guys that are specializing in JUST hybrids at Toyota dealerships. A good friend of mine is one of the most accomplished Prius mechanic in the country. He pretty much spends all day working on Hybrid Toyotas.




One lift per tech is the norm in most shops. Some of the newer dealer stores being built have more flexible space than before.
Some "A" Techs I know take the end lift position in a shop because they can fit another vehicle next to the one on the lift with enough space to work on both.
Whenever another tech is out sick or on vacation the remaining techs use the open lifts usually based on seniority.



That's true in my old shop too, but the only time you would normally see someone doing two jobs at once was on the weekend when the shop has less than half the techs working. I would rather concentrate on one car at a time instead of two at the same time. I only found an advantage in that if I was waiting for parts (very rare) or I had to wait for a car to cool off. That would be nothing but wasted time otherwise.





Glad you brought up "come backs". You are correct that this is a check & balance. Unfortunately, there are times when a good tech has to clean up the mess another tech made (due to sickness or vacation of the tech that made a mistake). This happens a LOT more often in smaller shops. Then there are times when a "B" tech is given a job that is over their head and when it "comes back" an "A" tech has to clean up the mess. In these cases, shop management is usually to blame but until something is done about it, moral in the shop is low and tension is high.



In my old shop, we worked in teams. Each team was led by an A tech and he basically supervised the work of his subordinates, all while doing his own work too. The A tech had a responsibility to ensure that his guys were not performing a job over their heads and would offer a hand or advice whenever needed. The most productive teams were rewarded with bonuses, which helped to motivate the entire shop.



"Come Backs" can also hose a Tech when the repair done was "recommended" by the manufacturer's tech-line and did not solve the problem. In this case, the Tech did what was recommended but the repair did not work. This can be even a bigger problem if the repair was under warranty and the manufacturer is trying to trim warranty claim costs.

That's why I always stressed that my guys need to be diagnosticians. I'd much rather rely on my own talent or the talented guys around me to help diagnose a difficult problem. A tech line is great, but as I'm sure you know, it can be VERY difficult to accurately diagnose a problem over the phone.