Any ASE technicians? Need help!

[1QWIK6]

I am going back to school to update my automotive skills. I want to take some Automotive courses that will refresh my memory and skills. My end goal is to get ASE certified to help me with employment opportunities/better wages.

If you are ASE certified, what are your top 3 or 4 choices to get ASE certified in?

I was thinking Brakes, Suspension and Electrical. Any others or ???

Thanks
Curt

 

[Nis]

A/C also.

I went through a 2 year auto technician course. Then worked as dealer mechanic for 3 1/2 years. I strongly reccomend you get into another profession! Keep it as a hobby. Mechanics do not get paid enough for what they do. The payscale is a joke, and physical demand is killer on your back, hands and hearing. I'm so glad I got out of it, and now have a job that pays more. I'm sure there other past technicians that agree with me.

 

[1QWIK6]

Thanks for the info. I really don't want to go back to being a full time mechanic. I just want the ASE certs to help in opening more doors/better wages. BTW: What do you do now?

 

[equalizer442]

im ase certified in engine repair, engine performance, brakes and i had the highest ford AAA trouble shooting test score in my region whatch gives me first "dibs" on ford jobs but right now i work for BMW.

im also a senior in high school so that shows you what ASE tests can really do for your career.

 

[BlownZ]

Advanced Engine performance.

Driveability and diagnostics beats changing tie rods.

Scan tools and laptops are the wave of the future.

 

[BlownZ]

Originally posted by equalizer442
im ase certified in engine repair, engine performance, brakes and i had the highest ford AAA trouble shooting test score in my region whatch gives me first "dibs" on ford jobs but right now i work for BMW.

im also a senior in high school so that shows you what ASE tests can really do for your career.

Being a senior in High school how did you satisfy the 2 years of relevant experience requirement?

 

[equalizer442]

Being a senior in High school how did you satisfy the 2 years of relevant experience requirement?

ive been in a technical school for 3 years, i beleve 2 or more add up to equal one year on if i remember correctly and ive been working for bmw for a year.

 

[JP87GN]

Some mechanics do get paid poorly but my brother makes about 75K a year at a Buick Pontiac GMC dealer. Although as suggested I would keep it as a hobby. ask any Tech that been working professionaly for over 10 years in the trade and I'm sure he will tell you he wants out.

 

[equalizer442]

one of the older bmw techs is making over 100k a year but his turn around time for each car is unbelievable, he even works durring his lunches.

starting pay for our dealership before you go flat rate is 660 a week regardless on how many hours you work or cars you repair.

 

[mazdatech78]

F*** fixing cars for a living

If you want to get some ASE's the ones you listed are a good start along w/ engine repair. Im an ASE master tech and all it helped me do was get more money. Being a foreign car tech, the ASE test have almost no stuff that relates to what I fix everyday.

Blown Z. yeah laptops and advanced diag skills are very nice to have. They help me make no money. Almost all advanced diag crap us usually under warranty. And let me tell you how good that pays Funny thing is the gravy/big money jobs are all grunt work. Suspension, brakes and engine work is what I want to see on my rack.

JP87GN. I agree totally w/ your bro. After 8 years I wish I had a time machine to go back and strangle my younger self

equalizer442. Still being in high school, I have only one word of advice. Stay out of this business. Do something else w/ your life. This is a profession of dinosaurs who are too afraid to stand up against the crap we have to put up with working at a dealer. I dont want to tell you how to live your life. I just wish someone would have steered me in another direction when I was your age!
And if you do stay in this field. Either stay w/ BMW or go to Honda or Toyota. That is where the real money is. I wish I stayed working at the Honda dealer

James hondatech78@yahoo.com

 

[NJVetteGuy]

I'm an ASE Master tech with L1. I keep my certs current, but no longer do it for a living. I worked days as a tech to pay bills and put myself through college at night for an Associates degree in Electrical Engineering. Don't fix cars for a living, you'll be miserable in 10 years like I was. When you don't do it for a living, you enjoy working on your own cars a lot more. I would get so disgusted from dealing with incompetent technicans' comebacks that I didn't want to touch my own cars anymore.

 

[gn85]

I hate to jump on the bandwagon here, but I really have to agree with the others who are saying stay out.

I've always liked working on cars and took my ASE certs in four areas, plus I have an A/C cert. After going to school, learning about cars and more importantly about the industry I realized that I wanted to make this a good hobby and not my career. I ended up going back to school and becoming a teacher. Not exactly to careers that go together, but teaching is my other passion. It's a lot easier on your back, hands and hearing. The pay does not have quite the potential, but the money I save on fixing everything myself almost makes up for it.

Occasionally I'll do side jobs for others or help my friends with projects. But I'm a lot happier now having kept this as a hobby. Basically it came down to working on my car. I realized that there would be no way I would work on other peoples cars all day and come home to work on mine as well. I have a friend that is a mechanic and has tons of cars that he has made various plans to restore. So far, not one of them has been fixed to this day.

Good luck.

 

[gn85]

Oh, BTW.

You mentioned electrical as one of your choices. I find this to be a very good field. It seems many techs are mystified by electrical and cars electrical systems are becoming more complex.

I don't know if this is still true, but I know back in the day, electrical troubleshooting and repair didn't go by what the book said for hours. It went by how long it took to repair. Something to think about.

 

[Marc87GN]

I have to disagree with the general statement regarding low pay scales for techs. I went to tech school for a year and graduated from the 4 month Mercedes Benz ELITE Program. The average salary at the MB dealer for techs was in the mid 80s.

I agree that electrical is a must. I have ASE certifications in Electrical, Steering and Suspension & brakes. I would have gone for all of them, but Mercedes Benz doesn't recognize them because their engines and electrical systems are far different than domestic & japanese vehicles.

I also agree about leaving it as a hobby. I have a BBA in Accounting and a few parts of the CPA exam under my belt so I left MB after 2 years and now back in the office doing much better from a financial standpoint. If you wish to stay in the field, I suggest going to one of the Porsche, MB, BMW or Jaguar programs.

 

[85 ttypewh1]

I have 6 or 7 out of the 8 to be master for auto along with a few heavy truck. I attended every class i could in school and even went to college for a 2 year in auto technology, spent 4 yrs as a mechanic in the military then worked seven years for Roush Racing which i have learned alot of good traits. I never worked for a dealer but had freinds that did and they quit because of too much hack work and fighting for the service orders. I gave up being a mech. for a living to work on the fire dept. only been on 2 years but to only work 10 days a month and make 50k a year i have plenty of time and desire now to do mech work on the side. JMO you will probably get burned out working on cars for a living and then working on your own, i know i did. But now i couldnt be happier. If i were you i would get as many certs as you can, work at a shop while going to school or for at least 2-3 years to get the experience then find something else to do and build yourself your own little shop and go frrom there. Right now the ticket is rice cars and customs there are alot of kids out there willing to pay fat cash for work done to their cars.

 

[Nis]

Originally posted by 1QWIK6
Thanks for the info. I really don't want to go back to being a full time mechanic. I just want the ASE certs to help in opening more doors/better wages. BTW: What do you do now?

No problem. From reading the posts, i'm glad to see other people got out of the profession as well. I was making 30K a year, working on teams as well. I was stuck with a gravy tech ( " receives all the good work" ). Constantly fighting for good work, and dealing with my service manager! I had enough and was constantly being told to get out ASAP! So I did, and it's been a year now. I know work for a document destruction company now as a csr( Shredit.com). I'll make close to 40K this year. Then close to 50K next year.

 

[pwrdbypsi]

I agree with all of you,stay away. I have 10 ase cert.[only to get more money]. You work really hard to get a fraction of what the dealer charges the customer. My life is based upon my earnings so I cant get out, stay away while you still can. Good luck.

 

[chevyII]

Master certified and after six years four being runnability/drivabilty work the pay sucked. For the guys saying they make over 50k a year how many hours a week are you working,10 and saturdays? thats what I thought. until the hourly rate is over 100 an hour theres no money in car repair.

 

[turbodarryl]

I'm also an ASE Master Tech, i've worked for Toyota 16 years before i had enough of fighting for decent jobs. Almost everyday i think about what i could have been doing, Keep this skill olny as a hobby or open your own shop as i did and a lot of dealer tech's are doing.

 

[QKRNYRS]

I too am a Master Tech with L1 and work for a Saturn dealer for the past 11 years. I can't agree more to just keep it as a hobby. I am also getting my Bachelor's degree in business. The whole industry is a joke. The way we get paid (flat rate) can be the best at times, but it can be the (and most times is ) worst. You have to fight for every dollar.

Do you know what the difference is between doctors and techs? Techs wash their hands before they go to the bathroom.

While that's funny, it's true. We are expected to know electrical, plumbing, hydraulics, HVAC, engine mechanical etc... our technology is constantly changing. Yet we're like Rodney Dangerfield, we get no respect. Yet, people accept that when you go to a doctor for a problem and he prescribes something and that doesnt take care of it, you have to go back. Then you pay another office visit. To us that's called a comeback!! We are expected to fix it right the first time.. I love to mess with my brother (who is a doctor) and tell him I introduce myself to customers as "technician Hall" Why not?? We're both "professionals" right?

We are the one's screwing the customer's right??? "WE" charge $85/hr right? Noooo, sir, we get paid a meer fraction of that.

Anyway, stay out. go do something else. You'll be much happier in the end...