turbodarryl
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- Sep 2, 2004
- Messages
- 103
You hit that nail right on the head QKRNYRS .
Any ASE technicians? Need help!
- Thread starter 1QWIK6
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1987BuickGN
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- Nov 21, 2004
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My experiences have been about the same. Ive been a GM tech for about 7 years, and am looking to abandon ship. Pay just isnt what it use to be. High points pay wise are nice, but doesnt counter the lows by any means. Too many things play with the business. State Fair, Tax time, Holidays, start of school. Friggin CSI, man! The way they monitor the CSI blows my mind. Customers want to bring one in with coolant leaks, oil leaks.....whatever.....and want to wait (waiters..... gesh people, drop em off). Working at a GM dealer, right about 35,000 miles customers get warranty-itis. We cant fix the car because in reality nothing is wrong with it, NPF (no problem found) the line and your CSI takes a beating. Health insurance bites big time at the dealers Ive worked ($190.00 A WEEK FOR FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE). No such thing as a "PAID" sick day. They hire as many techs as they can to compete for a relatively small pool of work, because....... techs generate their own pay. Doesnt cost them anything to have us sit on our azzes if theres nothing else to do. Doctor/mechanic thing, doctors have someone come back, they no/charge the customer????? Not a chance. Car comes back for the same problem, your working on the thing for NADA. Sorry to rant, been one of those days. At least I will have plenty of tools at the house when I find what I want to do when I grow up....... (at 39 years old)............
Want to talk about a thankless job? Try working on boats like what I did for over 12 years and was triple certified. Nothing like making repairs on a despensible comodity. Fortunately I smartened up and took my trade and related it's features into another profession. I worked in a flat rate shop and it's not for the faint of heart. I had to pay for my comebacks so I was very careful. This "no mistakes" setup caused alot of techs to come and go so you had to know the product very well. The day I left that profession was like I was paroled!!!!!!!!!
Getting into wrenching would be like running into a burning building when everybody else is running out
Getting into wrenching would be like running into a burning building when everybody else is running out
Thats right, stay out of the field so I can become even MORE valuable and make MORE money. After all, thats what its coming down to. Its not like I am a moron and cant do anything else, but I get paid pretty good, no I wont get rich, but I have nice things.
Anyway, if yer gonna certify, find out which certs are necessary for your states repair licenses if any. IN NJ you need A6, A8 and L1 to get a DJ DEP repair license to do any emission related repairs, this includes exhaust, and in some instances even oil changes. Anyway, in NJ if you are NOT licensed to do emissions repairs, you CAN be fined. Anyway point of it is, pick your niche, I say driveability diag (my specialty) and get really good at it. Get a job for experience, then keep looking for a shop who could use a DIAG guy. I got lucky and make double what I was making before at this shop. I dont bust my ass that hard (some days I do) and most of my work involves interpreting a scanner, a DVOM and a scope. Once I DIAG, many times, a R&R guy will even do the job so I can diag something else.
I will agree however, doing this for a living has seriuosly hurt whether of not I feel like working on MY car....which I dont.
IN the next few years I think theres gonna be a change, a further seperation from the jerkoffs in the field, to the guys who really know what theyre doing. Shops are going to have to pay for the good guys if they choose to go on. I think there will be money in the biz soon. People are waking up and noticing when their check engine light comes on, its not a simple job to figure out why, and now that in many states a check engine light is an emissions failure, are realizing that it will cost them a good buck to fix. Guys like me will become even MORE valuable once the pre-96 cars dwindle down and its not so easy to troubleshoot a vehicle.
Thats my opinion. If you want to do this for a career, learn everything you can about electronics and how things work. Once you know how thigs WORK, fixing them is simple. And in todays cars, once you know how electronics work, fixing things once you understand how they work is even EASIER.
Anyway, if yer gonna certify, find out which certs are necessary for your states repair licenses if any. IN NJ you need A6, A8 and L1 to get a DJ DEP repair license to do any emission related repairs, this includes exhaust, and in some instances even oil changes. Anyway, in NJ if you are NOT licensed to do emissions repairs, you CAN be fined. Anyway point of it is, pick your niche, I say driveability diag (my specialty) and get really good at it. Get a job for experience, then keep looking for a shop who could use a DIAG guy. I got lucky and make double what I was making before at this shop. I dont bust my ass that hard (some days I do) and most of my work involves interpreting a scanner, a DVOM and a scope. Once I DIAG, many times, a R&R guy will even do the job so I can diag something else.
I will agree however, doing this for a living has seriuosly hurt whether of not I feel like working on MY car....which I dont.
IN the next few years I think theres gonna be a change, a further seperation from the jerkoffs in the field, to the guys who really know what theyre doing. Shops are going to have to pay for the good guys if they choose to go on. I think there will be money in the biz soon. People are waking up and noticing when their check engine light comes on, its not a simple job to figure out why, and now that in many states a check engine light is an emissions failure, are realizing that it will cost them a good buck to fix. Guys like me will become even MORE valuable once the pre-96 cars dwindle down and its not so easy to troubleshoot a vehicle.
Thats my opinion. If you want to do this for a career, learn everything you can about electronics and how things work. Once you know how thigs WORK, fixing them is simple. And in todays cars, once you know how electronics work, fixing things once you understand how they work is even EASIER.
IN the next few years I think theres gonna be a change, a further seperation from the jerkoffs in the field, to the guys who really know what theyre doing. Shops are going to have to pay for the good guys if they choose to go on. I think there will be money in the biz soon. People are waking up and noticing when their check engine light comes on, its not a simple job to figure out why, and now that in many states a check engine light is an emissions failure, are realizing that it will cost them a good buck to fix. Guys like me will become even MORE valuable once the pre-96 cars dwindle down and its not so easy to troubleshoot a vehicle.
Logical thinking Jim but I was hearing that 20 years ago when I got out and 32 years ago when I got in and by your post I'm hearing it today. My belief was do the best that you can and don't worry about things you can't control which is management. If anyone took a "higher than thou" attitude at any of the tech jobs it didn't last long as the door was shown quickly. I did well in my field . I started off as one of the "jerkoff's" but I didn't end as one. I dare say we all began somewhere
