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Toyota of Corvallis

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about 14 hours ago

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Headlight Restoration Magic – See the Difference!
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0:11

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Town Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram

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1 day ago

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Our Team ran a 5k marathon to support a local non profit.
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BR

Bryan Robbins

BR

Bryan Robbins

Educator

What non profit?

1 day ago Like

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What non profit?
Town Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram

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1 day ago

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How often should shops invest in technician training?
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Carr Subaru

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1 day ago

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🎉 Congratulations to Denis Blaga — Our May Tech of the Month! 🎉
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Tom Wood Porsche

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2 days ago

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We’re proud of our porter Chaz and his clear vision for the future! 🚗 As a member of the Class of 2025, Chaz is already setting big goals
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Toyota of Corvallis

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2 days ago

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"Always Feel Like a VIP" – Thank You for the Kind Words! 🌟
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Dan's Auto Centre

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2 days ago

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Not much better than having the shop doors open on a perfect spring day.
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Hot Rod High School

Lake Stevens, WA

2 days ago

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The greatest complement I receive every year is students saying, "If it weren't for auto shop I would drop out."
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Tom Wood Volkswagen Noblesville

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2 days ago

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🔧 Start your engines—and your career!
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Tom Wood Volkswagen Noblesville

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2 days ago

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Would you be important is it to receive information about regular tech training programs or apprenticeships in your place of work?
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Tom Wood Porsche

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2 days ago

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Happy Birthday to our Service Advisor Shane!
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Fields Jaguar Land Rover Jacksonville

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3 days ago

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Fields Land Rover had a Casino Event Celebration for the the Service Department for successfully breaking the service record!!! The top 3 employees each received a $200 gift card.
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Belton High School

Belton, TX

3 days ago

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ASE certs

Our Auto Tech students earned a total of 58 entry level ASE certs this school year!
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Hot Rod High School

Lake Stevens, WA

3 days ago

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Basic Class Lesson of the Day: Tire Inspection
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3:51

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Richland Community College (Automotive Technology)

Decatur, IL

3 days ago

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Finishing up the Year

We are finishing up are Spring semester and have successfully completed out first full year for out EV/Hybrid Courses.
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Russell Wickham

I could write a book. 1. Being required to work for free. I didn't join your business to be a charity for your customers. If you want to offer free filters, free wipers, free inspections, that's your business, but don't expect me to do all this work for free. "We can't charge the customer 6 hours for that" (after chasing down an entire LS network trying to find an intermittent short to ground). That's your business, but I spent 6 hours gutting a car to chase wires, I expect to be paid for the work. 2. Expected to work 45-60 hours a week without being paid overtime. 3. No benefits unless I pay for the entirety out of my pocket. 4. Hard to budget and harder still to buy a house because my income is inconsistent. 5. Incompetent leadership. 13 shops, 3 decent leaders. So, yes, as of July 12 I no longer work for a dealership and the longer I'm out the more sure I am that I never want to go back to that life.

over 1 year ago Like

Dale Techel

Nailed it. I look back and now realize why I was burnt out. We worked week in, week.out 6 day work weeks of 70.hours for decades with zero OT. You basically were working almost 2 weeks worth compared to the normal persons 40.hour week.

Stephen Riehle

Usually after getting chewed out by a customer following a under quoted job. But my goal is to stop wrenching by 50. So I’ve stuck it out this long, I’ll survive 4 more years.

matt George

Definitely. Due to poor management and owners. Increasing cost of tools and need to expand knowledge with little to no training offered and minimal pay increases

Very true. I've been doing this for 38 years. Vehicles are even more complex than they've been yet the aftermarket training has went almost extinct. Very rare classes become available and when they do we get paid nothing to take them, so you work a 10.hoir shift and then are expected to sit in a classroom another 3 hours, getting home at midnight, only to have to get up again at 5am for work. And what did that training pay? A bag of chips, a pop and a slice of pizza.

ROBERT SOLEI

Daily

Mike Jones

35 years in and it’s been a nightmare! Gave it my all, ASE master 6 time recertified and many other certifications that no one ever cared about. I can count on 2 hands the times someone said thanks for fixing their car. I have just scratched out a living while management made a killing. Met some good people but mostly angry vile abusive selfish sojourners in a shop of fools. I’m 5 years from retirement if that will even be there. I don’t have a pot to piss in at this point. My only consolation is knowing I fought the good fight and helped people keep their cars running. Maybe someday that will be appreciated. (edited)

Been doing this 38 years and only a couple more for me and I'm done, can't come soon enough. My body aches from the abuse of these decades doing it and I won't miss it.

Josh Tebben

Oh ya several times. Finally pulled the triger and got out. I still do side jobs but i have never been happier. My stress level has never been lower. Wish i would have done it sooner.

Justin Aeilts

All my buddies are in other trades. They make more with less stress and all the other BS we have to deal with from multiple angles. They get paid well to take their time and do a good job. They get overtime, three day weekends, and their bodies are not entirely beat to hell either. Most of all they only need to know one trade for the most part. Auto techs need to know all the trades- hvac, electrical, mechanical, computers, networking, high voltage...etc. All this with a time clock gun pointed at their head. Auto techs could go into any trade and succeed with limited learning curves. Not the other way around. Yet we make less than most any trade. It's asinine.

Personally, it's paid the bills for decades but after 35 plus years of doing it, I'm burnt out on the stresses that come with it and the lack of pay check security when you get a family, bills etc as you get older. Vehicles are a PITA to be honest working on in today's world and all it takes is one thing to go wrong and it runs your whole week. Got burned last week, had been a while but screwed myself out of a paycheck because nothing went right. No other career can you clock in 50 hours and yet only get paid for 10 of those hours. A person starting a family wants to know what cash he'll.have to support his family. It changing week to week isn't something most people want. I would tell someone going into this career to think it over and go into engineering. Same skill level, maybe less from the knowledge this career requires. Easy on the body, no need to freeze or sweat from working in a shop, better benefits, time off work, hours worked and top pay into the 6 digits. (edited)

Scott Stephen

Always, everyday for the last 10 years...

Matt Weibley

Yes, it is a daily internal and external debate with co-workers. It boils down to being under appreciated (constantly beraded about working longer hours and more days and doing more free inspections or videos), under paid (greedy dealership groups taking 80% or more of labor money produced), under mined (asked for professional technical information, then told that an untrained non-technical manager knows better how to fix a technical/ or mechanical problem) So yeah, are we suprised that most techs don’t even last 5 years and those of us that do get treated bad enough to leave on any day?

Tim Smith

I have always wanted to work on cars since I was younger, too bad I got into it so late in my life.

Dan Encinas

Like what I did!

Christopher Green

Due to a lack of training and support for new equipment

David Carter

I love what I do and the challenge of keeping up-to-date with all the new technologies.

Josh Arnold

Haven't ever considered leaving our industry, for better or for worse I love what I do everyday. The industry has its share of problems see every other comment on this thread. What the industry has done for me is given me a stable job, allowed me to buy at house at 23, allow my wife to stay home with my kid, and allowed me an excuse to buy a ton of tools lol. I want to be part of the change in our industry wether that happens in my time or not.

Alex Johnson

It's crossed my mind. I've got friends that work at Boeing and in warehouse maintenance. All have suggested I go those routes and it's tempting. Far as Boeing, all jobs I'd easily transition to are more than an hours commute. Warehouse maintenance? Potentially better pay to start, but I've got a solid position and with the economy as it is not sure I want to jump around.

john keller

Flat rate, very poor shop management, warranty labor times, poor equipment, poor tooling. Those are the main reasons.

Richard Wakefield

I left the industry to teach. That should say something!

Zach Espinosa

The industry isn’t changing in a way that supports technicians and it is very difficult to make a decent wage in a lot of places. In some instances, technicians are under appreciated to the point that their value seems to be lowered. I’ve had experiences like this at some shops a time or two. Personally, I believe the mindset and value that is given to technicians should be reconsidered carefully. There aren’t many of us coming into the industry and there are more and more of us considering leaving if not acting upon those considerations for reasons such as these and many more reasons I’m sure.

Deleted Account

Yes. My #1 reason is flat rate pay

Tim Pagel

As a tenured Service Manager, it saddens me to hear the comments of so many technicians that hate their job or feel undervalued. I saw the importance of taking care of my technicians early on in my career. They are flat rate, it's my job to keep them paid and keep them happy. I can't make every minute or even every day pure bliss, but I have a lot of control to take care of my guys. I recognize difficult diagnosis and repairs. I have never met a tech who gets excited when they have to diagnose an electrical concern or a random water leak. They are typically not excited because they know that a majority of times, they will get hammered on time. In these situations, I have my techs punch straight time. I get what I can from the customers and pay the rest out of my department, because it's the right thing to do. I chalk it up to training pay. Speaking off training; I always pay for training time. I pay for travel time. I pay for hotels. I pay for food while traveling for training. Let's talk tools. My tech pay for their own tools however, there are certain tools that I buy as "shop tools" because we don't need 10 of them in the shop. Examples are bumper stands, scan tools, NoCo jump packs, articulating saws, chassis ears, etc... The old school of thinking is that this is a lot of money. I beg to differ. It is far more costly to try to find new talent. It is far more expensive to pay to train another person all over again. It is far more expensive to lose business because we are short techs. It is far more expensive to build another trusting relationship. Technicians make huge investments for us every day. We have to be ready and willing to make some investments in our staff. And their right, sometimes it is expensive, but it is worth every single penny invested.

Shop Talk Online Community to Promote Auto & Diesel Careers

Shop talk polls and posts

Share your thoughts on industry topics

Toyota of Corvallis

Town Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram

Bryan Robbins

Bryan Robbins

Town Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram

Carr Subaru

Tom Wood Porsche

Toyota of Corvallis

Dan's Auto Centre

Hot Rod High School

Tom Wood Volkswagen Noblesville

Tom Wood Volkswagen Noblesville

Tom Wood Porsche

Fields Jaguar Land Rover Jacksonville

Belton High School

ASE certs

Hot Rod High School

Richland Community College (Automotive Technology)

Finishing up the Year

Russell Wickham

Dale Techel

Stephen Riehle

matt George

Dale Techel

ROBERT SOLEI

Mike Jones

Dale Techel

Josh Tebben

Justin Aeilts

Dale Techel

Scott Stephen

Matt Weibley

Tim Smith

Dan Encinas

Christopher Green

David Carter

Josh Arnold

Alex Johnson

john keller

Richard Wakefield

Zach Espinosa

Deleted Account

Tim Pagel

Shop Talk
Online Community to Promote Auto & Diesel Careers