Those $125/hr (or more) labor charges at the dealership aren’t all just going to the bottom line. dealers are having to pay more and more to recruit and keep qualified techs these days, despite the fact that they can earn $100,000 year after achieving master mechanic status and five years’ experience. But with retirements and a 20% turnover in the field, there’s a constant need for new recruits. Companies like BMW are getting more involved, with aggressive recruitment campaigns and a training facility (picture above).
One of the key issues is that kids aren’t exposed to mechanical activities in their early days, and most high school programs have been shut down. From an article at the NYT:
“There’s less of a mechanical interest and understanding among young people,” said Gary Uyematsu, national technical training manager at BMW of North America, noting that the biggest hurdle in hiring is the difference in basic skills. “They are not hands-on. Mechanics used to start with some gas station experience. Now the experience a person gets working at a gas station is selling slushies.”
BMW offers a 16 week program, without tuition, which places a heavy emphasis on electronic diagnostic skills, as that’s of course increasingly the critical skill set needed to diagnose issues on modern cars. Some 90% of BMW’s program is on electronic systems, which of course every BMW is chock-full of. But those tools need to bu interpreted:
One of the most common misunderstandings about the technician’s job is the role of the computerized repair systems, according to Mr. Uyematsu. “Diagnostic equipment does not tell you what’s wrong,” he said. “It’s just a tool, and a diagnostician needs to interpret the messages.”
For the mechanically-inclined, the potential for good earnings are there, without student loans. The trick is to find enough young people interested and willing to do this work.
This work along with construction is worthless. My child has to learn very important skills like algebra, trigonometry, history, spanish, arts and crafts, English until they graduate. Children these days come home from school and have learned a whole plethora of skills beneficial to them at school. Personally, I loved school. Every day, I use what I learned at school. I spent the first 12 years of my life there since I was 5 years old and it was the most beneficial knowledge I have ever obtained.
If I didn’t want to learn what they had to teach and not go, my parents could go to jail or I could be put into foster care. I loved that and I love it even more these facts for my own 2 year old daughter.
ABSOLUTELY F***K**G RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!! And 100% wrong. American freedom????
Say what?
I agree. Monster.com says “mechanic” is the second worst job there is. I did it for years. Low pay, tool purchase, hot or cold conditions, having to stick to hour standards, which are designed to keep the mechanic balls to the wall all shift. I talk to every guy that wants to get into that, out of it. Some of the best mechanics I know working on Freigbtliner and Kenworth, Cummins, Cat, and Detroit, make no where near hundred grand. My bro in law works at a ware house and made more than me just running around a loading a pallet Jack, when I was working on a major nationwide fleet of Internationals, Freightliners, and Thermo-Kings. And they wonder why no one wants to get into mechanics anymore. No pay, no respect. Tell someone you are a mechanic, and they think you are a twit.
Finding mechanics is very much an issue.
Where I work we have had an ongoing challenge finding mechanics. Our best luck has been tapping into John Deere and other farm implement dealers, seeking people who are willing to have the variety of working on anything from passenger cars to specialty off-road equipment. Our second best source has been grabbing them upon completion of tech school.
The learning curve remains constant with the electronics – six years ago when I had the fleet assignment it was fairly evident who had kept up with the changes in the industry vs. those who had not. While some might blame age for being not as keen on electronics, that wasn’t the case at all.
One particular gentleman was around 35 and I promoted him to a supervisor. He was reluctant to take the job as he wouldn’t be turning wrenches the way he had been, leading to his concern that his obvious edge in knowledge and diagnostics might wither.
Another difference I have noticed, and I’m making somewhat of a generalization here, is that we have been finding more candidates from rural areas, especially with those whose families own farms of some variety. In our urban areas, we can find people, but in disproportionately low numbers. Hopefully, that’s just my experience but no doubt the elimination of auto mechanics has played a role simply because of exposure.
This is a very real situation. I’m happy to see there is financial incentive to this degree.
Could rural depopulation be an angle on this? Here at work we always say that farm kids make the best engineers and tradespeople, because they learn repair and diagnostics from a young age. I myself am a semi-farm kid at best…
Around here, rural areas are starting to make a comeback as more and more workers are able to telecommute.
At least, that’s the case in the naturally desirable rural areas. Dominantly agricultural areas still struggle.
I got my 1st NIASE certifications as a mechanic for a small town Wisconsin Ford dealer while still in high school. Always enjoyed the work. Ford was very good about providing training and our dealer was very supportive of these early certain certification programs. At the time, it was considered “cool” to have mechanical knowledge and there was no shortage of young guys trying to get started in the field. Not so many of us stayed with it though. The pay wasn’t great and those of us with good skills were a fertile recruiting ground for mechanical positions in a variety of industries. When electronics stuff replaced mechanical stuff as the leading edge of technology, I think interest in auto mechanics waned. Mechanics were transformed into “parts changers” – a term of scorn when I learned the craft.
Seeing 6 figure pay is encouraging, but I still doubt it will be enough to restore the attractiveness of the job to young people. I needed a paycheck when I did this – as did everyone. But the guys I remember working with also had a real love for the machines and their mechanical skills projected a certain image of competent self reliance to which many young men aspire.
Pay helps, but you also need the pride of workmanship that only comes when people with skills are recognized and held in high regard by the people whose machines they keep operational. Attitudes are harder to change than pay.
One last memory – I started learning by cleaning parts for other mechanics. After cleaning the oil pan on a Buick 215, I took it to the senior mechanic giving it a ring job. I expected praise for getting every last bit of gasket scraped. The inside was shiney clean. Senior noticed the outside bottom surface still had some crud on it. He told me to clean it. I replied, “What difference does it make? It will just get dirty again. No one will even know it was ever cleaned.” Senior replied, “I’ll know. I don’t do sloppy work. If you do, you’re in the wrong shop.”
If BMW can restore that level of pride in workmanship, they’ll have done something really good for their brand and for the repair industry in general. I wish ’em luck.
Thanx Rob ;
You nailed it ~
I hate shoddy/sloppy works and was always seeing it done at every shop I ever worked at, including my own when my partner hired worthless boobs, a few of whom were my buddies I certainly didn’t want to work with .
I love the job and would do it sans pay ’cause that’s who and what I am .
-Nate
I wonder if the turnover is so high because of how frustrating modern vehicles are to work on. Or if it’s always just been that way due to the physical and dirty nature of the work.
Many trade environments are amazingly clean, organized and well run. When I worked for a major regional bank, I once toured the mechanical area of our newly built data center, and the management there was extremely proud of the well lit, clean, climate controlled, and organized systems that that kept our headquarters humming.
Much is the same at the nearby Ford and CJDR dealers where I trade. The work areas are immaculate, and really quite impressive. I get the impression they wash the very dirty cars before they work on them because you rarely see a dirty vehicle in the massive service bays. They are fully climate controlled, but they do open up all the doors in nice weather.
I would think the reason has to do with how difficult it is to work on the modern vehicles. When I acquired my first car, which was a 1971 Alfa Romeo 1750A Berlina, it was one of the easiest I’ve worked on. Of course, the technology was simpler back then and the automotive emission and safety regulations were starting to come into the major role.
As I progressed to the newer and newer cars, I found them more frustrating to work with. When my 1982 Buick Skylark with 2.8-litre V6 motor had a fuel leak and caught fire in the engine bay, it took me a several weeks to replicate all of grey spaghetti tubes used for emission control system. The repair books didn’t outline the spaghetti dish so I had to scout for the same model and engine at the sales centre forecourt and made the detailled notes on which points to connect and so forth.
My father had mostly given up on his 2002 Mercedes-Benz E280 when the components failed. It wasn’t the cost of parts but the high labour cost that drove him away from the repair centres. He continued to drive his E280 with several failed components or disabled functions. I spent lot of time researching on repairs and sourcing the elusive parts. Something so simple as replacing the washers in the HVAC switchbox took me several hours.
More labour-intensive they are, more likely they would make mistake in the process and screw up the outcome. And those technicians might not be willing to take the heat for that.
Just saying…
You read articles like then, then go to the daily newspaper with their unending articles about how an entire generation is graduating from college and having a difficult time in finding jobs, and deeply in debt . . . . . and you wonder about the disconnect between the two.
Have we really raised a society that considers it so beneath them to take any form of employment where one gets one’s hands dirty, no matter what the security and rewards it promises?
I look back at my youth as a great lost promise, because, due to my social standing (very upper middle class) and national situation (Vietnam), I ended up in college which is where I had no interest whatsoever in going. My father was always disappointed that I wasn’t interested in following him into the car dealership, the problem being that I was interested (service department), but not where he wanted me to be (sales).
College to me was a joke: Stay out of the draft, stay away from home, get high, get laid, oh yeah, do enough studying to stay in (and I almost blew that). Ended up with two degrees that have been pretty much useless, and the two skills I’ve had that did support me for the last thirty years have both been essentially self taught.
And today the little snowflakes won’t get their hands dirty. Their loss.
The point you seemingly fail to recognize is that much of the ‘go to college at all cost’ mentality was propagated by middle-class blue collar households who didn’t want their kids working the same physically punishing jobs they had to endure for decades on end.
I grew up in one such family – my father worked construction at the utility company for many years. This was a union job so he earned a good living, but it came at a price. The jackhammer made him hard of hearing, and also destroyed some nerves in his right arm. Fortunately he transitioned to a less physical career before this work took a crucial toll on his health. But he never wanted my siblings and I to do anything remotely similar, not that he really had to work hard to discourage us. Seeing all the accumulated sweat, dirt and grime caked on his skin after a hot summer day was disincentive enough!
While your family may have looked down upon blue collar work as being beneath your social station, my household looked down on these jobs simply because they were viewed as an inferior method of earning a middle-class living. It doesn’t require a college degree to determine that using one’s mind as a tool instead of their body is ultimately less hazardous to one’s health!
Yes, there are plenty of degrees, mainly in the humanities, that won’t lead to a middle-class lifestyle – I have a Master in Historic Preservation so I know this all too well. But again, most highly lucrative careers, business, engineering and the like, require advanced college degrees.
And while we’re on the topic of the humanities, those oft-maligned liberal arts degrees deserve more credit then people readily give them. The humanities are essential component in training people to think critically and logically. None of these values are receiving the emphasis they deserve in higher education – and as we can see, we’re all suffering the consequences.
Amen!
Thank you!
Time and time again my father would tell me “Go to college so you don’t have to work a job like I do”. Time and time again.
After my first year of college, I wanted to take a year off to figure some things out, and get a FT job at a machining shop. He forbade it and made me stay in school. Note: he didn’t pay a dime of my schooling, I paid it all myself.
Fast forward 10 years and the economy tanks, I hold on for dear life, and he has the gall to point out the going rate for blue-collar jobs and that “MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE GONE TO COLLEGE!” when I was giving my reasoning for not being able to afford a brand-new house.
Syke and the rest of the entitled boomers are just getting old. Is he basically saying he was avoiding the draft because Daddy could afford school for him, all the while calling others “snowflakes”?! Did I interpret that correctly? If not, I apologize!
You interpreted it correctly. Unfortunately. You busted Syke, which is not all that hard, I’m afraid.
Ok! Each time, I swear I’m going to steer clear of adding to online comments but I never quite make it. Your article wasn’t even ‘political’ but the comments sort of turned into it quickly. No wonder you don’t like politics here—eww!!!!!!!!
Amen David B., I’m in the exact same boat, it sucks.
That’s putting it nicely!
You are right, despite assumptions and popular opinion, even liberal-arts degrees pay off.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/good-news-liberal-arts-majors-your-peers-probably-wont-outearn-you-forever-1473645902
A degree alone is not a guarantee of success of course. But it certainly opens doors that are otherwise closed.
I am fortunate to have my kids in literally the top performing public schools in our state. I believe our high school also out performs most statistics from our top private schools, however, we don’t have much in the way of private schools outside of a robust and competitive parochial (Catholic) school system.
While the schools have been a good fit for my kids (so far), and it is nice to hear all the wonderful accomplishments of many of the students, EVERYTHING at both the public and parochial schools is oriented toward an aggressive college preparatory program. The idea of trades barely exists. While the demographics in the area skew professional, there are kids that do not fit well in our current system, and really need to know that there are respectable and remunerative opportunities in trades such as this.
While I love our schools, I find the egghead mentality a bit frustrating.
One of the most damaging instances of mass MM is that of…gotta go to college. Gotta Go To College! GOTTA GO TO COLLEGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And if you DON’T (shudder)…YOU ARE a SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN!
Can we talk about bullying? As in, mass societal psychological bullying of anyone who doesn’t fit-in or worse, dares challenge the orthodoxy? (Wife and I have been watching “13 Reasons Why” so maybe I’m a little sensitive in terms of the bullying angle…)
And doesn’t it dovetail right into the OEMs’ and dealers’ desire that all work on your car shall be performed at the dealer?
So the result is a perfect storm of two disparate factors: 1) the “use your brain, not your hands” go to college crowd and 2) the “bring it to us at the dealership” crowd, unknowingly, unwittingly creating a situation where trained, skilled mechanics are desperately needed but high-paying positions go unfilled due to lack of interest.
And the situation, as most CC’ers know, extends to welders, carpenters, plumbers. All the skilled trades seem to go wanting while people fight to go to college with nary a promise of work after graduation for many majors.
IDK how American society ratchets this back. Make every high-schooler watch a few hours of DIY. Or maybe we can clone Mike Rowe, or Nicole Curtis. LOL…
But seriously, unless and until our “betters” (insert eyeroll here!) stop preaching college as somehow superior to the skilled trades, we’re gonna continue to have a problem.
My 2 cents. It has seemed to me that our educational system has been pushing kids in the direction of college. And there is nothing wrong with that. But the unintended consequence has been (just a theory, mind you) that bright kids go to college and the trades are left with the less educationally inclined. We end up with the college kids being “too good for this” while the others are not very well qualified.
The problem is that the modern mechanic needs more than the average amount of smarts to be good at it because modern diagnostics is about logic and reasoning as much as it is about the ability to twist wrenches. FWIW, I keep hearing this same problem in the other skilled trades like machinists.
[edit – oops, I see that some others had this same idea as I was typing this.]
Well, considering that this year I’m taking the plunge and going to the UTI campus near Phoenix Arizona to study for my degree and then take the GM course to guarantee me more skills. I would say, that yes, there are young people interested in doing mechanical work.
I’ve been fed the steady stream of BS that’s been slopped to my generation about how “if you refuse to go to college, you’re a filthy dumb hick with no sense of future.” Considering that I’ve dropped out of culinary school, spent a year employed at my current job, and am planning on going out of state to study, I’d say that me not going to college worked out. Sort of. College isn’t for everybody, and anyone who tells you that you must go to college is someone who thinks manual labor is beneath them.
Besides, I didn’t want to become another one of those college people. The people who believe that going to college makes them smarter and more superior to everyone else, despite the fact that their degree and student loan debts mean they’re unable to take something above a minimum wage job. To me, a college degree is a piece of paper that says you haven’t been sent to prison and that you can follow exact orders efficiently and quietly and to the letter.
Plus, knowing my political views and personal philosophies conflict heavily with what is the norm at most college campuses, I would last about a week before I dropped out.
Bottom line: I am interested in taking a mechanic/auto tech position and am going to school to make it happen, because I like cars, I’m unafraid of getting my hands dirty, and I would rather avoid college like the plague.
“Besides, I didn’t want to become another one of those college people. The people who believe that going to college makes them smarter and more superior to everyone else, despite the fact that their degree and student loan debts mean they’re unable to take something above a minimum wage job. To me, a college degree is a piece of paper that says you haven’t been sent to prison and that you can follow exact orders efficiently and quietly and to the letter.”
Beautifully and eloquently said.
Now can someone start posting this thought on high visibility billboards all over the country? And hopefully it would make someone think about their future?
Syke, your experiences of 40 years ago do not apply to the young people of today. Your view of the world is one of tangibles, while theirs is of intangibles.
Every study I have ever examined show conclusively that a university education will lead to a higher income.
The idea that university grads are all begging for change is nonsense. My wife is currently in her fourth year of Commerce. She already has a job arranged upon her graduation. The companies recruit right in her department. The jobs-good paying jobs-are never advertised. We are at basically full employment. My students are immediately employed upon their graduation.
But I am sure Fox News can find a loser with a degree working for peanuts.
I am a multi-degree holder. There is no way I will ever take a huge pay cut to go wrench on cars again.
Joseph, perhaps if you had finished your studies, you might have met more success. I have been continually employed, by the way, since age 12.
Yes, the average wages of grads are higher than non grads. But that’s too simplistic of a picture. Some professions (think Wall St.) pay extremely well, which skews the average upwards.
The real issue is that each individual needs to (hopefully) make the decision as to whether college is right for them. Unfortunately, way too many kids have fallen for the marketing/push, go to school but never finish, the graduation rate, especially at for-profit schools, is way too low, and then kids are saddled with huge debt and not even a degree.
There should be much more counseling, but the educational-industrial complex is a hungry monster, and sees no interest in helping kids decide whether school (or a certain program) is the best fit for them.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all issue.
“One of those..Smarter..more superior” + “Beautiful..eloquent” = insecurities abound
Well said. This is something I’ve given a lot of thought to recently (due to my kids’ struggles with our public school system), and I wonder if the “must go to college” mentality has peaked – or will imminently peak.
I’m 44, and neither of my parents went to college, yet they ABSOLUTELY expected me to do so… it was the ideal of working for a better life. Yet, in the intervening two decades, a lot has changed, and I wouldn’t at all be upset if my children choose NOT to attend a four-year college.
Higher education costs are exorbitant, actual learning seems to take a back seat to providing students with a “college experience,” and oftentimes the prevailing campus political ideology is stifling.
Sometimes it seems like colleges are making themselves irrelevant, but an ever-increasing collection of jobs now require a college degree, which makes skipping college a risky proposition for many people. So people feel compelled to pay those rates and put in the time. But I hope that more employers will recognize in the coming years that a college degree has become little more than a validation of an upper-middle class upbringing, and that prospective employees can gain more valuable life skills in other endeavors.
OK… I’ll get off my soapbox now… this is just something that’s been gnawing at me for quite some time.
You raise some good points. It does seem as though the basic college degree has become the equivalent of the high school diploma that my parents generation got in the early 1950s – that “ticket for entry” into the world of decent adult employment. Only now that college diploma comes at a huge cost. My parents did not spend years paying off loans incurred for a high school education, but that has become the norm for kids coming out of college. When I was young, I knew several adults (children of the Depression era) who rose into pretty significant jobs with no more than a high school diploma. That seldom happened among my later baby boom generation and happens even more rarely today.
My sister has a Masters that she’s still paying off… and she’s going to be 46 this year…
College is expensive. But I’m paying almost as much for daycare per child as what I would be paying for college at the local state schools.
I completely agree. I struggled bad in public school, due heavily in part to the curriculum geared towards college prep and the almighty SATs. I barely could crack C+s applying myself, and I’m talking 6 hours of homework a night studying for tests until bed applying myself, what more could I do? I still got bad grades. Students were encouraged to come up with their major as early as middle school. There was a pride in elder family members touting us as the “first generation of the family going to college”, yeah that wasn’t too much pressure on top of the prospect of not getting in because of GPA SAT, having to go deep into debt, and real possibility of possibly failing/dropping out.
I think the downfall of the College system is inevitable, and for the exact same reason a great many other institutions have crumbled. The internet. Drop the sacred power of the six-figure piece of paper and it comes down to individual knowledge, skills and personality, which increasingly can be obtained elsewhere for far less money.
Unfortunately the college degree is becoming required for more and more jobs, no degree and they won’t even consider you. It has become so bad my wife’s employer actual fired people who didn’t have degrees who had been doing their job for 20 or more years in some cases.
Joe,
You’re absolutely right about Baby Boomers/older generations being grossly negligent when telling their offspring that college is the only way to succeed, but if you recognize the fallacy in adults stereotyping people in the trades, then go about doing they very same thing in regards to people who went on to college, your argument loses all value. There was no need for you to do that.
“Plus, knowing my political views and personal philosophies conflict heavily with what is the norm at most college campuses, I would last about a week before I dropped out.”
I went to school with many Republicans and they were not ostracized or segregated socially from the rest of the campus population. Perhaps you’re getting your impression of college from certain sources that have an incentive to bash secondary education. I can assure you that college life is far more accepting than what you’ve been led to believe.
I’m glad that you’re self aware enough to realize college isn’t for you, because you really do need to go into it with an open mind and a willingness to have your pre-conceived notions challenged. That’s not the case for all majors, obviously, just mainly the ones in the humanities.
Realizing college isn’t for you when you’re already halfway through it could be financially devastating and you’re clearly making the best decision for yourself, so kudos to you. But a lot of decent people went to college to better themselves and the vast majority are not like what you described.
I appreciate you pointing out the hypocrisies in my argument to me. Considering how I tend to rail against people for blatantly exposing and indulging in cognitive dissonance all the time, I really didn’t grasp that I was partaking in that behavior myself. I don’t claim to be infallible, but, it’s hard for me to break out of my preconceived notions sometimes. I am human after all.
Also, I’m a Libertarian, AKA, the party that gets hated on by both sides.
I should preface all of this by saying that I didn’t go to college, I went and took a culinary program at what was an art school posing itself like a college. That was only for two semesters though, as I realized that in my second semester when I was getting classes that were pushing me towards stuff that I couldn’t grasp or was comfortable with. Essentially, the school was conditioning me to become an executive chef with my own restaurant as quickly as possible, and I realized that it was no different than the pressure to get a four year degree. At that point, I finished my second semester and dropped out, because I realized that I was never cut out for the restaurant industry.
It’s hard to get a grasp of what you want to do, especially in high school, I’ve known people I went to high school with who’ve told me about changing degrees and the extra workload that is pushed on them when they make the switch. I just think it’s sort of arrogant to presume that a kid who graduates high school truly knows what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I thought I did, and reality gave me a bat to the face to show me otherwise.
Agree with everything you posted 100%, and I see a lot of myself in your post. I too would not have fit well in college as I’m a stubborn “free thinker” and tend to be a bit argumentative. I question EVERYTHING. The left, the right, I don’t care, I’m an equal opportunity offender 🙂 .
“I question EVERYTHING.”
That’s kind of the point of getting a well-rounded education (liberal arts). You would not have fit in because you already determined so. Got a problem with Republicans? Debate them in the Business department. Don’t like Democrats? Get ’em in the Sociology department. Don’t blame your not getting an education on the colleges and those who attended.
we have community colleges in southern california that have programs sponsored by companies like toyota (T-Ten) and mercedes that im sure are much cheaper than UTI… isnt there anything like that where you are?
i might be wrong, but for-profit vo-tech schools always seem to charge more for a mediocre education… and those are the ones that arent just plain shady.
Here in Houston we see lots of Hispanics entering the trade. Many are young but all ages are represented. My data sample is pretty small but the guys I know about are very dedicated, hard working, and plenty competent. My guess is that for many a mechanics job is the best available and they are darn well going to succeed.
My sympathies are with the modern technicians. I have great respect for people in the field. Automotive service is brutal and unappealing for many reasons.
Tremendous product complexity and variety, ever-changing designs, difficulty in accessing serviceable parts, uncomfortable working conditions, flat-rate pay, high cost for entry, lack of worker representation and significant risk of injury/disability all discourage people from entering the trade.
Other trades are simply more lucrative. Why should we expect prospects to enter auto service when they can go into electrical or plumbing, earn the same money, have less time training and more time earning AND have better prospects of starting their own business?
I used to be a GM service technician, trained at a local college on a GM co-op program.
I found morale to be low everywhere, especially at the dealer level. The average age of people leaving was thirty years of age. THIRTY! For many people, auto service is simply not a viable career. Smart and ambitious people left to become shop teachers, use their technical skills elsewhere or simply re-start their careers in a new field.
I saw the writing on the wall. After almost losing my hand pulling the transmission out of a Pontiac 6000, I left and went to university. I never regretted the move. I still love to work on my own cars, but I would never, ever go back to the trade.
Exactly. I spent plenty of years wrenching on cars, getting dirty and hurt.
Then I went to university.
Now, I have a better lifestyle than any mechanic I have ever met.
These things are in fact related.
One issue is that for a lot of technicians the job has an expiry date. My FIL had his own shop, but by the time he was 40 he was getting worn out from the heavy stuff, and personality wise he was not suited to having a young guy doing that work for him. So he got out and sells cars now.
Also nobody has mentioned the book “Shop Class as Soulcraft” by Matthew Crawford which explores these issues.
Spot on Sir. I have done a full circle after having rebelled against my upper middle class parents and went to a trade school, followed by service as an engineer with the Israeli navy and then merchant navy for 8 years. I then decided to move into car restoration and did that for another 8 years. By then I was 35 years old and could already feel the first signs of physical wear and tear, at which point the penny dropped and I went into academic studies – not a moment too soon, as if I had to work on cars again my body would not allow it. I am occupied at a desk job which pays me a hell of a lot more than would I would have earned even as a master mechanic here in Austria. I have a couple of friends who DO earn a decent living from car work but both are self employed and very specialized (Alfa Romeos / Fiat sports cars and Audi Quatros). And heaven help them if some health problem rears its ugly head.
PS: Adding that being able to work on cars during my studies helped me to pay for my fees / living expenses, so it was not all doom and gloom. But in all due honesty I should have gone to uni at least 5 (or even 10) years earlier.
Can I ask your approximate age when you went back to school? Also Canuck please answer if you want.
The shortage of automotive techs is nothing new. We always had a hard time finding people who would do the work over the long term. It is a dirty job in many respects, and can be quite physical.
I love to hear old guys lament “the younger generation.” The fact is, the geezers posting here know next to nothing about “the younger generation.” They are in fact just as motivated and hard working as any other generation-it’s just they have interests that differ from my generation.
When I read the news from the USA, and to a lesser extent here in Canada, I hear lots about “unemployment.” However, I know that my businesses have a very difficult time attracting hard working talent. Every shop in Vancouver has a help wanted sign in the window, for example.
I rarely see a “mature” technician at the auto shops I frequent – telling me it’s not a lifelong trade for most.
I may have a somewhat unique perspective; I graduated high school two years ago, from a district where Tech Ed classes were arguably the best part.
The consensus with my buddies in class was that we all liked working on our cars as a hobby, but it would make for an extremely boring career choice.
Who in their right mind would want to work on dull Camrys and Malibus all day every day? Where’s the fun?
You’ve nailed it right on the head. Wrenching is extremely boring. After you’ve figured out how to do a job, all the fun is over.
Not true, wrenching is great fun. What isn’t fun is lack of satisfaction from doing a boring car that isn’t even yours.
After working as a mechanic at various Chrysler product dealerships both on the East coast and west coast of the USA since 1959, I am thinking that maybe I should apply for a job here in Arizona at our local dealer in Bullhead City.
After all, I am only 77 and still in good enough shape to work at a friend’s garage 2 days a week, “just for fun” and for free. A little pocket change might come in handy. Those new Hellcats and Demons would be almost as good as working on Bo’s General Lee back in the day.
Love it! Grew up on the Dukes!
The $100k a year bit has been bait used by tech schools for decades. You may eventually make it as a flat rate master tech with full up to date ASE certification in an area with little competition, but starting out? You get less greasy at McDonald’s for the same pay, need to invest thousands on thousands in tools, bust your ass for years on cars that sometimes will beat you physically AND mentally, and maybe for a few years when you turn pro you crack the $100k mark, before finally burning out and moving on.
And of course the consequence of “cars being so reliable these days” means only fairly menial services are to be done – alignments, tire rotations, oil changes. – More in depth diagnostic work is like an IT job and the solution is most always “change part”. And future outlook isn’t so good with electrification, if I wanted to work around lethal levels of high voltage I’d rather work on high tension wires out in the open, not the cramped space of a car’s, um, compartment.
Smash repairs is where the money is at. But even there you have the dreaded Databook that only allows you so many hours to do a given job.
The carrot of topped out pay numbers have also been used for awhile by the CDL mills and entry level trucking companies. Except for having to purchase tools its a similar grind of long hours and low(ish) pay on the trucking industry version of flat-rate. After 2-3 yrs if you have not washed out or quit in frustration most of the better paying jobs become open to you.
If you are a long hauler you also get to joy of being expected to live in the sleeper for 1-2 weeks at a time and having a lot of time wasted by shippers and receivers uncompensated.
Another factor I’ve not seen mentioned is the rise of large chains of dealerships with all of the ‘Cover sheets on TPS Reports’ side effects of being a large organization. When you are replaceable drone in the Lithia or AutoNation Borg cube versus a valued employee of local ownership it makes a difference.
Electric and plug-in cars such as the Leaf, Bolt and BMW i3 will need significantly less service. The maintenance schedule for a Nissan Leaf is effectively inspect service brakes and driveline; replace cabin air filter once a yr. Rotate tires every 15k mi.Plug in Scan Tool to check battery pack health. No fluid changes, timing belts and service brakes can last a very long time when they only backstop a re-gen system.
I agree 100% as we’ve had issues at our store finding techs but what’s far, FAR harder is finding bodymen and painters. Nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, is getting into the auto body field anymore it seems. For one thing (at least in these parts, n.e. Ohio) the vocation schools have eliminated their auto body courses completely. Way back when I took auto body (didn’t keep with it as I never developed the speed needed for a production shop) at a nearby vocational school that closed its auto body courses a good 20 years ago. Most bodymen we have working for us are at least in their mid forties, and several will be retiring in the next several years with no one to fill their positions.
Another reason is that it ruins your health (ask me how I know), and it’s not as easy to hide this in the internet age.
“despite the fact that they can earn $100,000 year after achieving master mechanic status and five years’ experience. ”
As a former auto technician that was formally trained(Lincoln Tech Class of 1999) and was ASE Certified , I can say that to earn that $100,000 you have to work long hours 6 days a week to beat Flat Rate(Flat Rate/Book Rate is the amount of hours you get paid to do a certain job (for example a intake gasket replacement on a GM 3100 paid 5.5 hours) ) However flat rate was tiered, there is a time rate for warranty work and a time rate for customer paying (for example, if a GM 3100 intake gasket replacement cost is 5.5 hours then the warranty cost is 4.0 hours)
So you had to bust your ass to make money there. Plus you had to deal with customers whining about spending money (though I did learn that tight fisted senior citizens that refuse to spend any money on car repairs will hand over boatloads of money to fix the A/C in the summer)
You also had to deal with service writers (must of whom are total dicks) and used car sales folks who promised customers that techs could install anything they wanted in the car (“oh the 2000 Pontiac Sunbird you are interested in does not have A/C?? Well we can install it for you for an extra $500”)
In the end I left and went back to college and got a good paying desk job where I do make a good amount of money without dealing with a whole lot of stupid crap that you find in a dealership.
BMW has had programs like these for years. They offered a 16 week program to folks at Lincoln Tech at their BMW School(I had a friend that attended it) of course other car makers offered things like that also. I went to Toyota school to learn about how to work on their then new Prius. Toyota partnered with Lincoln Tech and other trade schools to help train folks on the Prius because at that time the Prius was new and they did not have many folks that were skilled in repairing them. It was interesting and though it had a lot of new tech in it, it was surprisingly easy to work on. It was too bad the local Toyota dealership (Antwerpen) that I apprenticed in was full of douchebags.
More fish-wrap from the newspaper of record.
Unless I missed it, the author didn’t quote a single seasoned mechanic. The opinions of trade school reps, students etc. are not an accurate reflection of the reality in the workshop. BTW, I made my living repairing cars in the San Francisco bay area for 30 years, 25 of those with BMW.
I concede that it is possible to make 100K in the workshop, it requires a convergence of luck and very unusual opportunities. Most guys out there are making a fraction of that. They are worth every cent of what they earn too. It is a tough job.
As a complete non-mechanic (I can do minor things, but I’ve learned all of THOSE the hard way), I have deep respect and admiration for those who DO have the skills and enjoy using them.
Almost every mechanic that I’ve ever talked to said they got to the point where they didn’t want to work on other peoples’ cars any more. So if they could move onto something else, they did.
I have been in the business for more than 30 years. What began as an interest in high school progressed into a means to work through college (though parents paid for much of it), but developed into a chosen career regardless. I did go a different route than most, became a heavy equipment/truck specialist for a large public utility though I still work on cars and light trucks often. It has been a lucrative profession and it is challenging enough that I have yet to find it ‘boring’.
I think public school districts need to offer vocational classes for students so inclined. While there is no question liberal arts courses are important, there seems to be a large number of college graduates with liberal arts degrees that are finding the job market tough. Many are also saddled with high student debt. Purely anecdotal, but none of my friends or family members with liberal arts degrees are currently working in their field of education. That is not to say they are not successful, and certainly their education made their ultimate career choices possible.
BTW- FWIW my company is currently having much difficulty finding qualified automotive and equipment technicians.
I remember reading an article in my local paper years ago how there was going to be huge demand in the need for repair and service people in the coming years. This is besides the need for people in the traditional skilled trades areas. This seems to make sense. The demand would seem to expand and the existing workforce would be decreasing with age. I don’t think that skilled labor is the same as menial labor, and that it unfair to treat it that way. All skilled tradework requires training, and a logical, reasoning mind.
I think that most will agree that not all college educated, level work is creative, self fulfilling or non stressful. It is a lucky person that finds their job, any job, to be so self actualizing. We all have to make compromises to make a paycheck. I think that we will judge the attraction and paycheck of an occupation based upon our life experiences. If it is a step up in pay, security, or respectability, then it will seem appealing.
I think that achieving a college education has been seen as a passage to middle class respectability by those in the working and blue collar classes. It is seen as a visible symbol that a family is becoming more successful. It is also seen as a means of those currently in the middle class, as a way of holding on to what they’ve got. Whether or not it will provide the proper education that will allow the graduate to pursue a rewarding career and life, is sometimes lost in all this symbolism.
At one time, trade and manual arts education was sometimes used as a way to discriminate against minority and non middle class children and “steer”
them away from academic programs. Many older parents remember those days and were determined to keep their kids out of those trade programs. These programs were also seen to discriminating against female students. Unfortunately this has led to these programs becoming politically very unpopular.
Which is too bad. Kids are all different. We should allow them to explore alternatives to a purely academic curriculum. Hopefully kids could be exposed to the manual trades, art, music, drama etc. so that kids could find what their aptitudes, abilities, and aspirations are, and could find the best fit for their education.
My own family is part of the immigrant experience. My parents worked hard and saved and sent all three children to twelve years of Catholic education. My brothers and I worked through college. For a while I worked on an assembly line like my Father did for over thirty years. All three of us graduated from college with different degrees. I’ve always stayed interested in mechanics and fixing most things around the house. Why didn’t I pursue a career in auto mechanics? I saw that I had other, better paying options available to me and took that direction. Like I said earlier, it depends what your options are.
I can identify with this on several levels. I have an engineering degree, yet I work with my hands in the field, for two reasons. The first is I am stubborn and don’t work well for others, so I had to start my own company to survive at a relatively young age (28). The second is I make a lot more money this way. Looking at it from another perspective, it’s very hard to find skilled employees to do what I do. Finding work has never been my biggest challenge, it’s always been finding enough skilled hands to complete the work.
Every Car Has a Story. No, it’s an inanimate object. WE have stories we tell of cars, by way recollection or pondering or taste or proclivity or plain bias. The world is always hungry for stories, and glory be to CC for celebrating its’ idiosyncratic version of the car cult by telling those tales here. (“Ah, look! A rare and undesirable base version, with incorrect hubcaps.” Should I be ashamed that such trivia interests me?). Nostalgia, romanticisation. But working hard, repetitively, for years on and under machines that wear your body and may want to injure you, for not much money, is not romantic and many an older mechanic is nostalgic only for the time when they didn’t have to do it to survive. A time – school – when they often wish they had made other choices, and which choices they desperately encourage their kids to think about carefully. For me, it’s those voices in this fascinating thread that deserve the most consideration, because they have actually done the job, the stuff these indolent young ones won’t. Though ofcourse kids today aren’t lazy any more than ever we were; they are educated beyond rote reproduction to think, to look ahead, and they do. And they choose other things. I don’t blame them. At base, harsh old capitalism gives the trade an economic value, and, despite the grind for the workers in it, it ain’t high. Until the Revolution comes, comrades, that’s not going to change.
I’d say the “up to $100k” figure is highly disingenuous, and used by the likes of for profit places like UTI to draw people in. Most successful mechanics don’t stick around at dealership service centers very long, they start their own shops. The pay they see at the dealer is just way too low. Most folks hired as entry level tire and oil changers (in both dealerships and at indie places) are barely above minimum wage, and sometimes those are folks that just paid quite a bit of money to go to a technical school. A really lucrative fairly recent field that has seen a lot of growth is traveling diagnosticians. My brother and his cohorts can really clean up nicely just working 3 or 4 days going up and down the rows of indie shops and used car lots in Staten Island. Makes for some fun youtubing as well if you geek out on that stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/user/motoYam82
https://www.youtube.com/user/ScannerDanner
Indeed. To me the only way to make decent money in the motor trade is to start your own business and SPECIALIZE.
Oh so many thoughts. I took 2 years between high school and college. Not really planned that way. I had no aim really. I got a job in the sign industry (1984) and was working there. But was studying on college. I either wanted to be an English teacher or Auto mechanic/engineer type thing. Talked to the most respected mentors in town and they both talked me out of those. So I decided automotive journalism. College I went to didn’t offer Journalism and I was following a girl, so I did English (non teaching) with Communications minor. Worked as a sign painter during my college years. After I graduated, bills kept coming – I worked 30 – 32 hours a week at least at the sign company, so I was making money during college and had a truck payment, a couple loans, etc. So I went back to sign industry.
I stayed there til 2012, when I was able to apply for a job with the state motorcycle training program as Range & Equipment Manager. I became a mechanic with a fleet of 600+ 250cc Motorcycles. I was a mechanic all of a sudden. Loved it. Unfortunately job was 3.5 hours away from family. Only home on some weekends. So I came back home to sign industry.
But still wish I were a mechanic. I’d have to work at an independent shop because I can’t stand the “exploratory surgery” method of repairing something. I hate just trying new parts til you find the one that make it work again. I’d rather understand the systems and be able to properly diagnose the issue and repair it correctly. Older cars are not that mysterious and newer ones aren’t all that hard once you start understanding how they work with the various computers and equipment. Plus I like keeping older cars going.
The shop I use is independent and they take the time to investigate the issue and repair it or replace the correct part the first time. And at reasonable rates. Dealer mechanics are tied to that book of rates and have to do it in time and as prescribed. And may still not address the issue.
Yes our culture needs more “working stiffs”. Everyone can’t be a pencil pusher (I’m one now). Sign industry is very strong here. I have recommended a “Sing guy” program to the community college – we need artists, installers, fabricators, etc. And a specialized prgoram would help immensely. Machine shop classes go too far – we need sheet metal skils, not lathing. Train folks how to use a crane truck. How to install a vinyl wrap on a convenience store canopy. Right now our company is in the middle of a 125 store upgrade program and we have 3 crews. And each of those is made up of guys that may flake or fail their drug tests at any moment. We need trained workers willing to get out and actually WORK.
Enough blathering. Great article that hits me in so many places.
Paul has written this article, with the opinions stated by BMW representatives. Not exactly using the best of research to support the claim. Having been a child, that has grown up with mechanical interests and being taught mechanical automotive skills by my father, there IS some validity to this statement. So, Paul and BMW are not entirely wrong. They are not entirely correct with just that statement, alone.
Having worked as a mechanic, both on other peoples’ and my own vehicles, there are a variety of factors that play into the career of being a mechanic, and why we are seeing a high turnover rate in this field.
1. Today’s vehicles are engineered to be MORE DIFFICULT to make repairs to.
THIS is the NUMBER ONE reason why most mechanics hate being a mechanic. Since the mid-to-late 1990s, most automakers figured out that if they designed the vehicles to be more difficult to work on, it would require the owner to either pay for a certified technician to fix the vehicle OR they would scrap the car and buy another one. Since Paul hates GM with a passion, I can cite TWO examples of my claim: The Cadillac Nothrstar V8 and the Cadillac Catera 3.0L DOHC V-6. Both engines were prone to head gasket failure(due to GM Dex-Cool), and bith engines require TTY head bolts and COMPLETE REMOVAL OF DRIVETRAIN per the Factory Service Manuals, to replace the failed head gaskets. There was absolutely NO LOGICAL reason to design those engines, like that. NONE. And it has only gotten worse throughout the years, since then. And every automaker makes stupid engineering designs like that, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
2. Costs of buying your tools.
Many shops will NOT buy the tools you need, to make repairs and work on the vehicles. Most mechanics have to buy their own tool box, tools, and transport them to and from the facility when they terminate employment. Specialty tools and good diagnostic scan tools(with live data capability for OBD-II systems) are VERY EXPENSIVE. This can offset the appeal, of being a master mechanic, very quickly in today’s economy.
3. Costs of school.
Maybe BMW will offer 16-weeks of paid training, but they are the only company I have ever heard of that does this. Costs of obtaining your training and certifications through ASE can be less than full blown college, but they certainly aren’t cheap at all.
4. Workload expectations.
Somebody mentioned the “hours” standards, in a previous comment. I would like to touch base on this. When a shop quotes you for labor, they are typically using Chilton or some other automotive standard such as a factory service manual, to estimate the hours. These estimates are based on “no variables”, such as seized/broken bolts and screws, stripped threads, drilling/tapping, or discovery of a broken component while troubleshooting the original customer issue. I have heard that some shops will only pay the mechanic, that performs the work, a lump sum based on those hours. If that were true, this would make taking longer than estimated would equate to the mechanic essentially working for free. This would add into the already large responsibility of having to explain to both your employer and the customer, why the vehicle took longer than expected to properly service and repair. Once again, I can cite an example: My Saturn 1.9L DOHC engine. Chilton calls for 20.1 hrs of labor, to completely remove the engine from the car, disassembled it, and rebuild it. Now, what happens when you find a worn timing chain tensioner, or a bent valve(as rebuild kits will typically NOT contain pistons, valves, or other internal components)?
It is going to take longer than 20 hrs, when you are waiting on a new timing chain set from a reputable supplier or a GM dealership, as well as the costs of ordering a brand new set of valves. On top of this, you will have to call your customer, to explain that you will need to charge them more, because you found these internal problems, after you tore the engine apart. Some customers understand these things, but they are a minority. Most customers think they are just being ripped off, and you are finding ways to charge them more money. And in some cases, the customers are right, because there are some very shady mechanics out there, that give mechanics a very bad reputation.
All in all, being a mechanic is more hassle, than what it is worth anymore. There are a lot of factors leading to the shortages, and Paul has written on just one of the many factors, today. Maybe automakers will finally figure out all the problems, and start designing vehicles that are easily serviced, again, like many of the older cars from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s.
I know I would much rather work on my old 1980 Chevrolet Malibu small block Chevy V-8, than a Ford Eco Boost engine of today, or a BMW suspension system, or a Cadillac Northstar V-8…….and that list goes on, and on….
I went to college, did very well (financially and personal satisfaction) in a technical career and retired at age 57. Got bored and now I’m working in a bicycle shop, part time, close to minimum wage, with some sales and “paperwork” but also light mechanical work … new bike assembly and tune ups/repairs. I also sweep up and take out the trash. I’m loving it.
I keep seeing articles like this about auto mechanics. Supposedly there’s a shortage, and maybe so. But at 100K per year, there’d be a line all the way around the block.
IOWs there is something left out of the article. Either the pay is not really what’s promised or thke work conditions are bad.
I keep seeing articles about the shortage of Truckers too. Big pay and signing bonuses. But every day there are umpteen help wanted ads for drivers, telling me something sucks about driving a truck for a liviing. Pay, conditions, something.
Unfilled positions at more than double the median family income just doesn’t compute.
As for College vs Vocational school, I agree with Paul; the education industry is a hungry monster. They need to quit lumping “those with college degrees” togeter as a group. Yes, bankers make good money. Philosophy majors, not so much. Schools should have to cite the median income by major.
“Driver Shortage” is mostly a myth propagated by the bottom dollar McMega Carriers such as Swift,Schneider, Prime, CR England et al. In a tighter labor market they all have 80-120% annual turnover. Generally you see these guys pulling single 53′ Van or Refrigerated trailers. Entry level companies pay $35-45k. The bad actors give you a hard sell for the ‘Lease-Purchase’ scam that is the trucking equivalent of sharecropping or the company store system.
My 1st day after I finished training and earned my CDL at a LTL Freight company (CWX) I was earning more that what a McMega driver would earn 10yrs of service.
$100k is possible after 5-10yrs if you want to work 60-70hrs week on graveyard running fuel tanker or Freight Line haul. Car haulers and other specialized owner-ops can gross 250-300 and net 100-150 in a good year.
Where to start?
Ive been hearing the 100K business for at least 20 years. Completely unreasonable for most. Gets a lot of people into the trade that don’t belong.
About the physical load. I think man was designed to use BOTH his body and mind in his labors. Many techs never think about their health until to late. Eating crap, relying on alcohol or pills, not giving your body time to recover etc. THIS is what wears your body out in most cases. I prefer to think I’m getting paid to work out and at 50 can run literal circles around younger guys.
About honesty and integrity. Many on both sides of the repair order are guilty of not being straightforward with how much time, money, or procedures billed that are needed or not needed. This hurts honest people the most.
About the cars. Same as it ever was. No one wanted to work on Bosch EFI when it first came out cause they didn’t have the tools and training. Now no one wants to work on a carb car. Yes, the difficulties of modern cars are there but with proper tools and thinking outside the box a guy can get the job done easy enough without too much drama.
About the elitism. It’s a known fact that 90% of the hard work is done by 10% of the folks at most businesses. It’s just life 101. When I hear stuff like “parts changers” I have to remind people here about the time they asked a lot tech (who had a degree) to lift an Audi R8 up for inspection. Now it has a customized dented floor pan. Or the customer who barks about why I charged 3 hours to change a muffler when there are Midas type places just about everywhere. Of course the reason he didn’t take his 100K car to Midas is he wants someone to do the job right and stand behind their work. Quality work takes quality time which will always require more money up front but pays a dividend on the back end.
I’m going to quit when it’s time. Having the time of my life right now.