I am considering a career change and I have some questions for the service techs on here.

1.)like/tolerate/dislike your job?
2.)what is your most common repair?
3.)what percent of the time do you finish noticeably before the "allotted" time allowed?
4.)if you get stumped, will another tech lend advice/help?
5.)how many "labor" hours do you average a week?(the book calls for 4 hrs., you get it done in 2hrs., you get paid for 4 right? you could get 50-60-70+ hrs. pay for 40 hrs. work in a week if you're good, right?)
6.)what is the salary range?(starting...good...experienced)

I know this is alot of ??? but a career change is a serious decision that I need to make soon, and any help from you guys out there will really help make this decision easier!!! Thanx in advance!

 

Cmon guys, help a brother out!? I know its a lot of ??? but I dont want to do it, and regret it later. A career is serious, I would really appreciate the input.

 

I have known quite a few mechanics and the ONLY ones who liked thier job were the ones who owned the shop.

Average salary around here is $15-19 per hour.

Not sure about #5. I have never seen that pay scale. That's how the shop makes money...YOU finishing quickly and rolling anouther vehicle in.

 

contact superfords on here. He is or was a Ford service tech. He hangs out at the Lightning boards, or shoot him an email.

 

I'm not a tech but a good friend of mine is. I'll help with what I know. He has been a tech for 4yrs and is ASE master, making something between $18-20hr. They get paid by the book, so yes you can get paid 50-60 hrs per week and only work 40. If you get stumped I believe their is a number you can call and speak witht he engineers of the manufacture. They help you resolve the issue. I know he hates wind noises and likes brake jobs. But since he is rather new he gets a lot of the crap jobs like wind noises. Hope this helps

 

Thanks alot guys! This really helps! Any more info is welcome.

 

1. I like the laidback atmosphere, no suit and tie, I can and have yelled and screamed and thrown things and fought with my fellow employees, it's normal and acceptable. I'm not sitting behind a desk.

2. most common repairs vary from year to year and vehicle to vehicle and mileage. a few years back we were doing head gaskets on 3.8L engines all day long, now I never see one.

3. depends on if it's warranty work or customer pay, ford is really screwey with warranty repairs. most of the "books" for customer pay repairs are pretty reasonable both to the customer and to the tech. in most cases, if the book says 2.0 hours, it can be done working at a easy pace at that time, however, there are exceptions. warranty work on the other hand is a joke, the times are rediculously low. some jobs don't pay you enough time to do the repair, much less to track down the keys to the car, find the car, bring it in, verify the concern, diagnose the concern, wait in the parts department, put vehicle outside while waiting for parts to arrive, repair vehicle, do paperwork, return parts for sign offs, etc. warranty time is B.S.

4. yes, most shops have team systems, some are team pay where everybody works together and the time is just divided evenly between techs on each team, and others are just a team system where there is supposed to be a "lead" tech who helps when you get stuck. the systems vary from shop to shop. the first one "team pay" system gets bad rap from 99% of techs that aren't on it. however I recently started at a Lincoln Mercury dealership that is on a team pay plan, and after working at non team pay dealerships for the past 8 years, I have to say that it's not bad at all. the work environment is MUCH less stressful, everyone is more motivated to help out, less in-fighting, less bitching about who has the "good" jobs or gravy work etc...

5. first of all NOBODY that I know of works a 40 hour week anymore in this business. my last dealership we worked 7:30 to 5:30 M-F plus every 4th Saturday. At my current dealer we only work 8:00 to 5:00 M-F and every 5th Saturday, BUT on that 5th week we have a "late" week, where not only do we work saturday, but we work until 7:00pm every night M-F. but yes, you could easily work a "40 hour week" and get paid for 60 or 80 hours worth of labor, unfortunately you could just as easily work a 60 hour week by the clock and only get paid for 30 hours or less! it just depends on how many cars actually come in for service or repair.


6. it varies wildly from area to area and dealership to dealership. when I started out at a Ford dealership over on the southside of town fresh out of the Ford ASSET college program, I was making like 30grand or so on my first year. my second year I moved to the west end of town (where the more affluent customers live) and I jumped to around 50,000 a year, then I got raises and a promotion to teamleader and bonuses and was making 90,000 a year after just a few years. back at my first dealership it was considered a "good" week to make anything over 40 hours, at my second dealership it was considered a "bad" week if you didn't break 70 hours! it depends on your level of ability and your desire to work fast. I was cruising makeing 90K while other guys were obsessed with making hours and would turn 120+ hours a week! I suspect they were guys there making 120K or more a year, but after 75-80 hours the government takes too much in taxes to make it worth all the extra effort IMHO. as far as hourly pay, helpers or apprentices usually get 6-10 dollars per hour in my area, while line techs can make anywhere from 12 to 30 per hour depending on experience, training, etc.

I'm not saying that I recommend this line of work to anybody, but it has worked out fairly well for me. however it is manual labor, think about being 67 before you retire and still trying to jerk transmissions out of cars and pulling engines and diagnose electronics problems etc. my grandparents couldn't work their answering machine, much less understand modern technology enough to diagnose an airbag or anti lock brake concern.

gotta run.

later,
chris

 

Chris, you are the man! Thanx for your very detailed answers to all of my questions!

BTW...that has got to be the sweetest color Lightning I've seen!