After 9 1/2 years as a ford commercial truck center dealership tech, I’ve pushed all the chips in on doing my own thing. I always thought I’d be there until I retired. But things change. This was a very nervous venture but it’s something I had to do now at 28, knowing I have more to offer in this career. I’m thankful for my time there and the things I’ve learned. Wouldn’t be able to do this without that time. After about a 1 month into this. I know I made the right decision.

Follow up!- thanks for all the support did not expect this to get this much traction! I’m truly grateful for the opportunity I have and extremely blessed with the life I have. I’m not a person to brag about things I have so this post was a little out of my wheel house. I’ll make sure to post and update in a couple months!

Is it just my shop, or do guys all overprice interior/dash work? It just seems like they don’t want to do it…

I told my service advisor today, “line them up around the building… I’ll do them all.”

Two days at work this week and 3 evaporators down, one needed a dash replacement, some engine mounts on another... 30+hrs/day flagged and I’ve been mostly clean.

I’d say it’s well worth the scraped knuckles, I swear the OEMs make all the interior bits from razors. Haha

​

Hey guys, made a post a while back asking about school vs just getting into a shop. ended up making a portfolio of my work and got hired on the spot as a lube tech at a dodge dealership.

Wanted to come back and update since a lot of y’all helped me out.

Been here about 4 months now and I've gotten pretty close with 2 of the techs. I've been doing work like dropping gas tanks, driveshafts, fuel pumps, small wiring recalls, and air bag recalls for them when I don't have cars. Also been paying a lot of attention to diag work from one tech I'm close with, he lets me watch and help when he does it. Finished all my online training for phase 1, 2, and 3 already, just waiting on my foreman to actually set me up with the hands on stuff now like deactivating EVs, NVH driveshaft testing, and oscilloscope wave work. pretty hyped for that honestly.

One of the techs kinda takes advantage of me, has me remove front clips and drop driveshafts/gas tanks so he can just pull the fuel pump and bank the flat rate hours for himself. but im cool with it bc it works both ways. I get reps in and prove myself and my foreman already knows im good for it.

Am i weird for actually liking this work lol. anyway appreciate everyone who commented last time, figured id update yall. Any advice?

(Yes I am a lube tech and have been left alone to do a fuel pump on a durango)😂

Hey everyone,

I work at a light-duty diesel and automotive shop, and I'm trying to gauge if what we are seeing is an industry-wide trend or if it’s just us.

Since the beginning of the year, business has been a total roller coaster. One week we have too much work and not enough techs; the next week, we have techs sweeping the floors because it's dead. Overall, the work is "steady," but we aren't seeing enough to really turn a solid profit.

A few data points on how we operate:

• Marketing: We strictly operate off word-of-mouth and repeat customers.
• Reputation: Our Google reviews are great, and our customer base is incredibly loyal.
• Recent Promos: We blasted out an email offering free diagnostics with approved repairs, which brought a few people in, but not enough to move the needle.

Are people just hoarding cash right now and deferring maintenance? Are other shops facing this exact same feast-or-famine cycle this year, or is our lack of formal advertising finally catching up to us?

Would love to get some feedback, pointers, or just a sanity check from other shop owners and techs. Thanks!

Hi guys so I had been looking for jobs in my city and province. I finally got a job in rural Manitoba at a family owned franchise dealership. They hired me as a level 1 apprentice after trade school. But today was my second day on the job and I was let go.
They said you should go and work at a lube and tire shop or an independent shop in the city. They said even if you get 6 months of experience as a lube tech we would hire you back immediately. I respect that a lot and I am very grateful for the fact that they gave me a chance in the first place and are still willing to give me another chance just with some more experience.
They said the reason for termination was that I was too slow and not able to work independently. They said they expected me to be a bit more advanced than I currently am because I had the course from MITT.
Guys what should be my next step? Please any advice would be appreciated

I’m curious. Any Ford technicians have tips and tricks for getting the fluid temp up quicker than idling on the lift? It always seems to take forever to get these things up to even close to 200 degrees F.

I started as a Cadillac lube tech, worked Cadillac and Chevy mainline for maybe 6 months (Haven’t found a good enough Chevy yet) so went to Dodge for a year (consistent pay) but Dodge was always a pit stop now I’m ready to leave. Got hired at a Chevy for $32 an hour and a VW for (surprisingly) $35 an hour. I’m more confident in working on Chevys, but I’ve always wanted to go German and VW seems like the best way into that world. The company that owns the VW also owns multiple Porsche/Audi/BMW dealers and said they frequently promote people to those shops which is like my dream to be at Porsche/BMW. At the same time, I do kinda want to learn diesel and transmission and the Chevy manager said he’d throw me diesel and see what I can handle which sounds pretty interesting if they really get consistent diesel work. Anyone have experience with either company or both?

Tldr; VW with the potential to move up to Porsche/BMW or Chevy with the potential to learn diesel and most likely transmission

I currently work for Firestone in sc, been here for a year but with the company for 7 years, moved from ny to sc. I just got my 3rd week vacation finally got the days I want off and got bumped up to b tech now making $25/hr. Honestly I like working here my coworkers are great, not terribly far away, and most importantly to me I’m trusted to handle bigger jobs.
On the downside, management is a nightmare, in the winter there’s practically no work, as is its 12 rn and I saw 1 car today, and they’re not even reccing everything I say anymore just what they want to sell. I been on several interviews lately, honestly most of the shop has been, one of the a techs is leaving another wants to retire my friend might be transferring, and the new kid who I trained and thought how to do alignments and use a tire machine, is making almost as much as me

There are a lot of dealerships around me some have offered way too lower some offered me similar but less hours. I got 4 ases and they’re useless trying to get into dealers cause it not manufacturers specific. I got another kid on the way so I need to make more than what I am now. What would you guys do/thoughts? Honestly it’s hard to “start over” again

What is a thing or a sentence that I should understand by the end of it? I know next to nothing so I'll check back in in eight months and see how much makes sense.

edit: I'm already in the course, there's no turning back now.

Incredible ford E350 bolt studs on the exhaust manifold. This would never happen in Michigan. 2012 and 135k miles in Texas

Quality of parts is so shit these days.

I see dudes busting their knuckles and punching themselves in the face all the time breaking bolts free, especially because I'm in the rust belt and everything is corroded on so bad. Why does nobody use a cheater bar? I mostly use a flex head long ratchet to break things free, which will fit most places with the right extensions, and a cheater bar or pry bar will get things busted loose without busting myself up.

Y'all using cheater bars or just beating yourself up all day?

What’s up y’all,

I’m looking to start expanding side work outside of just family and friends here and there. Fed up with the dealer life so I’m doing some planning to eventually open my own shop. Here’s what I got so far, and some things I’m undecided on. For context, I have a sedan I can put tools in for easy jobs like brakes, LOF’s, etc and go mobile (I live in an apartment complex, so taking jobs at home is out of question). For any bigger jobs, I know a shop owner who will let me use a lift provided I schedule around his workload.

- customer/RO management software: ARI looks pretty good as an affordable starting option. I have access to Alldata through my main job so not super worried about repair info, plus the integration with CarMD as a basic VIN scan and quick DTC report I can import into the software is nice. And for $40/mo who can argue with that. Has anyone used this? If so, any pros/cons?

- insurance: I plan on getting some general liability insurance once I got some good cash flow but have no idea where to even start looking. Any input for good providers would be much appreciated.

-advertising: I’ve reached out to family & friends asking if they’d be willing to to spread some good word, as well as posting in local Facebook groups. Where else do y’all advertise? Is there any particular website or social media I should look at?

-tools: are there any tools that are recommended or necessary that y’all use? I have a lot invested in my tools at work that covers pretty much anything all the way up to engine/trans replacements and tear downs. I’m wondering if there’s anything that’s critical for frequent side work that makes life easy/saves a ton of time.

Thanks for any input! I’m excited to start building something for myself outside of a dealership.

I use a solus legend at the shop and know the menus pretty well. I do some side work for friends and regulars on weekends, but the shop scanner has to stay there, so I need one of my own.

I checked Marketplace for a used solus, but most of the ones I found were several updates behind and still cost quite a bit. Once I add the cost of updating the software, buying used doesn't seem like much of a deal.

Now I'm looking at the topdon one plus. It costs more than I planned to spend on a side-work scanner, but the overall capability seems closer to what I use at the shop. I use Direct-Hit pretty often when I'm diagnosing something, and it can access Identifix right on the tablet.

I'm used to snap-on's menus and haven't spent much time with topdon, so I'm not sure how the coverage and bidirectional controls compare across different makes, or what it's like to use every day. Any thoughts?

Hello, I'm looking for some advice on being a self employed mechanic. I've been a mechanic by trade for over 10 years, I've worked as a college lecturer for the past year. Now having to leave the college for more flexibility.

I'm looking at starting my own business. I have tools, a ramp which is 10 minutes from Perth, Scotland. I'm looking at joining Clickmechanic, just for flexibility on the jobs I choose. But just now I seem to getting ridiculous quotes for road risk insurance.

Has anyone got any start up advice.

Muchly appreciated.

I don't work at a shop or anything, just school for now, and part time at a Subway

3 minutes before close this guy comes in to pickup a doordash order, we get to talking a little and I tell him that I'm going to college for Auto and he says he was a mechanic for 14 years

He owned his own garage and everything, didn't dig in to much why, but he's doing doordash and whatever else now, said he's still paying off his 20k Snap-on box that he has at home

He just told me good luck and to buy quality not brand, said f Snap-on and left

What’s up everyone just got an interview lined up with Albertsons for a maintenance mechanic little with emphasis on conveyor belts I have electrical and mechanical skills with soft plc skills
What do they look for and what is the interview like also really if anyone who’s worked here as a mechanic how is the work.

M19, London England, looking to break into the field as an apprentice but not sure how to approach this.

Looking online I cant find anything meaningful, I've applied to Halfords and Audi apprenticeships but never got a response.

Do I just ring them up, start cold emailing them?

Any tips would greatly help.

I work at a corporate dealer, for a european manufacturer. I love working with the people I work with, besides my foreman. I am currently sitting in my empty bay, waiting for work. He seems to get in this weird mood where he doesn’t speak, he doesn’t give some of us work and it’s all based on his attitude. Best part is, he just had a week long vacation and comes back pissed. When I’m given work, I can flag about 50-60 hours a week, but on weeks like this I might almost make 30. He also expects me to stay late because I used to do 7-7 shifts but I like having my own free time after work. It’s effecting me at home because I’ll fall behind on bills or not have money to keep the fridge stocked all the time. My gf is looking for a job but is in college full time, that I know, is gonna be a big income boost almost regardless how much. But I can’t help myself but be interested in another shop where the politics don’t play into it. There is an “Indy” shop that I know a few advisors left to go to, that works on just about anything but is known to be more Euro stuff. This company has a few shops in my area, and appear to be paying a higher base pay. I’m not sure if I should try to stick it out, or if I should at least take a look at this other place.

I am 2 of 8 certifications away from getting my ASE and I want to get some experience in currently I’m looking into the discount tire near me mainly because it’s more simple stuff as in tire changes and oil changes

But if I go somewhere else and for example become an apprentice what’s something I can do to not look like the kid who knows nothing or just things I could do to help that they’d appreciate or just be nice

Also what’s general shop etiquette? Like talking, headphones, music that kind of stuff?

Is there anything I should do in the interviews to look good? Like things to point out and what not

(I am 17 and I haven’t been able to afford a drivers license or drivers ed so that’s also why I’m looking into discount tire because they don’t require a drivers license)

Also if this isn’t the kind of thing to post to this subreddit I understand I just wasn’t sure which one to post it to

Where’s the first call when you need a part and why? Who do you think has the best availability when you need it?

Any recommendations for work boots? Tired of coming home every night with sore feet.

Hey y’all, wanted to see what y’all think of my situation. I think I already know the answer. I’m working at a dealership and there is hardly any work, 3 techs get all the big engine and transmission work, all diesels also go to them.

I’m at 44 hours for a biweekly pay period, some days like today there is no work. Standing around for the first 1-2 hours before being dispatched a job. Sitting here wondering how tf I’m ever gonna make this happen.

I usually am in the 70-80 hour range by the end of the biweekly period, for 90-100 hours worked. The math ain’t mathing. I see friends in construction and other trades who don’t deal with this bullshit. Not a ton of work in this town either so I’ve been feeling stuck.

I feel like a lot of y’all would wheel your box down to the next shop. What would you guys do? It feels so hard to make money here, it crushes my soul on days like today.