Bay Area 86 Specialist. Fremont, CA. We offer enthusiast vehicle repair, modification, and track prep
CM Autohaus was established in 2018. Our mission is to provide the highest level of personalized and professional service. Whether you have a high dollar classic, track car, JDM import, or daily driver, we strive to treat each customer and their vehicle with the same level of care and respect.
Hey 👋 What if right after I buy brand new GR86 , before leave dealer I would order deleting stock RTV service and put proper new one? Do you think it would prevent any of rtv issues at all in future?
Worked at my friends Cadillac dealership as electrical systems engineer only but got to see everything like the oil tank filler guy filling Mobil 1 full synth tanks with regular oil. That alone made me fully understand the scam in a whole.😂
When I started in this business the mechanics got half the shops labor rate. Like a barber, nail technician or hair dresser. A server at a restaurant gets 20% and they don't cook anything, usually don't even bring the food to you, someone else does it for them. The days of mechanics being the ones who are uneducated and working for peanuts are quickly going away. If you're good at what you do stand up for yourself. Some of my best pay increases came from moving to a different shop. Then getting a bigger increase to come back.
Be sure to stipulate when you hire that the dealership pays full time for warranty repairs and eats the loss not the tec. If they don't agree , don't work for them.
It's a tuff business for sure. I've left shops that wanted me to spray paint a starter with a bad connection, one that wanted to give my work to his son in law, another over physical threats. It's always best to move on and every single time I made more money. Have to stand up for yourself, but also know when to pick your battles. Tuff balance.
I learned the hard way when I found out the person who was fixing my car at the dealership was an apprentice and unsupervised. I'm not mechanically inclined but I got sick of the dealerships and decided to learn how to do my own maintenance.
Back in the day dealerships were family owned. The owner was head of sales, head of parts, head of service. He had a vested interest in paying mechanics right because his reputation in the community was on the line. Now dealerships are owned by well, who knows. They are run by people that wouldn't know a rocker form a rotor.
I just changed the shocks and struts on my 2010 RAV4 because the shops wanted to charge me 2000 dollars labor for 3 hours (MAX) of actual work. I, too am trying to find an honest mechanic with reasonable rates... I'd keep them busy with work.
I had a young lad bringing in food and loving on manager to get gravy work. I played the game timed the work to give him a headache that he couldn't fix and I could. Dealerships teach you to hustle, I had to learn everyone will screw you, have to fight for yourself.
A friend worked at a dealership where the owner a) really cared about his customers and b) understood that the repair and other departments were CUSTOMER facing and valuable.
I started as a tech many many years ago at firestone, stayed in the that same place for a good 15 years before i threw in the towel, i ended up opening up my own shop cuz a good front of mine owns napa in my small town and sends me clients, however..... you really laid it out well. that shit your saying is 100% sad and true
This man's experience is why the only time I go to the dealer is if it's a system like the 2012 Ford focus titanium sport with that wacko Trans that Noone but Ford word even touch. That was a 2012! What about these Trans now!
The glass ceiling only exists because people in the middle don't want you to achieve more than them. However there is no stigma, the rich just hate us and don't want us to achieve more than them
I will say it again, "A Good Mechanic/Technician is worth their Weight in Gold." As you mentioned, the complexity of modern vehicles is off the charts, throw in they are made without "servicing" in mind, emissions, CAFE, making the vehicle easy to assemble on the production line, and inexpensive to make. Take all that and throw in the "Stealers Operating Practices" and unfortunately, like it or not, you are in a "Circus".
Left the dealership in 1993 and went into fleet for next 30 years. Great decision, no customers. You figure the drivers out in time like who's honest and who's just a complainer. Playing a school custodian now just trying to keep my body from any more abuse till retirement. Good luck finding techs, even PepsiCo couldn't find and keep them.
Not sure why a video posted in June 2024 starts out “here we are at the start of 24…” but don’t suppose it makes much difference. Sounds like you just need to develop into an alternative field, complaining won’t change anything. Plenty of skilled people in other fields who also feel they are not fairly paid for what they do. Find one that pays better….
I do my own work. From cars to my house. I know better than a mechanic or tech because I design my own systems. People these days want 200 dollars to come out and change a simple capacitor that costs 10 dollars. Or they want 300 a fridge because they have to stand there and put .2lbs of freon in the system lol
1--If you allow people and are companied to use you and obeouse you and you don't know when to say F.. NO!! then it's on you. Grow a spine and stop that nonsense or continue being slaves. 2---GET FUCKING UNIONIZED!!@ 3---WORK AS CONTRACTOR NOT AN EMPLOYE, THAT WAY YOU CAN WHRITE OFF YOUR TOOLS, TRAVEL ETC. 4--- GET TOGHETTHER WITH COUPLE OF YOUR MECHANIC FRIENDS AND OPEN UP YOUR OWNE HONEST MECHANIC SHOP. EVEN IF YOU LOW ON FUNDS THEN JUST START WITH OIL CHANGES, TIRES MUFLERS AND BRAKES, AND ONCE YOU BUILD SOME CAPITAL START BYUONG DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS AND EXPENDING THE OPERATION.
Not all of us mechanics joined because of the pay scale and major purchases of tools. Diesel mechanic of 23 years. Dropped out of college to pursue being a mechanic. My wife is a mid level manager at the hospital. Our income gives us a house in the burbs and newer cars. Vacations x2 a year. I don’t have to worry about each paycheck. During Covid I was recruited to my current garbage company. They offered a bonus and pay was increased because of the shortage. The kicker was my kids college is paid for. That sold me. Because of the shortage. I call the shots on my schedule. I work day shift Monday to Friday. Overtime is on my terms. I have the key to the shop. I still love my line of work even year after years. In 2001. Guys were stopping by my work looking for a job. That dried up in 2009 on. You could not make doctor appointments then without taking a day off. Breaks were shunned from the boomers. Any more than 1 week vacation. You were treated like shit. I am taking 3 weeks vacation in July. The only major downside about my field. They have gotten rid of Foreman and only have lead and manager. It’s bullshit. I am 49 and still have to wrench on the floor all day. That was not my plan when I first started at 25. Guys 40s were managers or foreman and did not have to wrench more than an hour or two. Only dirtbags back then were not in charge.
This dude is hating dealership? Always complaining bout it ! Everyone start from somewhere let it go I'm sure you wasn't born to be a "super tech" right a away
There's no x in especially. It's not "expecially". In case you do the same thing with your Italian coffee, it's not eXPresso, it's espresso. You spent too much time being a stealership nerd, you forgot to finish learning English. I'll let you know if there's any other issues. I'm only like a minute in. I'm predicting right now that you're gonna have an issue with further and farther. Just my professional opinion, we'll see.
I'd be interested to hear the response from the service manager after you explained to him about the valve adjusting situation, and the fact that you've been given the task of correcting other's mistakes because they didn't do the job right.
" Service Advisor is just a Glorified Salesman" ,no truer words😂. A CBC ( C anada) report / expose said that Service Advisors get paid by COMMISION, they often sell jobs/ repairs not needed.. New Sub here and I thumbs👍👍 up you Twice if I could
It's not "kiss ass" rookies it's part of politics in a work environment ! It's called you feed the hand that feeds you it's sad that you think it's like that but that's how the world is
Well said, horrible trade! So glad I didn’t go that route back in 2008 when I got out of the navy. It’s hard enough to motivate myself to work on my own cars.
I worked as a technician at a dealership, on a different type of vehicle than cars. Some similarities of experience... 1. they raised the hourly rate they were charging customers by 20% because the "price of everything is going up" but did not pay the technicians any raise as if their costs for everything were not also going up and our pay was already not enough for the local cost of living. 2. The service advisors did not have any experience in the field. I don't think they were making a ton of money but they were making more than me which seemed absurd. Also they had a 20 year old woman doing the warranty administrative work, also making more money than the technicians. There is a shortage of technicians I guess but no apparent shortage of people with no industry experience willing to sit in the air conditioning, doing easy work and getting paid more. To anyone running this kind of business out there, here is a clue. If you run an ad for months and get 0 technicians in the door but you can run an ad for an office job that requires no industry experience, pays well, and you get 10, 20, 50 applicants, you might need to evaluate the basic supply/demand equation and pay your revenue-generating skilled people more and your office sitters less. Especially when you have to turn down customers due to said shortage of technicians. I went independent and can make as much in a day as I made there in a week.
I always followed the rule that a journeyman tech 10+ years gets 30% of the shop labor rate. It worked for me. I retired a diesel tech. Hope I never have to go back!😂😂😂
