Car Companies don't want you to know this // Why I left the dealership. 

I'm from the UK, we have the same thing with Engineers, "skill shortage". There is NO skill shortage, it's a shortage of pay, companies are trying to pay skilled engineers to basic minimum working wage which is about 27000 USD, and because recruiters don't know how to hire engineers, we've got a lot of people in their 40s and 50s with decades of experience, who can't get past the recruiters because when they got qualified a university degree wasn't required at all, and at 45-55 years old nobody can afford to quit work and go back to university, to get a certificate for things they already know and have been doing for 30 years.

Thank you for the watch. Just hoping to give the public some insight into what goes on behind the scenes at the dealership

Does the California smog test require a technician to quit smoking cigarettes?

Worked at Toyota at 19 yo with 2 semester in auto. The bar is getting too low. If you don't do drugs toyota takes hair samples you can be a tech. The industry is now collapsed. Nobody is going to be able or wanting to work on electrical stuff.

Indeed and its one of the main reasons I got rid of my 21 STI. I owned a 2018 & 2019 WRX along with the 21 STI. Unfortunately the techs at the dealerships often would not fix the issue and break more things when I would get the car back. My very 1st oil change in my 2018 WRX ended in the lube tech not tightening the oil drain bolt and well you can guess what happened later. Long story short after giving Subaru many attempts with different dealers, i said no more. I left the brand in frustration due to the lack of ability from these dealers to work on my cars.

@@Notfiveo0*Ha!, ha! No, at least not yet. Cali sucks in so many anti-freedom ways that this might be next. Nope, I don't live there. Cheers!*

@donflores5227. Hello sir, is it better to lease a vehicle or buy? I wondering leasing would be better you can at least get rid of a car e ery three years.

Congratulations to you and your family. I knew of one other person that did so well. Unfortunately the story didn't end so well for him. Be well and thank you for doing quality work.

@@Dawn191 Over time leasing cars costs significantly more than buying and holding them for 8-10 years (on the order of 5x more). Leasing cars is a good way to avoid retirement because you lack savings. Pick a good brand that is reliable (Toyota, Honda, Subaru, Mazda) and just use it, and maintain it by the book. You don't even need to take it to the deal for routine maintenance.

As a consumer I greatly appreciate this info. I go to a cadillac dealership where the people are friendly but their skills leave alot to be desired. It is mainly good for maintenance rather than troubleshooting/repairing

Here is another way to put it: I have NEVER heard an advisor complaint that they had to write up a warrenty RO. (They obviously are not the ones getting screwed by manufacture warrenty)

Former SA here, I quit because of the high stress levels and 60 hours per week

@@SaraiVarelaaa take home pay each week? after taxes?

They talk just in a different way

Yeah, they do talk somewhat, I'd still rate this job as being easier than a veterinarian's :)

As a mechanic I can 100% confirm they do talk and it's not a good thing. All that connectivity through computers and your cell phone talk about where you are and what you are doing.

Unlike (too) many of your brethren/ sisteren,he lacks the God Complex.

This man 😂 Much ❤!

As one who got out decades ago, you think every dealership is like this? I remember in 1988 thinking I needed to get into a dealership tech apprenticeship. I was going nowhere as a young punk vending fleet mechanic.

@@jimvenizelos4649 ironically, I started as a fleet master technicians apprentice, doing diesel and hydraulics systems diagnostic and repair and love the job. But wanted to get trained and certified to become a master automotive technician in the field. But to answer your questions yes, all dealerships are the same because working as a dealerships senior master Technician at a dealership for years now has changed me just a little bit about being a technician for a dealership because of the operating system, The only thing that keeps me honest is the mechanics Creed of treating every car, the same as if it was your mom‘s car in for repair, regardless of the financial loss..

​@@jimvenizelos4649times have changed you'd probably make more working on vending machines now

Master tech Means you are the top idiot. You don't understand the white boy rule of work smarter not harder

​@jimvenizelos4649 I did this at Porsche and they wanted to push me to work alone on the line. Left and went to school and no not UTI. I'm learning the fundamentals and trying to figure out if I go back or try a different side of things.

Sorry I know this is month old but also when you work on your own car you get to slow down, do things meticulously and properly, do all of the steps that maybe a flat rate guy might skip or cut corners to get paid. I just rebuilt my SUVs entire front suspension, save for the front CVs, for about 800 bucks. I also sand blasted and painted the knuckles, dust shields and strut towers. Brand new control arms all four. Saving money is making money when you do the work yourself!

@@stickit2theman1 E-X-A-C-T-L-Y! Nobody cares about your car more than you do. Mechanics are incentivized to go as fast as possible. When you do your own work you can slow down and enjoy building experience and KNOWING the quality of the job was done to meet your standards. I love working on my own cars but would never want to do it for a career.

@@No_914 I also found two of the three large bolts for one of the lower control arm brackets were nearly rotted in half Went and got some replacement 10.9 grade bolts cause fuuuck that Imagine taking that to a mechanic and they just put them back on and send it you would never even know

I believe you.

Good insight

And that has to change !!

Basically that’s what he was saying in the video. Get ready it’s here right now, the world is about to stop moving.

This is true, I'm no mechanic even with a Haynes auto repair book that says step by step how to fix a problem or watching a RU-vid video on fixing the problem I still struggle with some basic fixes like changing a alternator on a 2011 gmc Arcadia.

The line goes up when the salesperson secures a deal and the line goes down when a tech does worse than expected. From the perspective of an owner salesperson is to be awarded and a tech to punish.

That's in any trade...as an HVAC tech it's the same way. A lot of the times techs get blamed for something that the sales guy would sell that the house layout wouldn't work with and they expect the tech to just micky mouse it and make it work.

Absolutely Right!

Thank you for the kind words. I must not be that smart to still be in this dreadful trade!

@@CMAutohausyou’re describing complacency, you’re definitely smarter than your average bear. I hope you find peace and start your own.

​@CMAutohaus yet 'living your dream and supporting community' I've been a tech for 30yrs and owner for 22 and love my clients and piers.

@@unencumbered that’s good to hear, I got distracted with my current project is300. So I didn’t watch the full video. God speed my friend.

Mechanics that drive to learn how to diagnose/fix properly are equally smart as most doctors. He is ^^

Thats 2 too many i know in my area😂.

“Live life stress free” Until their car breaks down!

So many mechs are leaving the profession. I’ve heard heavy diesel mechanics make much better money than automotive but not sure. All I know is I can open the hood on any semi and walk right up to the engine. Why would any mech want to torture themselves working on these poorly designed newer vehicles.

I work at an indi shop. I used to own a vw / Audi shop. I make more as a tech than I could owning. And I clock out at 5pm Clock in at 8am No phone calls No paperwork

I'm on my way out the business myself.. I rather work on my customers cars than work at the dealership or even at enterprise rental...the shop managers don't know a thing about cars just how to drive them. I'll try my hand at boats instead

@fastinradfordable Correct you are! I closed down my shop and worked out of my house. I told my clients that if I make a mistake ​it comes out of my pocket. However, I will be the one working on your car so mistakes will be greatly reduced. They kept coming. I knew the work was good, and three days a week of work paid 10x what I made with my shop. With the shop the land lord, the insurance company, and the state made most of the money.

Always wanted to work in a shop and so glad I never did. I just do work for friends and family and I charge $75/hr from my house with no boss 😊

100%

Actually, technicians (mechanics if you prefer such terminology) ARE doctors. We're car doctors. We diagnose and repair them. We maintain them. Many of us have a genuine passion and love for cars, and it translates into our work. Generally, replace cars with humans, and you're talking about a physician. I used to use this analogy all the time when I worked at dealerships. Here's what kills me. If that car fails to operate as per design in many situations, it could mean the difference between living and dying in a wreck. Now, whether the customer wants to listen to our diagnosis and repair accordingly is all on them. No different than heeding health warnings from your physician with the SMALL exception of, if you fail to lower your cholesterol and suffer the consequences, it's just your ass. If your car fails while on the road with other motorists, it could be many people impacted by your lackadaisical approach to maintaining your vehicle. That said, an argument can be made that technicians are not only helpful but vital to keeping the roads as safe as possible, and protecting everyone that vehicle passes when it's operating as per design. On a final note, ever see that loud mouthed jerk in the waiting room throwing a fit about having to wait for their car to be finished? Doing that at a doctor's office could lead to your expulsion from their practice and forcing you to find a new physician. Do that at a dealership, and you'll have a service advisor kissing your ass and then they'll proceed to pester the technician working on your car, breaking their focus, to ask the most annoying, irritating, and possibly stupid question one can ask a tech mid repair "How much longer?" Let me ask you this: Are you going to burst into the OR while a surgeon is working on an open body and ask them "How much longer?" HELL NO!!! So why I ask is it socially acceptable to do it to a technician? That distraction could lead to a monumental ooppz and then a barrage of obscenities and wrenches being thrown. Oh, and most importantly to the customer, more time having to wait while we fix the problem that wouldn't have otherwise occurred due to their impatience.

Except we're paid 3 times less 😂😂

@@sigmamale4147 😂 sad but true under paid and under appreciated smh I salute you guys nonetheless y’all keep the world moving🫡💯

@@sigmamale4147 in the U.S.a, way way worse than 3X less, more like 10 to 30X less! wow ,u have no clue!

Damn, that's pretty bad; no wonder there aren't many good techs working in dealerships anymore like the guy in the video said! In the past, taking your car to the dealership was the best way to guarantee it would be worked on by someone knowledgeable about your specific brand, but with stories like yours, it's probably better to service my car at an independent mechanic.

The tool truck probably got most of that money.

hey man I was the first graduating class of that in Milwaukee. I can't remember what our rate was I think it was about the same. older guys I work with said it used to be 50% paid to the tech. ended up leaving when a car got damaged that I didn't even touch and they wanted me to pay for it. I change careers after that. was so tired of getting salt and slushed up my sleeves and down my back in the winter time and fighting for every goddamn penny I made and having warranty claims bounce. remember getting paid 6/10 of an hour to fix something that took hours and hours including diagnostics? Yeah we all did the miscellaneous operation where we had to pull back carpeting and take out seats and repair a weld even though we didn't really do any of that, we just said we did to get paid. our dealership was crooked and we charged extra parts to customers under warranty all the time and sold the parts back to the parts department, they gave us a small percentage of credit that we could use to buy parts for our own car from any supplier in our system. That didn't even work out because the parts department guys stole all of my credit. The entire dealership industry is crooked as hell and I will never go back. I hate having to deal with them. almost forgot, our service manager stole a million dollars from the dealership somehow but he had all the connections so they kept them employed and only paid him $250 a week until he would repay what he stole. Well he was still was buying a new house in cash and putting three daughters through college so he was probably stealing again or took more money than they knew about. real crooked son of a bitch he was.

Work for your self far more profitable!! Theee is plenty of auto work out there

right! and instead of finding the biggest sweetheart and most fair person in the dealer to be the dispatcher, they enlist the most sadistic and self-serving ass to have that job. The dealership owners dont care about turnover in the shop or a lack of quality techs who can pay their bills, they want money!!!

😊

One time 2 people from corporate and an engineer from Japan came to talk to me about a car I worked on that got bought back. Everyone including the service manager sat in a chair in his office while I had to do a half asian squat in the corner of his office - muti-hour long meeting by the way (also dont get paid under flat rate). It was only years later did I ponder why no one in that room suggested to get me a chair - hierarchy and putting me in my place is the only thing I can think of.

@@CMAutohaus man that is so disrespectful sorry to hear that , some people just suck , no wonder why i like animals better !

Account is where it's at. My wife works for Elliot Davis, a CPA firm and they get really good perks

@CMAutohaus that's crazy, but I believe it. I'm the same person now as I was back then, but the stark contrast in how I'm treated now compared to back then is night and day. People really do need to appreciate not just the skillset of auto technicians but the blue-collar workers. With that said, if time permits, I've come to find that it's hard to find good auto technicians these days. Even being out of the industry, I still find that I can still do just as good if not better of a job on my own vehicles versus dropping it off at a shop.

Wow, surprised to see someone like you leave a comment! This video is blessed now! I keep interviewing current dealer techs (to hire for my shop) and it is my same story but worse!

@@CMAutohaus I begrudgingly had to take my STi to the local Subaru dealer Saturday for an alignment and balance. As I have neither tire equipment, nor an alignment rack. Right away they broke a stud and the adviser came out to inform me it’d be $92 to replace. I’d just had all four wheels off two days prior. No issues. All installed easily and torqued to 120NM with a torque wrench. Then they told me 3 of my 4 wheels were bent. “We can get them for only $315 each for you if you want to lock that in today.”

​@MrSubaru1387 I just replace studs and bill it to the shop it's NICKEL AND DIMING the customer to charge for it its not worth the hassle of waiting for approval LMAO

I took about 8 months off from the Industrial Allison Transmission field to work at a BMW dealership and then went back. One thing I heard while there was the Sales and Parts show a profit and the service showed a loss. This was strategically structured and the way they wanted it. There were a lot of really good guys at that dealership and hope they made out well. I saw quickly that I wouldn't like the way things were ran and I was very lucky in the transmission industry. I went to the Allison class at Indy when their new Run By Wire models came out in 1990. They gave a blank check to dealers for diag on this new model. SInce I retired I've become interested in pattern recognition, you see people do things that don't make sense but they keep doing it. There's a reason they don't ask what you see and a hidden motive for why they do it again and again. They just can't tell you openly.

There are a lot of old broken industrial models based on taking advantage of people with low wages. As more information gets out those industries will either go away, or consumer prices on a lot of services will rise. Just a matter of time.

Hope you bring healthy food!

Dude I take any food anytime. I am literally stressing and burning off more calories that I am consuming for sure. I get at least 3 concerned comments a week about how skinny Ive become

@@CMAutohaus haha I’m no where near California. My mechanic used go over what he does to my car like a chrisfix video when he still had a small 2 car garage he was working out of. Now he upgraded into a larger shop and makes me wait in the lobby due to insurance policies.

Years ago at an Alfa Romeo, BMW, Lotus and Saab dealership, one of our favorite service customers was a very highly regarded surgeon working at 3 local hospitals. We took care of his wife's SAAB and his hot rodded Alfa that he autocrossed. After he retired, he opened a high end boutique butcher shop with the nicest meat in town!! Now, as a butcher, he'd bring in a huge box of custom steaks for all the mechs in the service dept!!!

I was a Ford mechanic for years, but every single dealership in the country is crooked. They have to be or they can survive but many of them are just greedy bastards. every time I get my car serviced, I always go to the dealership because I'm too lazy and I make enough money to where I don't have to work on my own cars, I always bring donuts and I make sure the sales team doesn't get any. I always come in right when they open, 2 hours before the sales team gets there so they don't get any donuts.

no such thing as self made.

@@jb7797he isn’t a kid anymore, he is in his 30s

@@jackeroo75 When you're double someone's age, you can call them a kid lol

Thank you for the kind words and the watch

I'm amazed with labor laws that flat rate systems can even exist...

You go to school you learn every part and how it works, you get an RO at a dealership service advisor and job says replace part and how long it takes. I did this for a year learned nothing, they wanted to put me on the line no ASE Certifications and in the end I'm like I'm just changing parts.

@@Chuckfinlee432changing parts is just part of being a mechanic/technician. No way around it. Especially nowadays when it’s cheaper to replace the part completely then try to fix the broken one. And I seriously doubt you didn’t learn anything in a year of working in the field. That’s bullshit, if you didn’t learn anything then the problem is you

I’m 72 and have always done my own work and education is from a lot of reading and watching some great you tube guys that know much more than most dealerships. This video shows how f Ed the mechanics are. Just think of how easy an owner could fix these problems and he’d sell more cars.

Thank you for the sincere, kind words. "automotive techs are the most disrespected people at the dealership"- this one spoke the loudest to me.

Respect brother. This video was so informative. As a former electrical technician I know what it feels like to be harassed to work faster and to cut corners on electrical equipment which could put lives in jeopardy if not within spec. Wishing you all the success.

I too left the Nissan dealership. My coworkers in the shop were great people. What it did not like was the people from the manufacturers coming into the shop and putting us down for little stupid stuff. You know where people think there's a problem but there's not. He tied up the shop for over an hour with his bull. To me he wasted corporate money by just wasting our time. Cash for clunkers came into the existence under a certain president's name. All sudden people were buying cars of still didn't get them fixed. When I realized I was hoping for warranty work which cheated the technician. I found a different line of work and been doing much better than being in the repair business.

That's so true and they see you as uneducated. That's why you work as a mechanic.

Bingo. And thank you for the watch!

Well heck i figured the electric cars will fad out before we get to deep into them , or they would build mechanics in the same shops that build the cars and or batteries ..

Pay doesn't reflect on qualifications that's the problem

@@MikeSmith-nu9wt ??? that is incoherent! u mean the factories where batt's are built? That space cannot be used for repairs, duh!

@@18_rabbit no not the repairs done there, the training ..they got ai now , there so good at designing cars , just make some robot mechanics to fix them ..lol

Bingo

Comradery and using the lift to work on your own car were the only two perks. Even at the free company lunches I remember still being sht on by everyone else in the dealer besides the car washers.

Why​@@CMAutohaus

@@jeffperkins1667*The pecking order from petty little turds you would not invite, would not want in your living room.*

The constant ASE training that a technician or mechanic Hass to go through is really only important when a new piece of technology comes out or a new iteration of something comes out, and to be refreshed on those particular functions or parts of the vehicle to constantly be tested to make sure that you know the basics when you’ve been doing it for 1520 years is a complete waste of time and money on the technicians part. And yes I agree it’s completely unfair that he’s glorified Sales reps that call themselves

Not anymore for Honda unfortunately

​@@garystar1592 What happened?

Don't forget about porters to service porters are important to to help the mechanics to bring the cars into the shop most service advisors just sit there and don't do nothing

@@chrisdominguez5632 And the porters that port the porter porters are not to be overlooked as well. Subcontracting all the way down.

Lol

had the same experience,I did all the hard and "shi*" work while the lower-skilled techs got all the gravy and hrs. they had way less tools and training but got the easy hrs--been a tool driver for 34 yrs never looked back. now working on cars and trucks is fun!

I was that guy as well. I now work on city busses.

Thank you for the well written comment. Glad you got out of the industry and are thriving.

Random question, would you recommend CS or IT?

@@Doomskum CS is more math intensive and carries more weight in some circles. But having experienced either side of interview panels, both are pretty much interchangeable for most positions.

@@barpatron Sadly, this is not true for everyone. A number of the mechanics who expressed dissatisfaction when I left are still in the field and still voice the same issues several years later.

Fk cars I want to be Doctor Dre.

What do you recommend, the 7 years like the manual States? I personally waited 10 years low on the mileage on a Honda Ridgeline. The water pump gasket was starting to go no leak.

@@bigjay1970 Yes, 10 years or 160000kms

⁠ I replaced my timing belt at 120,000 miles both times timing belt was still in a good condition that I think I could go for another 50,000 miles. My next timing belt job would be 330,000 miles. I hope it make it before it gave up on me. Right now it’s too cold for me to work on it. Now when to replace the timing belt always goes by the manufacturer recommendation and I think that if you live in a hot area that is 115 degree Fahrenheit it might need to be replace sooner before the recommendation as heat will cause the deterioration a lot faster.

@@Byu50 I've done first-time J32/J35 timing belt jobs on cars with 90 to 200k miles on the original belt. All of them still looked great. I think the recommendation is just because belts *do* go sometimes, and an ounce of prevention definitely is worth a pound of cure (a new engine pretty much if it goes). 120k miles or 7-10 years seems fine to me, however.

What’s your recommendation for transmission fluid changes on 2022 Mdx. Thank you

It doesn’t surprise me. Never change your CVT fluid? That’s insane! Probably wants your transmission to fail so you’ll buy another car.

Thank you for the kind words and the watch

I tried to run a union fight. it got ugly. one dealership voted union so they fired all the mechanics and rehired non union. i was left un hirable

I don't agree with the Union approach. All that does is funnel money to political campaigns that do little to nothing to actually help the people in the union. This guy has the right approach. He never named a specific dealership, but accurately conveyed the problems that occur in a dealership. Some independent shops have their own issues as well. That's why I decided to go into business for myself. Now I'm the owner, service advisor, receptionist, accountant, purchasing agent, janitor, logistics coordinator, and technician. With all of that my stress level is far less than when I worked for someone else.

@@narcissistinjurygiver2932*Being the troublemaker has consequences. However, I heard that 'Frisco stealerships are unionised...*

@@user-fw2jo7iw7k*You Sir, are spot-on.*

@@user-fw2jo7iw7k With all due respect, I have to disagree with you. You are correct that Teamsters contribute mostly Democratic candidates which I don't agree with but that is not all they do. I make $32.55 an hour for all time I'm at work before I even move the first inch off the yard. I make $.80 a mile for all miles driven, average that at 55 mph that's $44 an hour. 100% company payed health insurance for myself and my family. 4 weeks a year vacation And at my age (just turned 60 this month) a pension provided by the union payed for by my dues and the company's payments. There are other LTL (less than truckload) companies that are non-union that make close to what we make per mile but they get no non driving pay, have to pay for their health insurance every week, get less vacation time and no pension other that a 401k. The only reason that they make pay close to ours is because of what WE get payed. If our union didn't exist all of us would make much less. If all of the trades would unionize we all would have a much higher standard of living.

Thank you for the kind words and the watch!

20 years as a tech, not flat rate but just at 2x minimum wage so I had to supply my tools. Destroyed my knees and back being scrunched under that alignment rack all day..Was looking for something easier on the body. Went to work as an IT tech for a public school district. Spent 17 years there. Trust me, it was 100x worse. School districts are dramatic soap operas on a daily basis.

He wants to be a counselor lol that's not an easy job as well

Iam a porter for a dealership and I seen it to I go to random tech I understand what they go through cause porters and techs gets treated like crap

Thank you for the kind words and the watch!

I have a 2023 CX-5. Great car

I’m a tech at Mazda now how much do the advisors make??

Battery operated cars are already consumable items (if not consumed by fire already)

FINALLY SOMEONE said out loud about the oil change. I specifically don't let anyone change my oil due to trust issues, plus I have been working on my own cars since I was a teen..

For side hustle, it's legit

Thank you for the kind words. I'll be 34 this year. Started my automotive education at 15 and apprenticeship at 18.

Haha life was much easier when I was running "Autohaus" out of my home garage.

@@CMAutohausthe Asian genes we got in our 🧬 im always looking 15-20 yrs younger but internally I’ve aged less energy lol

Thank you for sharing and glad to hear that you are thriving Brother!

I've still made the hardheaded mistake of staying the industry (running an auto shop). Haha hope I learn before its too late!