My experience as a technician was good and bad. As a dealer technician (GM Duramax Diesel tech), it seemed to me, the better I got at fixing them the more junk work I got. I ended up getting tons of electrical diag and problems that other technicians could not fix or figure out. It made it VERY difficult to make decent hours because of straight time jobs or tedious warranty repairs that only pay fractions of Customer Pay time. I also alienated myself at the dealership I worked at for louding out other technicians for cheating aftermarket warranty companies ......I finally left the dealership during the 2008 economy fail. I went to private shops and and an entire new monster presented itself.....crooks. I bounced around a few shops but they all seemed to have the same issue. Technicians, shop owners and service writers constantly made incorrect repairs or charged customers for far more than they needed for a much larger price than they needed to pay. I quit working the industry when I got reamed for bypassing a leaking heater core for a customer so they could get down the road. I did it free of charge as a band-aid to keep their car on the road during the summer. The old man came back in and thanked the shop owner for the repair. The owner was so perturbed that I did something for free that he rounded everybody in the shop together and proceeded to yell at me in front of the entire shop for free work. I immediately told him to keep his job and that I refuse to work for such a corrupt individual. His senior tech of 25+ years also quit. I still remember the car.....a Pontiac Safari wood panel wagon with a 305c.i. small block. It looked like the guys fishing car, that he obviously didn't want to spend any money on. I am now back in Industrial design and much happier. I still mess with cars, but only the ones I want to deal with. I have a glorious tool collection that would make most any technician grin and a wealth of knowledge that is invaluable. The economic times may have attributed to my experiences, but there is still no excuse for dishonesty or blatant thievery in this industry. I will never stop having issue with that. Oddly enough, the thing I miss the most about working in the auto repair industry.......Late night epiphanies. I loved waking up in the middle of the night with a lightbulb in my head popping on......"I know what it is!". It's also great when you remember that one thing that you forgot to do on a large repair job you are doing. Like, "Oh sh*t, I forgot that one thing. I had better do it first thing when I get there".
I enjoyed reading your comment, too bad there aren't more people like you in the industry. I always tell my wife, if all the good persons leave any given industry because of the actions of some others then all that'll be left will be snakes left to suck the consumers dry
+Dirty D " for louding out other technicians for cheating aftermarket warranty companies" The same companies who don't pay diag, short times, want to use junkyard parts, waste tech's time? I'm no thief but I don't lose sleep over that.
wat you posted reminds me of where im working rite now. im a young mechanic but even i can the good from the bad and where i work is flat out bad . thats why i take my bosses customers and save them from getting screwed over . give good service with a reasonable price . i get it its the struggle . my boss doesnt get that though.
J Monies Then how do you feel about technicians out there making 100+ hrs a week by doing just that? All in the meanwhile people like us bust our ass to make 50. It should be considered criminal, instead, it is encouraged. Fuck that.
You did free work and you think youre a good person for doing that? You know that your boss had to work his ass off to open that business and keep it running right? It costs hundreds of dollars a day just to keep a shop open thats with no profit. Its not a charity. How is your boss "corrupt" for being mad? Do you have any idea what kind of liability and responsibility he has? What happens when your free getem down the road repair screws something up and the guy comes back and now wants your boss to spend his money on parts and time to fix it? You dont do "bypassing" anything for a reason. You might be a good mechanic but you dont have a clue about business.
I have been wrenching professionally for almost 6 years as an ASE certfied and licensed tech. I gotta say that I agree, it can be very difficult at times to keep a good attitude in a shop as a technician. I've worked flat rate, hourly, and hourly/commission. I've worked at dealerships and independent shops. I prefer flat rate to the others. But flat rate definitely has its cons too... I think that for anyone wanting to enter the trade, they need to seriously consider the pros and cons before jumping into it balls deep like I did, just cause you liked working on your own cars as a kid. That's just my opinion and advice. Sure, every line of work has pros and cons. After turning wrenches for 6 yrs I have finally decided to take a break from it and go do something else for a living. To me, I'm gonna keep working on cars as a hobby and a weekend service for friends and family, maybe a side business someday. But career wise, I'm done with the trade. And I hate saying that after all I've poured in- blood, sweat, and money on tools.
The Flat Rate system does make me a better dianostics technician, especially when you have a customer waiting it's almost like you get tunnel vision from the pressure.-GM tech- great video. Great info. Thanks
If you get some time to answer please and thank you my 2012 Jetta will not blow cold air for about ten minutes this wouldn't be that bad except I live in south Florida and we're starting to warm up
Have the Dealerships (they set your base rate) and the manufacture (they set the labor time) started paying for this stress? I retired some years ago. This advice about "it is all about the customer and getting the work done" is all well and good, but I have to ask, has compensation gotten better or is it still "want a raise,flag more hours"?
It is largely much of the same. I work at a great dealership, so it's not so bad. But I know the bad dealers are out there, and don't give a F about techs and advisors.
Hello Humble,stress is a killer. I retired early due to health issues and I do not think job related health issues are at all uncommon in the automotive field (I developed A-fib and uncontrolled high blood pressure) Doctors said stress. Some guys like to handle stress with time at the bar after work, not a good idea. I mention money because thinking about how while the job is stressful it sure is paying good kinda makes things worthwhile. What is a good base pay today. I left in 2003 from BMW at 16.75 per flat rate hour.40 hrs at 16.75 is not a self sufficient wage any more and I live in what is called the lowest cost of living town in CA.
this is the only Industry where the Employee bears all of the Risk, and a fair chunk of the Overhead (tools, and Hourly Pay) if I was to get paid an hour for Diagnostics, I would perform an hours worth of Tests the Service Manager can review the Test results, and let me know what he would like fixxed screw it, I don't work for free
Would like to just push through the crap job but, half the time you get interrupted every 15 min for some piddly waiter and its like the service writers wont let you get any of these "more important" jobs done
Honestly how I feel at times. Or when you working on a diag job, go to the bathroom, and find 2 waiters with a “customer states xyz needs to be looked at” on your box
Excellent advice! I wish I knew of your channel when I was starting out as a VW tech. Really good advice for all but for new techs especially. I really enjoy your channel. Keep up the good work.
I found that when I pound through it and hustle to get it done. I end up breaking something or losing screws than I'm really frustrated so I take my time and take a few deep breaths
Ive worked in all kinds of shops I find dealers have the most gravy jobs, and also you are usually working on something that is 5 years old or newer. Sure you'll get the odd stupid shit thats not engineered to your standards for r&r, but you dont work on rusty leaky old 250000 mile shit boxes either.Also at dealerships you work on one brand of car for the most part so you get to know problem areasand solutions and what tools you need to get out. I dont miss the warranty squeaks and rattles though shits enough to drive u insane
Hey Charles, You have NO idea how well you described the "little gang" at my shop. From the hanging out together, to the smoking in the back BS' ing about how the guy next to them got a better job….I guess its universal….
Ages ago when I was a tech, my worse ever job was a clutch replacement on a Renault 5 (LeCar). I think it paid about 6 hours - it took me about two days. The shop wanted to spread the pain around, policy was every tech had to do one R-5 clutch in their life. With that expensive of a repair on that worthless of a car, it didn't happen that often.To give an idea how bad it was, if you were not careful you would break the camshaft because the camshaft ran through the bellhousing. The shop had a lot of 2nd generation VW Bus engine replacements. First one was a nightmare, but I got good at it. They were usually Saturday jobs, paid something like 10 hours; eventually I could do it in about six easy hours. 1st Audi 5000s were notorious for wearing out the front wheel bearings, to get the bearing retaining clip out you needed a $45 (in the mid-1980's) tool. the first job I figured I could get around that. I did but it took a full day for 5 hours flat rate. Once I bought the tool and by the third or so job, I could do the 5-hr flat-rate in about 2.5-3 hours. I'd have loved to just do about three of those every day, but no, I still had the Fiats, Renaults Peugeots and British Leyland stuff to work on.
I'm with you, i always found it best to always be appreciative of any ticket the dispatcher gave me, whether it was a crap job or a good one. in fact, I'd help get the crap tickets done, and because i always helped out, my dispatcher would always take care of me with really good jobs behind it. You could always tell when there was a crap waiter ticket that disbatch was needing to get out because suddenly certain techs would disappear to the bathroom or another department for a while, then I'd finish my car, turn my ticket in, get the crap ticket, and miraculously as soon as I pull it in, all the techs are back. these were the same techs that would complain about all the gravy jobs i got. what's funny is a lot of the crap tickets i got many times turned into good jobs, and I got fast at the hard repetitious ones. so it's a win win. I once did an entire timing belt/water pump service while the whole time, other techs complaining about me doing it, they were only hurting themselves. my shop foreman had the same attitude as me about getting things done, so he was always heavily watched as well. We would poke a little fun sometimes and hang a timing belt on the tailpipe to show everyone that we were doing a gravy tbelt. then got to the point were I'd save an old tbelt and hang it on the car i was working on even when it was not a tbelt job just to give the appearance that i was doing more tbelt than i actually was. Good times. I miss being at the dealer.
I work at a normal shop and not a dealership. I don't get paid much since I'm just starting out, but I love working there, so it doesn't even bother me. There's a woman that brings her Dodge Caravan in and has us do work on, but only small things at a time because she doesn't have much money. So whenever I do work on her car, I almost always find something else wrong, but I can't fix it because she can't afford it. Just seeing this stuff and knowing I can't fix it, it really bothers me. Not sure who even did the work on it before our shop was opened. But alot of the wiring is jerry rigged and not too safe looking. So I guess you could call that a bad job, but not so much on my part.
I used to work on engines. Some with high mileage. Every now and then a customer would say only replace this one part. To do a good or acceptable job you should do bearings and seals and other checks. The fix only this one part leads to huge problems for reliability down the road. I have seen cases where they say replace only this one part and refuse to do that for them.
Reminds me of how much I hated my job. I quit complaining about it and tried to learn as much as I could so I could read about brewing beer. I had a chance to learn a new position and I hated it and now I enjoy what I do
I work at a dodge dealership and we just got a new recall for the 2017-2018 2500+ trucks. It’s a transmission interlock reprogram. Biggest waste of time I’ve ever seen working there. You get paid .3 hours for it. It takes about .2 to do the recall if nothing goes wrong. Unfortunately this recall would throw a check engine light, air bag light and an abs light. Only had one that went good with no problems, just had to reset the factory configurations. I did a bunch of them and they are all a waste. Spend about .5-.6 of an hour trying to do the recall and fixing the issues it causes.
I work at a Dodge dealer too and I, in general hate Chrysler recalls. Some are overly exaggerated, time consuming and flat out complicated. I hate doing recalls in general
How do you contend with pretentious coworkers and customers. i worked @ a dealership long time ago and quit all together due to bad service writers lying to customers and bad training. education was so so and the experience for me was deplorable. i don't trust dealerships at all. The more vehicles evolve the more scams and unwanted sales pitches occurs or just ignorant parts replacers and service writers are abound. Techs that own their own shops rape customers just because they think they should due to what they know. This industry has become a bad example for a career choice. i enjoy watching you. i still prefer to do it myself for the sole fact that i can. thanks for your time. keep the hateful comments coming. i know some people are going to fight me on this one.
Mike Dewsberry I talked about this on today's show Mike. I though you might be interested. :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GKDXnk8aygo.html
This is the video that made me subscribe to your channel. Your positive attitude is inspiring, I'm just a driveway/jack stand mechanic right now and loved your advice. Great video!
Its ok to have a bad job you learn and more you do it gets better however when the you keep getting bad job after bad job and the dealer are saying you need to sell more hours its hard qauilty over quantity
I work at a franchise/chain shop. I see so much LEAKY JUNK everyday it's actually routine. I did front universals on an Isuzu Trooper 3 days ago, and ended up COVERED in motor oil! I didn't do one single oil change that day, either, yet COVERED. Another leaker I had a couple weeks ago-90 sumthin Mazda MPV, did cam/crank seals timing belt, got it back together and the thing had such a bad lifter tick I thought it would blow! did almost 3g's in work on it (govt. assistance program paid for it) struts etc... went to align it, and it would NOT stay in spec. align to spec, drive around block, steering wheel is 10 deg. off. did that whole routine 3 times before I realized the steer rack was sliding around in oil fouled bushings! God was I glad to see that pos leave! lol! The only way to deal is laugh and joke to keep from crying!
Yes Laugh and joke... I mean really what are you going to do. Throw stuff and take a hammer to it? Live, Learn baby!!! at least Dealers get some support from the manufacturer. Also they hardly ever eat part they replace in error. Not so for a small shop, as this relates to a 100 loss if your lucky. Chock it up to experience yes. Many a day I made near nothing and learned a lot. Many A day I made a lot and learned near nothing. IS all good in the end. Some guys will only talk about there strengths and success. We all know the truth.. lets learn together huh...?
I was trained and worked at Honda/Acura. Once I got my mastertech certification, I left immediately lol. I had some really gritty jobs while I was working. Once I left, I worked for a mobile mechanic and a regular autoshop for about three years. I have never seen the kind of crap people will bring to you until I worked in that regular shop. I can't express the level of "WTF" when we would get them sometimes. It was always fun because it was a learning experience, but I don't think anything i had worked on was equally bad at the dealership; I was babied in a way haha. I opened my own shop about two years ago, and I still see the same stuff. The cheaper your rates the cheaper your customers and MAN you can tell when somebody wants to save a buck just by looking at their car and working on it. I had a new guy working with me at the dealership and I was just training him. He was pretty good, but really whiney. We were doing an exhaust manifold replacement on an accord V6 (They're pretty tedious). He started getting really frustrated and just started bitching. I looked at it, and it took me about 10 minutes to do what he was trying to do all day =P I had to tell him the same thing, "Throw a smile on, don't worry about it, have fun, and finish the job!! Positivity is a must in the work place, if I was an angry person I don't think I could do the work I do. Bitching gets you nowhere anyway. Also, does your beard ever get stuck in serpentine belts? "Just kidding" Epic beard though!
I hear ya when it comes to the oil changes on VW products. If I see a Q7 on my rack for an oil change I start getting lightheaded no matter how big my breakfast might have been that morning. Whatever engineer that came up with that location for the oil filter housing probably has a shrine somewhere in his house to Steve Martin's character from Little Shop of Horrors.
I work at a used dealership in town here, and man, let me just say this. People ahvent seen a "bad job" until they get a 2000 for Taurus dumped in their bay with rust so bad everything on the car groans. Brakes are shot, suspension is shot, bolts are broken off at the head because of the rust. Brakes are leaking at the caliper line because of rust, has a dead cylinder, holes n the exhaust, and the dealership wants it repaired to sell. 2000 F Taurus's are worth MAYBE 350 in good condition, we would have to list at "Fair"... And thats AFTER the repairs would be finished. All of that includes a week of work and thats if I am rushing. I told the shop owner at 35$ an hour, they dotn want to pay me to repair it, just take it back to the auction. Now THAT is a bad job... =/
I don't think i have ever had a "bad" job, I'm far to calm and don't care much about others influence on what I'm doing. And that seems to avoid all the problems most people have with cars. It could also be because I'm a home mechanic and only look after the people i know. Which is about 25+ cars. So i only work on a car every few weeks. Don't get me wrong, i went to school for it.. but found out i didn't care about fixing peoples cars as much as i cared about how they worked. I was studding to be a master mechanic. On my personal cars I always go far beyond what i need to do. For example the last car i worked on was my moms car (2005 Cadillac CTS 3.6) which needed just ONE fuel injector.. found two coils that where a bit off so i just replaced all the coils/injectors/spark plugs and made sure there where NO warn seals on the intake, cleaned the MAF, and checked that the suspension wasn't too lose (130k miles, already replaced the entire front suspension at 90K miles). Because on a car with that many miles you want (don't need) to make sure that, that will not be a problem again because diagnosing problems just get worse with the more miles a car has and the less you have to think about that can be a problem the easier IMO. FYI I was away and my mom needed her car looked at because the engine was shaking and went to the dealer. I did that work after the Cadillac dealer said the ECM was bad and said that would fix the problem 100% so i OKed it after she gave me a call but didn't know how much they where going to charge her and charged her $850, $350 for the part and the easiest ECM replacement i have ever seen on a car was another $500 to unplug two plugs and remove 4 bolts that are in i think the easiest spot to get to... MAYBE a 2 minute job. And to reprogram it of course... but the problem came back up a few days later. And a simple engine code scan said it was injector #2 so i reset it with my scan tool to make sure that, that was the problem and it ran fine for another few days than the code came up again so i ordered the parts and dug in. In my experience i don't think dealers ever care about fixing the cause of problems and just want to milk you, seen it happen countless times.
The normal non mechanic people don't understand what the different systems (drive train, fuel, brakes, electric, ect.)are in a car, or how the diagnostic system works. It take experience, you figure out what could be causing the problem that the car was brought in for, if they don't know what's wrong you have to figure out what system is failing. People think you just plug it into a machine and it tells you what's wrong, but no, the codes just tell you what sensors are being triggered, now you have to narrow it down to what could be causing it to throw a certain code, ect... If the car is dead you can't get codes, so you figure why it's dead, most likely a crank sensor or something, try's to crank but won't, but does on starting fluid, it's a fuel issue. Fuel issues can throw EGR codes, when there's nothing wrong with the EGR, lol, and is obviously part of the exhaust system. You throw plug codes when it's a coil, ect ect... It all comes with experience.
Having both dealer and aftermarket experience, Id have to agree that the tougher diag is to be found at the dealer. That said though, there are much greater resources at the dealer level(other experienced techs, techline, elsa, ect). You also have to deal with the warranty complaints like squeaks, rattles, and water leaks that no one seems to care much about once they have to pay to have them fixed. But overall it can be a total headache no matter where you work.
sears automotive was a pain. low base pay, low commision pay, forcing most tech's to hurry up and not fully diagnose cars. also got denied workers comp after wrenching my back.
I work for a small used car lot dealing mostly in salvage and reconstructed vehicles, I would have to say my worst day was changing the convertible top on a vr6 eos. I'm the volkswagen guy in the shop so naturally that job fell in my lap. Talk about a nightmare. That was one time I was thankful I'm paid hourly.
I did 8 years non dealer as well as a mechanic for the U.S. military. big deal.. lol. I worked for gm for 3 years now and flat rate sucks 90 percent. dealer is harder more complex than.private shops 95 percent because what in life is 100% besides death and taxes. any way technicians and dealership have engineering support techline,,,as per electrical problems and wiring which really helps in a dealer wich gas station's do not have!! and I feels like it's almost cheating because in the private sector you and garbage all data.. I think to be in the private sector and in the dealership make a well rounded mechanic. short and sweet the dealership specifies and just there make and models so you can excel and totally become a master of that brand of vehicle. a private sector mechanic has to be on his feet dealing with all types of things from all which direction..
greetings from australia, i worked in a dealership now work in a very reputable private shop. You stated that you thought that dealerships get a lot of rough work but in a private garage like mine you get those difficult jobs to diagnose but without factory tech support knowledge, tech tips or factory scan tools to somewhat ease your pain, you really rely HEAVILY on your ability to work out how something works before you learn how to troubleshoot it (sounds straight-forward but when its fault tracing an electrical fault through 5 seperate control units manaully with a test light or multimeter you get my point) there are many other examples but i think we can agree that although both jobs can be difficult at times i think dealers have the advantage of knowledge and factory backing with information of one particular manufacturer , as apposed to private where this knowledge is harder to obtain and often needs to be self taught with all manufacturers and considering all of the new cars have changed from the last its a constantly evolving job.
yes sir worked for GM delalers for 20yrz crappy jobs push through and do it with a smile on your face. people notice your pay goes up and people like to talk to you. but sometimes you just got to get pissed off and walk away for ten minutes and try again and boom u get it.
I agree. Being a dealership tech for 10 years I've found that the more experience you have and better you get at fixing the problem child vehicles, the more you get them. It's kind of frustrating that as a reward for your efforts in doing your job better you get all the nightmare jobs. Also, dealerships are usually the "last resort" that they've had their vehicle to every other shop in town and couldn't figure it out so they bring it to the dealer.
+Robby VanWagoner If Humble Mech was doing warranty diag all day ... I guarantee .. he would be neg tech. Especially when ur neighbor is doing the ez pz cp work all day long. Let's face it. Some techs always get the good stuff and others the low paying pia warranty work. Be honest. Work is not always fair.
Hey love all the info cause I can relate! One thing I can't stopping looking at is your commute, I live in the bay area here in California and traffic is terrible!! Your commute is so much better no traffic and everything is green, amazing.
i work in a private garage and i absolutely love working on vw mk4s , they are so simple and parts are easy to get, but i literally hate every other vw out there lol
Back in the early 90s, I went from cleaning the toilets and filling gas tanks at a Chevron, to being the service manager. I had a tech. tell me he needed a bag full of zip ties for an exhaust repair. Remember, i am new at this whole auto repair thing, anyways, this Camaro needs a complete exhaust system, i am overseeing three techs, so the zip tie purchase gets lost in the days happenings. Customer picks up his car, drives off, comes walking back about an hour later, said he smelled burning plastic, then his whole exhaust system fell off the car!!! The next morning the tech racks the car, looks under there, and comes to me, and says he needs more zip ties, more than the day before!! The best part of this whole story, this tech just got out of the Navy, as a Submarine tech.......!!!!
Absolutely. Been at UPS for 16 years and 1 guy can ruin the whole system. Now, I'm in a crew that is pretty much family. No behind back, no drama. Actually makes work fun even on the crappiest of jobs and you never wake up with that "pit" in your stomach that you have to go to work again. Cause' there, there are no single specialists... if it's broke you have to figure it out. Like you say, pound out the crap jobs and don't forget how to make them easier for next time. Great vids.
I really did not mind what I was dispatched, that is if I knew that through trust developed by past experience with me my employer would always make sure I at least was paid straight time.
Thanks for your advice.I’m A VW master tech since 2013.I deal with that every day.see a lot of master tech quit because of this especially now dealing with ID4.
Dealership is by far the worst as far as getting shafted on hours, because warranty typically doesn't pay diag time, and there are alot more cases where labor hours are impossible to meet than there are where mechanics win. I worked for Ford it was horrible because almost all i saw was warranty, when warranty goes out they take it to private shop instead of dealership. You're lucky, because most people don't want to repair VW so much higher percentage of older cars come back to dealership for repair. I always wondered how warranty justified paying 1.2 hrs, when same job non warranty pays 1.9 hrs...... It's insane.
My mom had a 2004 Passat Turbo 1.8. Electrial problems out the wazoo. Replaced headlight bulbs every 2-3 months. At 40000 miles traded it in for a different car. She has sworn off VW.
already get paid for it ship it repair don't fix it comes back already made your money. should not have flat rate should be bonuses for little to no comebacks per month PERIOD DO YOU GET THAT!!!
You're a better man than I am. I don't work on cars for a living, but I learned, or maybe re-learned something from this video: There are coworkers around you who are taking the same punches and just rolling on. So, why not be one of them? Thanks, my friend.
Your right about pushing thru but has to be right because comebacks suck. I worked gm dealers did a lot of diag and warranty. GM dropped the hours so there would be no winning so i walked away in 06. Was a good job but negative clicks can be a drag i generally kept 1 or 2 good friends and stayed away from the others. Think if your training u should get your trainee hours tho
Hey do the dealer techs work M--F 8--4? I`m 46yrs old and im thinking about back to school for a career certificate in automotive technology. How much does a tech start off making at a dealer?
That tdi problem car you mentioned in the beginning , was it p0191 ? I replaced the sensor too and high pressure pump , tested the fuel rails and flow rate. All tested ok, I drained the tank and put a new fuel filter and fresh diesel , fault still keeps coming back after the engine races just past 1k (it’s an A3 tdi ) gotten no help from anybody and I still keep a smile on my face , the gang thing is was almost does it for me when they get the PDIs and I’m knee deep in diag.
dealing with a 02 ford taurus with a gas cap light, changed the cap,, light still on,, took the tank down and tested for leaks and no leaks,, such a simple system but such a hassle
I've worked in most mechanic field and hands down fleet maintenance electrical work is a worst. The other day I had to fix a back up alarm and after digging through 4 different hacked harnesses I found the factory harness and it was simply a connector that broke a wire internally. Now I have about a mile of spare wire on the self.
great clip. I found and learnt back in my apprenticeship days. the worse job that came into the shop. I was going to get no matter what I said. so the more you bitched the longer the job took and harder it was to do. the quicker you got into it, it was done before you knew it. the ones I hate and still get are the hard core diagnose problems no matter what you do you cant charge the hours spent in time to fix it. except next time when you are the only one who know how to fix that problem. some you share or put on Goggle others you keep to yourself. because there is always somebody you know who (I knew that) after you told them
the worst ive seen is in the lower income areas, where people try to diy a repair and they fail epicly and the car gets towed in. from personal experance its the worst. having to un-dicker cars and fight rust etc, tis not fun. and this was at a non dealership repair shop. best example is someone who tried to put an anti theft system, and loe-behold it wouldent start, was a newer vette. I had to sort it out. it was miserable.
oh yeah PS I also had an old Opel GT as car actually but the the fan I guess something happened with the fan on and a cut right into the radiator so I replace the radiator and luckily I found something that I overlooked the previous mechanic Godfather II to do it never hurts you do nothing was bitching about it it was the motor belts were totally shot they were busted cracked afraid and I do if I let the customer drive away with a brand new radiator and fan that it would be damaged right away so I told him I said I would highly recommend we don't start this drive it because it needs all day but her bill it's about her bills is the reason why the fan came right into the radiator so that was another one too
Asian warranty is the worst. They won't pay diag time unless a part is changed. Sometimes we just slap parts to get paid because nobody wants to waste their time.
I hate to work on somebody else's comebacks and the waiters that's been there for a long time and already complaining about taking too long and also hate to work on those small tire leaking problems wtf take that Shit to a tire shop plz
I wish I could hire techs like myself. My business would explode. I offered a lot of money to many techs but they actually prefer to make less and not work properly. New era of techs are lazy (obviously not all). In my early days (i'm only 34 but still) I doubled shifts to make just a tad more money (because tax brackets) because I was eager to learn and that's what gets many good techs through the learning curve. BTW, if any one is a good tech and wants a job in Vancouver...I'm looking (Appliances).
I wish I could thumb up this video more than once! It's amazing how all types of techs have the same process... I also had to work through the hard jobs for less money, but now that I own a place of my own, I don't take the hard jobs or charge good money for it. If the customer is unhappy with what I say, I give the diagnose for free... tell him exactly what it is and send him on his way. MANY came back to say "you were right" and they spent more money elsewhere until someone found the issue. That's how I get the best customers, that actually appreciate honesty and "by the book" jobs.
i have worked all side and on most stuff that rolling on and off road. biggest pain i have ran in to is porly modded cars DIY's that went wrong or a "tec" that did not do a proper job
+Thebad300 Worst ive come across is aftermarket parts, especially bullbars and bashplates / undertrays that simply get in the way of the job at hand. Being cheap parts, they've began to rust. Ofcourse the service advisors dont take any of this into consideration and now you're an hour behind -.-
The 'worst' car I ever had come into work was an old 5ltr (304) Holden Stateman. It actually used to be my dads car which he regularly took for repairs at another mechanic workshop, he spent alot of money on repairs and maintenance. Anyway after he sold it I had it come into my workshop on a tilt tray, the car stalled out and refused to turn on again. I was given the job, jump in the car fires up right away no issues, we took it for some long drives worked fine. Customer collected it, made it 3 mins down the road and it died again. From that point on wards it always played up. The amount of work we done on that car was insane, we found a lot of dodgy repairs on the car from vacuum lines being coiled up and thrown under the intake runners because it was too hard to finish the job to body filler being used in place of a missing timing cover bolt. We fix all that, COMPLETELY rewire the motor. Pull the motor down and inspect everything, replace the computer, and the remainder of the electrical system (from tail light to headlight no wire was left alone) still playing up. Had multiple other mechanics come in to try work it out, nothing. So we try a known running motor and trans out of my bosses car, put it in.....same problem. Take it to an auto electrician. They cant find a single thing wrong and actually complimented our wiring job and said it was overkill but wouldn't fail. Well we decide after 6 months we cant get this going, we try get another workshop to take it over, they tried for 3 months to get it working tried a lot of the same stuff. Eventually they give up too and the customer by that time was pretty damn furious and gets the car picked up. He let it sit for 1 month then tried to take it to the shops to get some booze and it has worked flawlessly ever since. To this day we are completely at a loss as to why the problem did not respond to anything then all of a sudden it just works. Just so no one gets upset for the customer being destroyed in the bill, he ONLY paid for spark plugs, leads, oil filter, oil and air filter. We ended up covering everything else including the tow to the next workshop, and the next mechanic did not charge a cent either.
hey MAN YOU REALLY spoke to me. im ten years in. VERY humble and skilled but not tye best.. I remind.me of my self as I look at my job in front of me..
After my wheelbarring almost threw off the wheel on the highway, and we've got it to a mechanic... I was really lucky that my friends dad knew the mechanic, those guys spended 5 hours getting the old barring out These are just issues that you'll run into with cars... Especially older onces...
I'm totally one of those guys that had an engine replacement on a hybrid. But it was at a friends shop, not a dealership. Had routine service done at a dealership near my college before taking the 380 mile drive home. They found a "small leak" and refused to do anything about it and just told me to monitor the oil level and fill it up periodically. 300 miles later (including checking/topping off oil as needed) the rear main seal blew and the engine was toast and I had to make the same drive again in 5 days.
Hi Charles. Love the pod casts! I have worked for an aftermarket garage and Skoda Franchise, I got my but kicked every day in the aftermarket garage mostly due to lack of brand knowledge and resources and continue to get my but kicked working for the Skoda franchise. However, crapy work is what improves us as techs, the more crapy jobs you do, the more you learn, the less crapy the jobs get and like you said getting through crapy jobs gives you so much more sense of achievement than spinning filters all day. The thing I find the toughest is balancing the pressure of hitting targets with crapy jobs, but again like you have said push hard and were you loose time dealing with crapy jobs and developing you can make up when you get another job you already know about because you've previously had your bt kicked by it. Process is key, never assume anything, always get all the info before getting to involved. I like to talk to the customer myself if there's any doubt. The more research you can do the easyer the working day becomes, the easyer it is to enjoy yourself, and for me a good sing along helps keep me positive. I have seen little gangs broken up by relentless positivity. People in those groups see a guy always happy and enjoying themselves and eventually, and I must add it can take a real long time, they think 'I fancy a bit of that ' and start gravitating toward positivity, positivity is contagious but can't be forced on people! It realy changes the whole feel of a shop for the better! Keep up all the good work!
you want to do the worst work I think I've ever seen how to say the worst work I have ever seen was the guy pulled up in a little 58 Chevy pickup truck and a Corvette front end and he was complaining that it was squeaking real bad and it was brand-new you could tell it was bred to do and I guess the other outfit that worked on it and put it in they never bothered to grease or Lube any of the fittings it was just dry it could be and so he had to lube up all the fittings in joints and and then go ahead put do a realignment so one-sided that did the alignment everything was fine other the customer was happy but I'd say that was probably the worst of me brand new Corvette suspension do front end clip I installed on this truck can and definitely was lubricated or grease it was a slap. That was kind of one of my worst jobs I seen
I'm putting in my 2 cents before I watch the video it was my philosophy as green horn to take the crap jobs for several reason 1 you don't learn from tires brakes and oil 2 you make friendly (not to true friends just not on there bad side )with your service writer that investments pays well in the 3 and 5 yr plan so u just take it with a smile and u will learn a lot the master techs who have forgot more than you will ever know will respect you for this and help when they can
Unfourtante reality of the trade (and life) is that there are Always at least one negative person/complainer in the shop. They can be like a cancer, but you are right, keep a good attitude, learn from your mistakes and move forward!
I have been a tech for 24yrs and used to love it. Unfortunately, this industry has pretty much put me through the meat grinder & I am looking for other work. I find it funny that you have as hard a time getting reliable info at the dealership level as I do working at an independent.
your awsome man, a mentor and a good roll model for future mechanic's. its a grate video for mechanics that don't need info but fell like they only get the bad jobs and have bad days, but for a peace of mind that all of us get those bad jobs sometimes. your outlook and attitude for the job is spot on. keep up the good work and great video sir. (another subscriber :-) humblemechanic you da man!!
thanks for sharing. These are complicated and a tough field. Im with you and feel your pain bud. you are correct just power thru and get it done. The worst is when the guy with the easy job berates you for taking so long. This was always the hardest for me. The job ill fight until its done. The other human stuff should not be tolerated but it is. Service advisers dont help... Better Man are you! Peace Brother...
I never knew the motor trade was so universal!!! I've been working at a dealership for 11 years (since school) working my way up to master tech, but after only a decade I'm genuinely considering leaving the trade altogether, but don't know what else I could do without much training
+Ian Holland this video has been up for well over a year. You're the first to say anything about the formatting. You sure it's not one of your settings?
Great heart to heart video on being positive and motivated when doing the hard stuff that not motivating. One thing you said that surprises me. I did not know you had work experience in the retail sector. I work in retail and do not like it at all. Person I do want to make a change in another direction. I was inspired that you made that transition from retail to automotive which was a worthwhile move.
I have done dealership aftermarket and now own my tiny shop by the far the worst work is when sister law calls at 2am saying here Honda won't charge they threw the parts bin at it no luck and could I please help and btw they out of money now
good video, however, please stop driving with your knees. one hand open your water or wait for a stop sign. said with love for you and the guys around you :)
i work in a private garage and i absolutely love working on vw mk4s , they are so simple and parts are easy to get, but i literally hate every other vw out there lol
