There have been shortages of idiots to work for free and cheap since the dawn of time.The whole 40 years that I can remember.It's just car scammers and a criminal wage suppression scam."Jul 26, 2009 - As some of you may have heard there is an ongoing and worsening Technician shortage in this country."
There are no such things as worker shortages in a free market capitalist society only suppressed labor markets.Not enough technicians or too many criminal car pigs trying to collect 87% gross profit margins on auto service labor?
@@tripplefives1402 YOU'RE A TARD! "Ask for John Neely. Call or apply in person. $20/hr is for applicants that have completed an Automotive AS degree from a junior college or like tech school."
I was an auto tech for 25 years and I can honestly say do not ever be an auto tech. Specially in Dealerships. They will do everything to not pay you. They will rarely give out raises. Warranty work times are always going down. There is no benefit to being an auto tech these days. Do something better.
There are no shortages of people capable of doing that job for money.They only have shortages of dumb and cheap and this is just another criminal wage suppression scheme.
joe, look at joe and tell me crime doesn't pay. the whole time they tell you that crime doesn't pay. the only reason they say that is they don't want any compaction. DAM CROOKS. THEY ARE THE ONES KEEPING THE WAGE LOW. BACK IN 1980 I made 23.11 an hour. look at how much they pay today
If they need employees they simply have to pay.They are charging as if a German rocket scientist was repairing your expensive vehicle but hoping to find an at-risk youth on a government training program or an illegal immigrant to exploit.
@outkast40 correct. The majority get under 20% of the labor rate. When my Papa was working, and he retired from being a tech back in the early 80s, most guys got half the labor rate. He's the only reason I chose to do this work. Unfortunately, the field drastically changed by the time I got in it just over a decade ago.
@@danielkoontz6732 This is typical of any skilled trade.If they paid 50% and we gave them 10-12% for employment costs and benefits that puts them spot on the money with 38-40% gross margins.Any business would think that's pretty good. "May 17, 2021 - HVAC service, repair and replacement work are more profitable than new construction - gross profit margins run 30-40%"
I was a Dealer tech. There are no rewards for quality work, or knowledge. you are punished for that. The highest paid guys are the hacks, the liars, crooks.
Im an automotive tech of 11 years. Just over 30 years old. Been in dealers since the start up until 3 mo ths ago when i went independent. Went from 30/flag hr to 40 flag hr. Got all the ASE certs 1-8 and L1. (Forget the hybrid cert. Even at the dealers i rarely touched a hybrid.) Have my own tools and I had to buy my own, 10k scanner because independents around here don't have their own or they have some ancient piece of junk that doesn't work all the time. This industry, automotive repair, has been gamed by the business owners for decades. They've been screwing their technicians, the people actually fixing the cars, and running away with a fat check. When the door rate is 189 and I inly see about 20% of that, WHAT THE??!! That's theft my friend. Dear techs, go for the highest bidder. Get a guarantee of 40 hours a week at your flag rate so when it's slow you're good. Flag more hours. Demand 8-5 only and no Saturdays. We work too hard for too little.
In my area, mechanics are working for $15 dollars an hour in 2023 (Detroit). Why would anyone want to get rich turning a wrench ? lol....only a fool would enter this field. They will be a bankrupt fool for the rest of their lives. The market has no appreciation for the complexity of auto repair and doesn't seem like it will anytime soon. Try to diagnose vehicles and solve problems and you will go broke. Sell juice and you'll retire comfortably. Go figure.
I’m in Central Valley California. Starting lube techs get paid 16-17 and hour. You can search on indeed about this. Dishwashers get paid 16 an hour full time. Amazon warehouses here start at 19. In and out burger a fast food place starts at 19 an hour lol. Why would you want to be a lune tech. There is zero incentives to being a tech these days. If I can post pictures of the job posting here I would.
How is this possible? They just imported more than 15 million highly skilled workers, from more than a hundred different countries. They told us that we need them, because we have a shortage of skilled workers in this country! You're telling me that they lied to us?
It's just another scumbag Republican wage suppression scam.The U.S. has 21.1 million people with a BA or higher in science and engineering that don't want to do free warranty work and recalls either.There have been shortages of idiots to do free work since the dawn of time and they are mental fucking retards.
Would you work for 12$ while everyone talks about how you are doing everything you can to rip them off while the boss is charging 130$ per hour? Also like majority of shops are 50-60 hours a week without overtime pay.
There have been shortages of idiots that work for free and cheap since the dawn of time.There have been shortages of mechanics that fix cars for free for as long as I can remember.It's just not a problem that can be solved legally.
As a mechanic I can tell you these newer cars (2010 and up) get harder and harder to troubleshoot and are total GARBAGE with so many parts designed to fail.complete failures of engineering.and some days of mine are horrible from it.if your smart you'll stop big it these new pieces of shit.stay in the 90s /early 2000s if you want a reliable car
I got out of being a GM mechanic for 10 years becuase I got tired for working flat rate and rushing repairs to make flat rate. My dealership charges customer $125 flat rate hour and I got paid $22/ flat rate hour. When I would get nasty repairs (example: DROP an engine in a Buick to change rear bank spark plugs which pays 0.5 hours, or droping an engine to replace the water pump) and try to do a quality job I would get paid way less per hour as the job would've taken longer. Some times I would flag 30/hrs per week and stayed at the dealership for 40+. I also hated the dealership constantly riding me to chage the verbage of the extremely minor leaks I found from "minor seepages" to "major" or "must need attention soon". That also took a toll on my personal ethics. I left for a nice, exciting job at a world top three semiconductor plant as an microcontaminte engineer (Company paid training) earning $6k per month. I will never go back to be a mechanic. They would have kept me if it was hourly so I could focus on quality repairs instead of rushing, finding short cuts, and lying to customers 😡. So happy I took a risk at looking at doing something different with my life
Talk to the actual techs and get their opinions. I can tell you now that complaining that you had to offer more money to attract people is honestly hilarious when most techs are working late everyday and working hard and still being underpaid. Shops that used to be good have now become money hungry and are over working everyone
They are an organization believing that they are in control of a labor market."Price fixing is an agreement (written, verbal, or inferred from conduct) among competitors to raise, lower, maintain, or stabilize prices or price levels. Generally, the antitrust laws require that each company establish prices and other competitive terms on its own, without agreeing with a competitor. When purchasers make choices about what products and services to buy, they expect that the price has been determined on the basis of supply and demand, not by an agreement among competitors. When competitors agree to restrict competition, the result is often higher prices. Price fixing also includes agreements among competing purchasers or competing employers about the prices or WAGES they will pay. Price fixing is a major concern of government antitrust enforcement. Individuals and companies that knowingly enter price-fixing agreements are routinely investigated by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies and can be criminally prosecuted. Potential penalties include lengthy terms of imprisonment (up to ten years) and large fines (up to $1 million for individuals, $100 million for companies, or twice the gain or loss from the offense). Where appropriate, the FTC may also bring a civil enforcement action."
The pay doesn't match how complicated cars have become. Everything has to do with the consumers. Consumers didn't care their car was getting more difficult to repair, they just kept demanding more features and buying and assumed car mechanics would keep adapting. Were gonna need an attitude adjustment now, unless consumers want to buy expensive disposable cars. lmao
It's not a mystery why. High input cost for a low paying and difficult job. 1) You are required to provide your own tools. This easily gets into tens of thousands of dollars. 2) The pay is not all that great. 3) No environmental controls, if it's miserably hot or miserably cold, you deal with it. 4) Being saturated in oils and lubes sucks. 5) Certifications can be time-consuming and expensive. Being a tech in the semiconductor fabs pays far better, easier work, good benefits, etc. I am much happier doing auto tech work on the side rather than for a living.
For sure. Purchase your own tools, Work lengthy hours, take a look at this one for no charge, slim benefits, and pay not commensurate with your ability's. Whats to hang on for.
first you are working in uncomfortable position because cars nowadays are getting compact and you cannot even put your hands inside just to remove the bolt. removing starter need to remove intake manifold. removing sparkplugs need to remove turbocharger. you cannot directly inspect the drivebelt or brake pads, you have to remove the entire covers just to do it. and the pay is very less. there are so many complicated things in cars. who wants a headache??? NOBODY! so nobody want this job. just find another career that is more easy to do. this job will drain your brain and back pain.
No shop wants to pay anyone to properly diagnose the newer vehicles. Flat rate is garbage for diagnostic technicians. It's why I'm looking to get out of this trade after 30 years.
Karma bites back finally. Exploitation on mechanics by both parties (dealership and manufacturers) finally bite them in the ass. Shitty warranty book time given by manufacturers and dealership taking most of labor fee and paying mechanic low flat rate with no job security.. what do they expect? 😆
@@jennyohara4011 Modern Vehicles have tighter tolerances due to emission standards become more and more stringent. Sparks plugs are controlled by computers. Carburetors didn't make the cut, modern vehicles are most likely Multi-port fuel injected, with Direct Injection becoming the replacement. Both require a computer and sensors to spray the precise amount of fuel to mix with the air. No carburetor can be as efficient.
be glad there are no carburetta anymore. there is no way people would know what to do and your car would be broken down way more often. the computers made stuff alot more simple, but nobody has taken the time to learn how to diagnose, and its genberally not taught.
I was a mechanic for over 10 years I loved working on cars but got out of business in 2019 for pest control why because whoever u worked for paid you like shit!
Blue collar jobs are all in dire need of workers. We are going to really start realizing how valuable blue collar jobs are when we can’t get a plumber to come to our house.
There is no such thing as worker shortages in a free market capitalist society ONLY suppressed labor markets.It's only a gimmick and a criminal scam to attempt to control the supply and demand equation.If they need employees all they have to do is pay up until the positions fill.It's mentally retarded!
You Aussies are way too stupid to understand any antitrust issues but all these businesses are criminally colluding and forcing their profit margins continually up.We have 21.1 million people in the U.S. with a BA or higher in science and engineering that don't want to fix your piece of shit cars under warranty for free either.
Was a tech for 7 years and accumulated tools, certifications, and experience/knowledge of how the businesses operated. Going to school now for business degree so I can have my own shop. I'm never going to work harder than for myself. There's money to be made, but I'm done sharing less than 10-20% of revenue.
Dealerships have the poorest run management i have ever seen and 75% of independent shops they will make any one a manager no concept or knowledge of a car and service advisors are even worse but they are guaranteed a pay check and make atleast double the pay of a technician. Wake up technicians you are a asset or liability as a employee my advice after 30 plus years stay as far away from any automotive tech position because they absolutely do not care about you you are expendable to them
Hobbying/ Car culture is one of the main ways new techs get into mechanics. Regulations are getting too strict and prices too high for youngins to get in and develop that initial passion. The US is also planning on banning gas cars which will drastically reduce the amount of work available over the years to come. It doesnt make sense to get into now when it'll be just about dead in 20 years
You are way off the ball!41% of new techs quit and get out of the industry within the first two years.They all come in with the expectations of making a decent living playing with hotrods,diesels and turbos and then find out it's only about fixing plastic electroshit under warranty for free.You're a moron!
21.1 million people in the U.S. with a BA or higher in science and engineering that don't want to fix your smelly plastic shit buckets under warranty for free either.
Not really. There’s still gonna be ICE cars on the roads. The problem is the lack of pay, the dealers still wanna pay you 20 bucks an hour flat rate/commission pay that will fluctuate with no guarantee while they keep raising labor rates. And then there’s the culture, I don’t wanna say the newer generation is lazy but they’re just not interested in getting dirty. A lot of mechanics in the industry are moving to fleet maintenance. It’s hourly and has benefits and pays a lot better.
No. Pay is shit for the skill level and investment demanded and has gotten worse over time when factoring inflation. It's ALL about the fucking money. End of story, but the corporate scum don't and won't accept that. They'll have no fucking choice soon though.
This is because parents are telling their kids that manual labor jobs are not good and that they need to work in an office. This is when you get when you don't teach kids the value of hard work.
You guys must not know anything about the automotive industry. It’s a terrible industry that’s why they can’t fill the positions. Notice how he said they had to increase wages and pay their guys “fairly” so what was it before ? $7-$12 an hour and you need to have a shit ton of money in tools ?
"This is when you get when you don't teach kids the value of hard work" - Ummm...the well paying 'office' jobs , that are in constant need, aren't a walk in a park either. You have the same issue as the parents "telling their kids that manual labor jobs are not good ", you both lack an overarching understanding of the situation: Why woulda kid put in as much effort as an engineer but only make a fraction of the pay? Modern vehicles have become more of a headache these days. They can easily have over 100 ECUs that have tight tolerances (can easily put your car into limp mode if something is not behaving correctly) , which requires a tech to not only invest in expensive tools ( ex. oscilloscopes) and dedicate more time in training in order to better understand how they interact with each other. The worst part is finding the problem on FLAT RATE or making $15 - $20 an hour but headaches are hammering your performance rate.
No. That was the mindset in the 80s and 90s. Go to school, college, get picked up fortune 500 company and be set for the rest of your life with a pension…
I will be 70 in February and will have 49 years in this profession , I don't have many regrets. I've done much better than a lot of my friends. I'm tired tho, and want to enjoy my end game. So, I also will be leaving this industry and hope for the best for who remains. I've seen a lot of change in all of those years but these new cars, every year get more and more complex. With all of these comfort features, proximity alarms, heated and cooled seats, cameras, remote functions, ect,ect,ect , demand a very skilled technician to diagnose and repair & I haven't even touched on the strictly mechanical end of repairing one of these new vehicles. 30 or 40 years ago these motors were formula one technology, now it's mom's grocery getter. Lets just say it can be VERY labor intensive & expensive to diagnose and repair. Hope it all works out for you instead
I worked with a NEW mechanic named Don got his lincoln tech auto repair diploma. This guy took 4 hours to do a brake job, over an hour to change a tire. He was BRAINDEAD he gor fired after a few weaks. We had other mechanics where cars came back on tow trucks. were not repaired right, Tie rods coming off, lug nuts loose, brakes going out and other stuff all were FIRED TOO
I am a retire tech .I saw this coming back in 1990 that is when they got greedy and started cutting wages and basically didn't care about the techs. I had a shot owner said to me that mechanic s are a dime a dozen
Not exactly on topic but I decided to take an HVAC installation and repair course because it’s cheaper than paying repair companies hundreds of dollars an hour. Back when I was a soctware engineer, I’d do most of my auto maintenance and repair myself, because even paying for a lift at the DIY garage, plus what I could sell my time for as a professional, was radically cheaper than paying a mechanic shop. $800 to install new brake pads. $1000 to replace an alternator. It is insane.
as a full time mechanic and independent shop owner, I can confidently say that its not the shortage of techs, its the shortage of pay. This job requires constant training, car companies are constantly changing technology in vehicles, on top of the fact that each job has to be done with care, precision and no room for error, as well as spending tens of thousands on tools, and performing a job that takes a toll on the body. all for a median salary of 45k. dealerships and manufacturers struggle to make profit and their way around it is to take advantage of the techs.
My husband is an A+ technician at Chevy dealership. 37 years in the industry. Constant training and heavy work. Low wages. This is all true. Plus the new kids just can't mentally handle the challenge. Nor do they want to do the work ; it's mentally and physically exhausting. The old work ethic is non existent in the young generation. They want easy jobs with big pay lol 😅
I'll take a hard job with a better wage. Who wants to bust their butt for chump change, hmm? I know I don't. You don't get to demand that high school graduates go to school so they can work as auto mechanics in the middle of a shortage and then refuse to pay them properly. High supply, low demand, low pay. That's how it used to be. Now that we've got low supply, and high demand, it's time to raise the pay.
Not to mention that if it's a good school it's gonna take up a large chunk of your time, and last I checked, you have to pay for school unless the employer says otherwise.
There are plenty of people capable of that job for money.They only have a shortage of people to do it for free and cheap which is a criminal wage suppression scam.SCUMBAGS!
I am a shop manager and I can tell you that the shortage had to do with the miss treatment of techs. I’m lucky at my shop I have good owners. Not the case anywhere else I’ve worked. I’ve had plenty of kids working under me and most of them were hungry to learn and do their job. This scapegoat of a “weak new generation” is not as true as you make it out to be. The problem has been the treatment of auto techs for years now. Nice try though. I like how you wedge that in there when you had already explained the problem we both agree on.
Thought I wanted to be a mechanic when I was a kid and attended Vocational school to do it. Then I worked in the field for a couple of years. All I can say is fuck flat rate! Only person/company benefiting from flat rate is the owner of the shop/dealer. Customers get the shaft big time cause a mechanic does not want to continue to work on something that they are no longer getting paid to do. Imagine if doctors were paid flat rate! There would be people dying left and right! I am glad i learned about the trade though and still do tons of repairs myself and keep myself from getting overcharged when I do use a repair shop.
This is why im moving to texas next year. Im a diesel mechanic and theyre offering big money and seeing as australia is done i might as well give it a crack.
Not enough technicians or too many criminally colluding car crooks trying to collect 87% gross profits margins on auto service labor?"This is not the only industry-wide conspiracy to suppress wages that has recently been uncovered. Poultry companies, representing about 90 percent of the poultry workforce, have also been exposed for a decades-long conspiracy to suppress the wages of workers. Both the red meat and poultry industries have also banded together to demand special visa privileges for their respective industries. The cognitive dissonance here is striking. They claim labor shortages in their industries, but there is massive evidence of collusion to suppress the wages of their employees."
@@billythekid2281 he is right, tafe would brush over anything electrical and the workplaces would barely have time to teach things properly. its kinda up to the individual to learn in their own time. so many times i have replaced good parts because something else was the fault from other people diagnosing. hell these days we are even lucky to get " australian mechanics"
I am an advanced DIY mechanic. It's risky to enter a career fixing today's fuel-powered cars if in 20 years EVs take over, which will require a different (and likely lower) set of skills. EVs are simply less complex.
Have you ever worked on an EV? I was just watching videos on how to work on the electric batteries. The person on the video said it was a quick easy job, had to take 10 minutes removing the back of the interior to access the battery. Then the real fun began the process did look simple but was extremely time consuming compared to other mechanical work I done as a noob. Granted it was quick compared to changing an engine. This was on a Toyota hybrid, I imagine the fully electric vehicles will be more of a pain because of the frequent either shorts in the electrical system or the battery replacement itself.
No , the new cars & trucks are so complex & they are being changed every three years or so & you need software that is being updated daily nobody can keep up & the software that you need to diagnose a problem is getting more proprietary ( dealers only or they need tech support from factory only available to dealers !! & pay the mechanics more money. Go look at the new car & truck dealerships being built then tell me where the $$$$ is going !!
No one wants to work for free and if you work at a dealer the manufacturer makes you work for free a lot don't ever get into this profession trust me they brought this on themselves
Lol, biden said we would go electric by 2030, as soon as people heard that they pretty much jumped ship, the only reason to become a mechanic now is to work on your own cars
my take. australian mechanic. the pay doesn't match the knowledge require, the skill, the labour and the tooling. not worth it, you can earn the same for less effort. its too hard and dirty compared to alot of other jobs. the industry has a shortage so the solution has been to get in unskilled / immigrants to take the positions, but they are making it worse and keeping the wages down i feel ( as they are more a liability than an asset) nobody is really keeping up with the technology in the cars and the tech is changing so rapidly. plus the manufacturers hide any information of repairs so the industry is littered with shotgun diagnostics which costs customers money and doesn't fix the concern and it gives a reputation to everyone. (again keeping wages low and referring to unskilled/immigrant workers) in general, i would also say people have lost the ability of critical thinking to solve a problem, they are programmed like a machine and anything past reading a code or a basic check is too much. maybe people don't truly understand how each system works with each other. the Tafe system was severely neglected and the people learned nothing of value and just fucked around in class, but it was the job for the people who are "dropkicks". so that also got a reputation for the trade despite that cars are almost robots now. ( akin to machinery that you would have previously needed an engineering degree in to fix, like factory equipment) training is so bad, and they still teach mechanical separate to electrical despite the two being so interconnected now. generally the people in charge seem to be investor type people and don't understand what being a mechanic is. so the focus shifts to high turnover, quantity over quality. customers already do not want to pay the money, or cannot afford it in the first place, how are we going to increase wages. i feel there are too many broken steps before we fix that step. i do not recommend this trade for money/ career, just do it as a hobby on the weekends. i regret alot of my time and i really want to transition into engineering roles as its would be the same thing for twice the pay and half the work.
If there is a shortage of mechanics why not start apprenticeship programs. One of the reasons many of us shy away is because we have no support networks. Without support its hard to get any level of education past highschool, if you are living on your own. Feom my understanding dont mechanics have to go to school, and have their own tools? If so that is a high barrier for entry, i know basic maintenance such as fluid changes, brakes, component replacement sych as alternator, starter, cooling system, ac components, basic electrical. But even oil change jobs seem to want way more experience than regular maintenance these are supposed to be the entry level.
Im certified in auto mechanics , they do not pay enough for me to bother with it . Most places want to pay you on a flat rate per job, have the people that came up with those times fix it after a few rusted bolts break off. Why do i want to work hard at a physical job when people get paid more to do billing codes from home. I know how to fix my own problems and that of my family's. People better figure it out on their own or get used to mega high repair bills .I used to know LOTS of people in the 90's into auto mechanics , i know NONE now. The ones i knew all quit doing it by 2015 or so. I have passed none of those skills down to my kids because they don't need to even think about trying to be auto mechanics . Better start paying mechanics double what your used to . Sounds silly but the rate shops charge has doubled, pay has not. When the typical shop has crappy medical crappy vacation and worthless retirement benefits then all you have left is pay.
No money in this trade if your a mechanic, only the weasely shop owners and their clisest buddies are making lots of money out of this shitty trade, NOT the mechanics who do all the work
Ill quit being a mechanic the day I have a family current dealer tech and its not enough money to support more than the individual so no suprise nobody stays
1:15 "Emily's Garage has had to increase wages to attract candidates." Interesting strategy. Did they hire an MBA-type consultant at $300 per hour for a year long study to arrive at that decision?
pay a tech what they are worth and treat them fair and stop the bs thats why you cant find workers i have exp fixing cars i grew with multiple family members in automotive my dad was a gm tech my uncle was a collision repair tech /painter my uncle was a gm dealership parts mgr 2 of my cousins 1 is a auto tech other 1 is a collision painter so i have exp in different areas of automotive autobody & mechanics i grew up doing this worked fir a few shoos later becone a truck driver for 15 yrs then i went to try automotive again applied for a lube tech since its been yrs tgey offered me 14.00 at a chain shop a year an half ago checked other shios and deslers same pay makes no sense and cost 80 a week for uniforms id make more washing dishes so i started doing retail & sales not the best but better than making peanuts
@@nottoday8483 cry. If you can't fix your car by yourself, you shouldn't have one or own a car, simple common sense. That is why motorcycle, public transportation and bicycle exist.
@@fbyi2940 Aw man, when you have an infrastructure built around the automobile and sprawling it is practically a burden to rely on motorcycle, public transportation, and bicycling. Maybe its ok in big cities, but anything outside of that is a nightmare.
Nobody is going to work on cars because every job done on a car is right next to impossible. And these auto companies are at total blame for this. Jesus christ man it takes $300 labor just to find the right part to order for the repair and then you can't get the part anyway. We got people running the world that don't have a clue and they think they can fix things by outlawing drag queen shows. WTF