I’m 37 been in the trade for 7 years in dealerships of 3 different makes, Maserati/Alfa, CDJRF and Volvo. same dealership tech exploiting bullshit at all 3. Corporate chains, franchise chains and one salary position (no benefits) in commercial fleet maintenance shop. I hate it. Long hours, working days off, stress of flag, moving toolboxes between jobs, extraordinary tool costs. I like electronic controls and computerization diag and generally the technical aspects of the work itself but the environment and employers and never ending financial catch-up game are sucking the life out of me. Nor do I want to be a self-employed mobile mechanic as working on broke peoples shitboxes in their driveways sucks even more.
What are the other options?
Critical facilities work or the semiconductor industry might be good bets. Better pay and much better working conditions, albeit shitty hours sometimes.
I was a dealer tech for 25 years. I got into warehouse maintenance job. Repairing machinery. Conveyer belts and such. Pay is less of course. But I have better healthcare, Monday-Friday schedule. Work in climate control warehouse. All holidays off. No overtime. And best no need to buy tools. If your good at diagnosing vehicles then this will come easy.
I work in truck leasing. Good benefits, 40 hours a week, good steady pay with a yearly raise and the occasional promotion. Trucks are newer and there is not a lot of heavy work to do. Don’t need many expensive tools for the same reason.
I did that shit for 50 years calm down it’s only going to get worse
Seems all auto mechanics hate their life / suicidal. Why is that? Is the industry that rough?
I was a 20 yr old tech coming home feeling like 56 yrs old every day. Bruises, burns, scratches, and a relentless back pain. Couldn’t leave the industry fast enough
It’s because dealerships want you to upsell every single thing you can.
employers take advantage and don’t give a shit and most customer think were dumb con artist. what’s not to love
I worked as a race car mechanic, pretty much… 3 working days in one day , 7 days a week. It never stops… living out of a travel bag. Laundry at the hotel. Air plane flights lay over in who knows where… gawd I miss it… LMFAO
There’s an emerging market for automotive InfoSec
I left the field at the start of COVID. Look into a county or city mechanic job.
This may not be the answer you expect, but you can nearly do ANYTHING you want to do. The big question is - what do you WANT to do?
Do you want to stay in automotive? If not, figure out what you’d prefer to do and pursue it. If you do want to stay automotive, make a list of every single auto-related job you think would interest you. From parts guy to some sort of odd work from home tech support.
One thing you should definitely check is federal/military jobs. They pay well. Excellent benefits. And the work load would likely be much more manageable. USAJobs.com is the only way to apply for federal jobs.
I just went to USAJobs and typed “mechanic” in to the keywords box. There are 1,251 listings. Anywhere from $15 per hour to around $80k a year for specialist positions (such as electronics equipment specialist).
You may seem stuck with what you’ve got. You may have blinders on to the rest of the world. And/or you may feel like you’re drowning in 3 feet of water and only need to stand up.
Pick your head up. You’ve got this!
With the skills you’ve acquired being a mechanic, you can do pretty much anything, it doesn’t have to be on cars, and you can bet that it won’t be that book hour nonsense. I know that’s not specific, but that’s kind of the point.
Mobile forklift repair.
Gotta find the right shop , dealers are all garbage . Once you find the right shop it all comes together
So, if you want to upgrade from cars, you can get a license to work on airplanes in 18months…
Heavy equipment. Come it’s the most fun I’ve had in 20 years in the industry. Sometimes it’s cold, sometimes it’s hot, and sometimes you spend 3 days chasing a internally shorted Main Power Relay that’s causing multiple codes for Short to ground on sensors
maybe look into airlines as they need techs for the ground equipment. No customers, generally union, generally flight benefits, generally shift work.
Find an independent repair shop with a good reputation and go to work there. I did the dealership thing for 20 years and was ready to jump industries, found a great independent shop. I am now happier than I have ever been, it’s an honest straight forward shop with a salaried position and great benefits. No weekends and no holidays all around made me happy to be a tech again. Good luck