r/mechanics

I'm a lube tech for Hertz Rental Car at an airport. I like that I do fleet maintenance. I fucking despise nearly everything else.

Flashback a few months ago. I've been doing tires and oil for a year and a half. One of the master techs quit, and I'm thinking maybe that'll be my ticket out of lube jobs. They replaced him with...

Another lube tech.

Management knows I want to move up. I ask what the fuck that was about. Get some BS corpo-book answer. Say fine, I'll look for another shop.

Well, it's been a few months and I'm still stuck in this shithole. I used to love the crew here. I was blinded. Now I fuckin hate everyone. Everyone is so fucking lazy. They just sit on their asses all day and milk their hourly rate. I'm the only one who actually fucking does anything around here. Management never has all the parts we need in stock. Something always missing, no matter how many times I say to order it. Some system always down. Some equipment always broke.

I send out application after application to shop after shop after shop. Ghosted. Again and again and again and again. This job market is fucking garbage. I even have my ASE G1 (dont have work experience for the A series yet) to prove to people that I'm not some phone addict.

Is it because I'm Gen Z? Do people just see a young person and go "nope"? I've probably sent hundreds of applications out at this point and have heard back from none of them.

I'm just so frustrated. I'm so over tires and oil bro. I'm so fucking done. Done with everything.

Fuck.

I’m new to having my own mobile mechanic business going and I see how people talking about up charging parts left and right but I don’t know how to do that. I’m probably overthinking way too much and can’t help myself.
Obviously researching parts takes time and you should get compensated for that. So I have and example , guy with BMW wants to do all the drivetrain flushes, spark plugs and etc. He wants OEM everything. So I need to research and find out what fluid for what model & year and etc. let’s say all the parts come to $450 total. Do I just put my percentage on it and say it’s $600? Surely you can look it up yourself and see that it does not cost 600 and I may come off looking like I’m trying to screw people over. On the other hand it does not look right saying parts cost 450 but you paying 150 extra for my research cause it may be offending to someone. So do you just slap the price on it and worry about the questions later or what?

Fellow spectrum friends, a little advice please?

I’ll keep this short. To my ADHD trade brethren, if you’re good at your job because it’s the thing you can hyper-focus on, does medication take away your superpower?

Quick context: My main tism/superpower is take it apart and put it back together and it works, no matter how complicated. Secondary superpower is electrical. I’m very good at it but enjoy it less and can get though on willpower. Outside of work I’m terrible at planning and executing anything I don’t enjoy. Task paralysis abounds. I’m worried medicating my ADHD will improve my home life but harm my ability/income/efficiency at work. What have your experiences been?

I currently work as 3rd shift maintenance at shop, mainly just paint booth maintenance. I got the job to explore different trades. I signed up for Ford ad for mechanic training and got a call back. At 23, would you take the opportunity and try to work towards a master mechanic. I’m great at problem solving, I’m sometimes slow to perfection. I’m great with people but prefer to work alone. I just want something that keep me busy while I can provide for my small family of 3

I’m currently a Toyota express/lube tech making $18/hr. My long-term goal is to stay in the automotive industry as a technician, but I’ve also been thinking about going into diesel or fleet maintenance.
From what I’ve seen, companies like Penske and Ryder seem to pay in the mid-$20s even for entry-level PM work (oil changes, tire rotations, inspections), while I’m still waiting to eventually move into flat rate at Toyota.
I know I haven’t been at Toyota long enough to leave yet, and I plan on staying longer to get more experience. I’m just trying to think long term.
If you were in my position, would you stay with Toyota and work toward becoming a flat-rate mainline tech, or switch to fleet/diesel after getting some experience? Which path has been better for you in terms of pay, job security, and career growth?

Okay you get a job at McDonald’s , pays $13/HR, but first you must bring your own fryer, and stove and all other equipment. You get paid per burger, if you’re very efficient, you can make A TON, however if it’s slow, you might make no money today.
Imagine telling this to someone , how insane does this sound to you? Yet that’s literally a mechanic job, the only difference is a fucking fryer and stove would be cheaper then tools

I'm 22 and I'm new to automotive. I started out in a tire shop last year as a GS. I'm green and only have a 2-3 months of experience professionally with no experience prior, but I kept getting fired, so I wasn't at each job for that long. I just got fired from my last job two weeks ago, and a recurring theme is that I work too slow, and I've had some comebacks over wheel balancing. I wanted to work on this, and my boss made me train with this flat rate tech that worked fast, thinking it would help me increase my speed but it wasn't enough, and in two days, I ended up being let go after 2 months.

I realize that I like working on cars and learning about them, but the auto shop experience and rushing to get multiple cars out for 8-10 hrs straight is not for me. My knowledge is growing, but I physically can not perform efficiently. It seems like it'll take much longer to get the hang of doing oil changes and tires under an hour. I want to work on cars, but this is killing my confidence. I think I'll have to switch to fleet or smth. I'm debating on going to school too, but for right now I'm taking a break. What should I do?

I'm curious to know how many mechanics are having to pay for their uniform cleaning service. Are you paying the full cost, split cost, or nothing at all?

Please include if it's with a dealer or indie.

It's been many years since I worked at a dealership but back then we had to supply our own gloves but there was no charge on the uniforms. Since then I've only been with indies and they always covered both.
Owner of the company i work for is wanting to add the service but pass the entire cost onto the mechanics. I don't like it but I'm curious what the norm is.

https://preview.redd.it/pr9979o1h1bh1.jpg?width=1048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d47142ab256542ff5adffd20fafd220a931da191

I'm primarily a front end mechanic so I don't have a lot of specs memorized for the engine, but I'm happy to answer what I can.

I can't reveal everything but I'm happy to try to answer some common questions you might have for the guys in the pit lane.

I'll try my best to answer some questions for you if you have them. I don't know everything but I've been around a while!

So I’m getting close to needing a new box, tools not starting to fit, having to put torque wrenches in sideways and they take up a whole draw with other small bits.

Dont wanna spend stupid money on a shiny new snap on box as much as I would love to 😂
Preferably a roll cab aswell then I got somewhere to write up job cards and what not.

What’s some decent brands to go for?

I’m also in the UK, cheers :)

I work at a small independent shop. Just me as the main tech, doing heavy line, diagnostic work, and everything in between. I have almost every tool I need, and 7 years experience. The owner works full time but mostly manages. He does the occasional small job when I'm too busy. A junior tech, with about 6 months experience. (6 months experience but fantastic mechanical aptitude). And finally a new guy with 8 years of what I would call lube bay experience.

My problem is this, I am a flat rate tech who is constantly called away from whatever task I am working on to help the other guys. Other guys being junior tech, and the older lube fella. I love to help and I was once the guy who had to ask for help. But at a certain point when I am slowed down the entire shop suffers. There are certain situations where the junior tech will "apprentice" for me and he will do for example a clutch on a Toyota truck. I will help him as much as he needs because in this situation I get flagged for the hours billed on that ticket.

I love to help but I also don't get paid to help. Is this just the situation I'm in? I suppose I would rather be slowed down and help if it prevents a car being sent out repaired incorrectly. Should I be saying no I'm too busy?

I'm averaging 49.5 hours a week for the last 6 months. So I'm not starving. But it sure is nice to be able to focus on fixing my cars and flag 12+ hours in one day.

I’m starting to hate this job and Porsche as a company. I am beyond done with this career, i have been a Porsche tech for 5 years and i am two classes from being a “master tech”, but can’t get into those classes because Porsche doesn’t offer enough of them.

I am so tired of bending over backwards trying to get warranty to cover things, and that even when they do it’s barely breaking even on hours due to them cutting times. Random software issues destroying my productivity, cars refusing to program because of backend server issues outside of my control, high hour customer pay jobs going goodwill for half the time, aftermarket warranties paying below warranty time because they “go off of AllData times”, etc.

I work too hard to get the short end of the stick every single god damn time, and i have been so incredibly patient but i have finally had it.

It’s time to jump ship to a new career, what should i get into now fellas?

It’s unbelievable at my shop. Im beginning to suspect that half the cars are written up for trans complaints. It’s only me and my helper.