career in automotive

Hey guys

I need some advice. I'm addicted to cars and trucks and have been since I was little. Thought about having a career in it but backed out. And now I am regretting it.

Ive been nervous to go to automotive school for a couple of reasons. One I was told that working on cars I couldn't make much money and couldn't find a stable job.. Well I have a job merchandising that I nice but I'm not making much money (ironic lol). I like my job but the passion for cars wont fade.

So my questions are. Can you find a stable job working on cars? Can you make decent money (and I dont mean get rich I mean like 45-55 grand a year)? Is it best to specialize either in a type of vehicle or a service?

Ive thought about detailing and or selling and putting on accessories. And also automotive journalism. Ive thought about doing a specialty shop like for trucks or tuners or pony cars.

thoughts?

I live s my first ten year stint in the automotive industry but trust me anything connected with sales will eat your soul and leave you a chainsmoking broken old fart

I could deal with a return to that industry on the svc side its not as bad by a fair piece but still in a bad situation can make you miserable

I have been in the industry for a long time, 20-somethin' years. I want out.....BAD. Here's my $0.02
As a tech yes you can make about 50K a year without too much trouble. I'd recommend staying away from a dealer and getting into an indie shop, especially one that specializes. I was in a shop that specialized in higher-end Euro cars. Worked on Ruf 911's often. That shop had money coming in the door every day.
If you decide to get out of the shop and into one of the professional auto jobs, do yourself a favor. Throw a brick as high as you can and have it land on your head, it'll be more pleasant than doing this. Name the job, and typically that job in the auto industry will pay 15-20% less than most other fields.
In many cases, the auto industry will kill, or at least, numb your passion for cars. It did for me. Getting out of the shop and putting work into a different perspective has allowed me to return to my love of cars.

I can personally attest that Dr Boost has been hit in the head with bricks.

I started to write a reply but it started to sound like a manifesto. Long story short I have wasted over 20 years of my life working on cars, started out changing oil change and worked my way up to the ASE Master tech (that is a different rant), top tier factory tech, transmission tech.......... and the list just goes on. The stable job you are looking for is very hard to find, a handful of people find these position, in the 20+ years I have worked with three (03) guys that were 30 year men, that's it. I am changing jobs again (Monday I hope), this will be number 15 (I think). Your financial goals will be hard to reach starting out unless you plan to be "that guy" who is under investigation, when you have 20 years you will be close to you goals.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND getting into the repair end of the automotive business and recommend staying out in general.

After reading that you might think I am some bitter old man, I am not. I truly love what I do and if paid well I would do this job forever.

Paul B (not bitter, just disgruntled )

When to UNOH and got my degree in high performance auto and alternative fuels. Got back home and worked at a Chrysler dealer for about a year and decided I hated it. I left right before the dealer closed its doors and got an entry level job at a bank and worked my way up. Yeah I work in a cube but I feel its the best move I ever made. I'm not burnt out and sore after work and still love working on cars. If you like cars I say keep it as a hobby.

If I ever went back I might look into trying to become a tuner.

Thanks guys well my other interest is the marketing feild so ill stick to that and let cars be my hobby

I've been in the trade since 1979, and owned my own shop since 88. Its been good to me, but I'm not going to die rich, I'm afraid. It can be a stable, well paying job, but there are three groups of people out there making it very hard- First would be idiot techs that don't take their training seriously, and just skate by. Second would be idiot shop owners, who insist on paying flat rate, but not charging what the job is worth, because of the third group of idiots, which would be cheap tightwad customers who try to chisel shops for the last dollar. Those people don't generally return to my shop, until they have a pain in the ass problem that the internet can't fix.

Don't look too close in the mirror, people.

Is detailing a good feild?

Two technicians are talking a about working in the automotive field.

Technician A says the automotive field is a great and rewarding field to get in to, and that you will make lots of money will having the time of your life.

Technician B says that Technician A is a recruiter for a technical trade school and has never had his hand on a wrench and should have a slide-hammer attached to his junk.

Who is correct?

A only
B only
Both A and B
Neither A nor B

In reply to DrBoost:

Neither. Both are idiots.

Reading through it seems as everyone said the svc side of the automotive profession can make you miserable

silverbrick27 wrote: Is detailing a good feild?

I don't know that I'd call it a good field. There are some detailing businesses that do nothing but detailing. Sometimes they have a shop, sometimes its a truck and a mobile business. The mobile ones seem to be the business to business ones, as in they have contracts with car dealerships and go there once a week. The others, at least where I am, usually do detailing/car stereo/tinting/rims/etc. That segment of the automotive world.

The problems I see with detailing as a business are lots of people do it on the side for cash, different people have different definitions of what detailing is (wash & wax/exterior only, vacuum & dust interior vs. NASA clean room levels).

Having a fixed location can be tough depending on where you are. Some areas are very concerned with water usage and runoff. Landlords can also be picky if the detailer is blocking up his parking lot with cars waiting to be detailed and there are other businesses in the complex that can't get their vehicles parked.

For my shop I have a couple guys I bring in when a customer wants a car detailed. Both guys do it as side businesses. They each have full time jobs in different fields. I don't see me hiring a guy as a full time detailer for my shop. We just don't get enough call for it. Most of my customers enjoy doing that work on their cars. They leave the ugly stuff for me.

Unless you can find a specialized area of automotive that you are good at, and really enjoy, then you are better-off finding a different career, and keeping your "addiction" to cars as a hobby, IMO.

once cars become your "job", it can become a very slippery slope into the abyss of hating what we do.

I have spent the last fifteen years in automotive-related jobs, and it has pretty much destroyed my passion for cars. Most of that is just the stress of what I have to put up with at my current job, and I am seriously considering a new career-path, because I truly hate the fact that I kinda hate working on cars at this point.

Thanks for all the input guys. Im gonna stick to merchandising/marketing and autocross on the side. Unless some miracle happens and I can autocross full time....I know cant happen but its fun to dream lol

The only way you'll make good money spinning wrenches these days is working on euro cars at a dealer or specialty shop, nothing else breaks often enough or requires that much maintenance anymore.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: The only way you'll make good money spinning wrenches these days is working on euro cars at a dealer or specialty shop, nothing else breaks often enough or requires that much maintenance anymore.

Exactly! I wrenched for years in a dealership and had a hard time reliably turning 40 hours in a 50 hour week. Then I go to the Euro shop and these guys are willing to drop the money without blinking. I had three high-dollar jobs. Two that were between $6500 and $7000, and one that was just shy of $11,000!!!!

In reply to DrBoost:

My dad now works at one of the Korean car dealers, said dealer moves a decent number of car, 9 times out of 10 when I drop in there to get an alignment near closing time, drop something off, say hello as I'm passing through town, whatever, he's under the hood of some 10+ year old domestic car. The other tenth of the time he's doing dealer prep, recall work, or maybe a timing belt job. Needless to say, he struggles to get into overtime. The last time he made good money was working at a dodge dealership in the mid to late 90s till the owners ran it into the ground.

grafmiata wrote: once cars become your "job", it can become a very slippery slope into the abyss of hating what we do.

BTDT, except with motorcycles. It only took 2 1/2 years, despite being pretty good at it.

What I did do though was take my tallent for bending wrenches into another field, and its worked out well.

One of the worst things about the motorcycle industry, which the auto repair industry also suffers from, but to a lesser degree, is that when people's toys are broken, they don't make paying to have them repaired a huge priority.

With the industrial machines that I work on now, very often it costs more per hour to have the machine out of service, than my hourly labor rate to be there fixing it. advantage me.

Do you speak Spanish? I am not being a smart ass, in this area almost everyone working in the detail department is Latin.

If you run the detail shop as an outside contractor it can be very rewarding $$$$, local guy started with a lean-to and is now a rather wealthy man, he uses the dealerships building but supplies all the labor and material. Now if you just work in the clean up shop most detailers in this area max out around $10 an hour from what I have heard.

silverbrick27 wrote: Is detailing a good feild?

Dr.Boost, how long ago did you write the Chrysler training classes? I was a Chrysler tech for almost 15 years and have taken many classes at the Annapolis junction, Richmond, and Philly training centers (before they were closed)I found almost all of the classes to be very useful with good documentation. Did you know Jeff Stone or Reene (last name is Spanish) they worked out of the A.J site for the most part, good guys and very informed.

Paul B

silverbrick27 wrote: Thanks guys well my other interest is the marketing feild so ill stick to that and let cars be my hobby

Well, there are automotive marketing jobs. If you aren't already an attractive young woman, you will need to work on your conversation skills, your networking skills, and most of all your ability to B.S. without getting out of hand. You need to have a broad automotive knowledge base as well. Oh, and you need to be able to hold your liquor. Welcome to automotive marketing!

And just stay away from automotive journalism. If you don't need money, it is great. If you like such luxuries as a home with electricity and hot water, you may have made a mistake. If you enjoy living out of a suitcase, then it may be okay.

My goal was always to be in the automotive industry without having to fix or sell cars. Take my advice with a block of salt, but I've been in the industry for 16 years now and it has it good and bad sides. I'll tell you that not working in the aftermarket parts side has seriously slowed down my projects as I no longer get an employee discount.

If you like the Automotive Industry, the whole gamut like Marketing, Sales, Reconditioning, Auctions etc.. check out Manheim dot com/carrers. You name it, we have it. If you need guidance, let me know.

Ouch. This thread hurts.

SilverBrick, you've got mail.