I cant thank everyone enough for making this my most watched video on my channel so far!!! THANK YOU!! P.S…yes i know that was WAYY too much RTV on that transmission 😅 just needed to get rid of a tube of RTV and needed some filler footage to fill in the gaps on the audio…and yes im going to reseal it… THANKS TO EVERYONE AGAIN!!
I was a Master ASE Tech For 23 Years and left the field and never looked back and was the best thing I ever did, And they wonder why there is a Shortage of Mechanics.
This industry has been screwing mechanics since the Model T rolled off the assembly line. Many moons ago the auto industry realized that a lot of cars on the road would create a high demand for mechanics and that would mean mechanics could demand a high wage that would cut into dealers profits. So ford introduced the flat rate pay system to suppress mechanics wages and it also gave dealers the ability over saturate their workforce without affecting their bottom line. We’ve all been there, 6 guys in the shop for the day and about 10 billable hrs worth of work on the lot. What other trade does this? Not to mention buying $20k-$30k worth of tools without being self employed. Trade school recruiters and talking heads have been fluffing up this industry with bs like “ techs in high demand! “ and “ techs will be earning 6 figures! “ for decades. When in reality all this industry will get you is bad knees, a bad back, and a box of tools worth pennies on the dollar of what you paid. When I got into this hellscape of a trade all the old timers warned me to get out and I didn’t listen. Don’t be like me!
My body is shot and I'm ready to retire. I've worked at several dealerships. Never had benefits, never had a pension. The manufacturer does everything it can to take your money away. We need mechanics they say? Give us a reason.
I did the GM dealership flat rate treadmill for 40 years. If you take training and are good at what you do auto repair is a good career. If you're good you will never worry about your job or pay. I had skill level that allowed me to threaten to walk away if i got screwed on a job. A quick conversation with the shop manager would usually work out the details. The times it didn't work out i proudly walked off the job. Had a new position within days with better pay. Like i said if YOU'RE GOOD you'll find people beating a path to your door to hire you. It's not an easy job but if you have skills and the passion to fix things you'll do well.
@@falcorthewonderdog2758 as long as you show you’re a hard worker you’ll get in the door anywhere. You walk into most shops nowadays and there ain’t a swingin dick in sight
I have owned my own garage and autobody for 36 years 8 years before that fleet mechanic on tractor trailers and I can't wait to call it quits! It's never been this bad can't get parts -everyone in a big hurry and don't understand what it costs to keep the doors open and no respect!
Left the trade when cars were starting to become more and more complicated. It is a thankless trade that receives very little respect even though mechanics have vast knowledge of electrical and mechanical principles conjoined with the ability to repair those systems. I moved into custom industrial machinery which is so much better then vehicle repair.
I got my ticket in 1985 and worked at 2 GM dealers and both were complete bullys. They cheated there employees and customers. I saw one woman get an egr valve changed and paid nearly $500. She paid cash and got a small handful of change back and she was so upset she threw it at the cashier. I knew i wouldn't last there. Sure enough i made it less than a year and they lay me off. My knees went bad at 45 and i left the trade at 50. I never worked anywhere again. I am broken with severe depression from both my career choice and our garbage health care system
Hey man don’t give up, We are here for you. There are alot of techs in this comment section alone that share your story. And at the end of the day there is always hope!
Fellow tech. There's a saying in the.... Let's call it the truther conspiracy world that the powers that be pulled a magic trick and bankrupted the middle class in their current standard of living. I'm growing tired and sore myself, but I want to see this country on a right and virtuous path and I'm trying to live long enough to see it happen. Or shove my foot in the ass of the last Scumbag who's trying to destroy me and US. That's what will have to keep me going. God Bless!
Hvac stuff has become this too..ever changing new refrigerant gasses. Thinner coils so transfer heat better and fail quicker too.. an old R22 system eons ago would last for many decades. .today's ac units have a mess of electronic boards that are easy to zap and are expensive to replace
Been turning wrenches for 50 plus years. Yes,some shops out right suck! That is why when things did not go my way, I started my own shop. This is not all butterflies and rainbows. Having your name out there is not for the faint of heart. Lots of the general public have this pre-conceived thought that you own a business, you must be RICH!!!!That thought could not be further from the truth. It was only after 2 heart attacks, surgery and my Cardiologist telling me YOU ARE DONE! Next time the Doctor might not be able to save my life. That is when I closed up my tool box and thought about my future. It has been 5 years now and I still miss the excitement of the shop life. It is not for everybody, this life as a mechanic. But their is a feeling down deep inside that gives me a sense of pride when you can take what someone else has written off AS JUNK! And you able to see that others are wrong, and you are able to return this Junk back to its rightful owner, working. Not many other professionals can see that, or do that.
Wow! Yea at the end of the day your health is more important then anything. i got a friend who owns a shop and yea its not all butterflies and rainbows its tough!
As a former "meat n taters" tech yep as a rookie or vet your fucked as a tech. Un real hours worked, shitty pay and no benefits for the most part. And no I never worked where tools are supplied. I'd say up to 50% of my monthly net went to tools. You have to have them and some jobs can not be done without special tools for that job. And now a days it is better to be a garbage collector over being a mechanic. I quit back in '96 because of all the electronics coming into play.
One thing I know from experience is working at the dealership sucks. Never will I work at one again. Most of the guys in the shop are miserable assholes, then there is the favoritism, and backstabbing, and low pay. I am enjoy working on cars still and have made alot of money. Enough to have no problem paying my rent, owning three cars, save alot of money, and travel when time permits. It all depends on where you work. The most money I ever made in one day at my job was $800 in 8 hours. If you are fortunate enough to work in a shop that pays commission, especially if it is like 20% and is very busy then don't ever leave.
Started in the dealerships also, dead end. Have been with fleet of trucks for 30 yrs and has been rough the entire time. I enjoyed my work but it came with the same problems as you have stated. Done in 1 year and glad its everyone else's troubles
*_Only an idiot would not count what Mechanics go thru, with their Warranty Time and such. But when you really want to sing the blues step over the fence and see what kinda crapola Body Mechanics and Painters go thru. Here in this area, a high school kid with a 100 dollar lawnmower makes more per hour than a 20 year vet with 100 thow in tools ..._*
I dont know how you body guys do it… i herd story’s and knew some really skilled guys. But management wants to give McDonalds pay for a da Vinci sculpture
@@BobbyBeltzyt *_You got it Bub... The Insurance Companies shredded the Industry laughing all the way to the bank. When I got in as a kid, we made almost double what Mechanics did. Now in this area Mechanic shops get 150.00 per hour Body Shops get 52.00_*
Holyhell! Dude i lived that paint/body life. Its just as funked as you say!! I worked as a used car tech at the blue oval….WHAT A JOKE. Debating opening a shop dedicated to restorations,(had one in the early 2000s),but even that money is slow and hard to keep rolling….
Don't be afraid to fire your boss! It took me almost 20 years from the beginning to realize that as a professional I wasn't content with being average, I wanted to be a top performer/earner. I was lucky to have a couple of good jobs early on working with really good people. But when conditions changed, I pivoted other directions and now had to learn what it was like in reduced integrity environments. In time I learned that "I" had value and that was empowering. Now, my biggest problem was to not overplay it. Power is an aphrodisiac and I didn't want it to corrupt me as it had many of the managers that I had seen over the years. In the last 20 years it has served me well. Make yourself valuable but don't be a fool. Almost done with it all now. Hope it helps somebody.
I'm retired now. Most of my working career was as a mechanic/ shop foreman. Most places I worked for were Good to Great. I still enjoy the diagnostic challenge as I always did. Every employer and co worker is different. I found it best to focus on my work and avoid the drama and always be ready to defend your reputation. Would I pick another profession if I could start over again. Most likely not.
Good video man. I worked at a Firestone many years ago. I definitely was not happy with the practices there. I went on to do aircraft work. It was much better but layoffs happen way too often. I only got hit once but that was enough after working at a startup jet company. Then I got into medical device r&d fun job but in 5 years a 72 cents of a raise was not enough. I got into facilities work for a good bit and now I'm back to a r&d environment. My point is we put blinders that we can only do one type of job and it's not true. Networking is key and always learn everything that you can. I love working on my hotrods, but I would not want to do it for a living. Good luck man!
Thanks! Thats an awesome mindset man the skills of a mechanic aren’t just a narrow path they can be applied in many directions! Glad you are figuring it out.
@BobbyBeltzyt Thanks! I'm definitely in a happy place. I feel for those that feel stuck in a job or profession. Truth is just start bugging people where you want to go. I bothered the first aircraft job for a year before I got a interview. Funny part was I made 50 cents less than a new guy with a A&P license and didn't spend 40k for school. I just want to see others forge their path and be happy.
I like how you picked out what you learned from each job even though you didn't have good experiences. I think that's the best way to take life. You can't control the world but you can control how the world affects you! Thanks for sharing your story Bobby, I hope your channel grows so big that you can quit your job!!!!!!
I been a certified master automotive technician for 40 plus years and you speak the truth I will tell you two stories about two different places I worked one my boss told me to not put anything under a rear of a car with a independent rear suspension I told him to put something under it he didn't and it fell on my foot he was more worried about getting the job done then my foot another place I worked the boss told me to finish the engine job the kid started I told him he broke the plastic fuel line he said for me to repair it and get it running he said it would only be temporary I did what I was told and he told to drive it around the side of the building and let it run but he wanted me to work on something else and run back and forth and check on it but it caught on fire 🔥 I hear what you are saying my mom told me to go into the Air Force and I have a pension now and working at Boeing they hire out of the military and I would be ready to retire from there 😢
It is sad to hear your story but not uncommon. Companies want profit over content long term techs. It is prevalent in many sectors of the mechanical trade industry. I was a tech all my life and a John Deere service manager for the last twenty years. The dealership always had problems to keep the techs up to the speed of engineering changes that were constantly being introduced. Good luck to your future ventures.
But Mike Rowe says all the time about how there are all these fantastic, great paying jobs in the trades...... I worked in the trades for about 10-15 years and moved on, never looked back
Also we forget more stuff than most people will learn about vehicles in their lifetime. As long as I have a good service laptop to access data, diagrams, and schematics, I can repair anything that ain’t destroyed lol.
You summed it up perfectly. Many think 🤔 they just need to eat it and grudge on like a good little boy worker (ant) 🐜 Especially when you work for Mechanically, clueless, technically, clueless, white shirt, pencil, pushing finger, pointing idiots . That’s why I started my own business 30 years ago. Life been excellent ever since not working for maggots who can’t do the jobs they ask others to do for themselves living off your back doing the work where you’re the one actually producing the money and they’re the ones sucking your life blood out of you. Never work for maggots or parasites
As someone that started working in a two bay full service gas station as a mechanic in high school, and later went on to a trade school to “learn to work on vehicles” which is really code for over paying for asc certifications. I can honestly say, some times it is better to start your own shop and hire someone to handle customers than it is to work for someone else. But when you go off to college to learn to do work you’ve been doing for years, and suddenly start seeing red flags at the school do what I did and get out and get out fast. As it will only get worse. And getting certifications does not make you a good mechanic, or the place you work at a great shop. I’ve been working on cars since I was 16, and I am now 56 and the only time I use a scanner is to clear the codes. I listen to what the car is telling me is wrong, not what some code on a computer that a book says is what’s wrong as a code does not tell the whole story.
I quit lots and lots of times. Now I stopped giving my money to a woman save it. I’m goona save up $100k and disappear into Philippines. Where I could still wrench.
I’ve been a tech 48 1/2 years. Very difficult. Every year is getting more difficult. More high-tech vehicles. people does not want to pay for vehicles high tech. But hang in there there will become a reckoning someday💰😎
Light duty trucks where you have to disassemble the entire truck to make a repair, that's crazy. I'm talking about diesel pickup trucks. Very poor design not really made to be repaired. The Dodge Ram 5.9 Cummins wasn't bad at all and 7.3 Ford was worse but not that bad. Today when you raise the hood on a diesel pickup, you can't even see the motor for all the junk! But wait, it gets worse! Take the same engines and put it in a full sized van call it an Ambulance, with all sorts of panels switches and lights and accessories and radios. It's a nightmare just to diagnose it and week long process to repair, maybe two weeks if they don't have the parts. Vehicles today are designed to be sold to people who have no idea what the hell they are buying into, not designed to be repaired but replaced. Unless you get into diesel truck repair, you will probably never make top pay working on autos. But even at $40 per hour as a factory or OE certified diesel tech, it's so difficult they can't keep mechanics. It's 99% physical labor. In fact, dealerships make off their money off parts and cut labor to a minimum. All dealers pay flatrate and they go by the book, and they wrote the book! They pay half of what the motor labor guide pays. All mechanics who work at dealerships are working for half price. They cheat you out of half your labor time.
Exactly! They got you right where they want you at the dealership! I remember seeing a video of a newish f250 begin sold and sent to Saudi Arabia. They opened the hood and there was 0 emissions devices on it! You could see the valve covers! And the delete kit was all from factory.
Really solid thoughts and reflections at the end. Also the red flags, that “We’re a family” is classic coded language for “We’ll treat you like shit but don’t leave” lol KillaKay does really funny Walmart manager skits and he always hits us with that “Look, we’re a family, alright?” Lmao
Dont worry its going to be resealed im not done with the transmission i just needed some B roll footage to take up some time on the audio and also had to get rid of a rtv tube with no cap lol
I have a ton of stories like that from my IT career. Took me years before I found a good company to settle down in. Sure, it still has nobbers in it, but it's a good crack to be fair.
I see that alot with the younger work force. Not like the boomer generation who has had one job forever and would take all the BS. But alot of people wont take it and thats good!
@@BobbyBeltzyt Agreed. Management styles have changed radically since I joined the workforce back in the mid 80's and I think a lot to do with it is, GenX onwards, won't take crap so easily. And then you have the huge amount of workers rights since then. I get the impression the US lacks many of those rights (ruthless Corporations = dickhead bosses), and I think Europe has too many of those rights (Lazy, knowing it's difficult to be sacked). I work for a US company in the UK division and work with the US guys and Europeans. I think the UK has just about got the balance right. I may be biased though. But the US has the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world, so...does the workforce pay that price?
I think your on to something! I dont want to get too political (cuz thats one way to ruin a channel! Lol) but ive said we arent a capitalistic society in america anymore we are now a corporatism one.
Yeah in a meeting to tell us how wonderful we had it they said they were going to treat us like family and I stood up and said whoa whoa hell no I know how family does you I want to be treated like a guest 😂 SO glad I'm out of the BS
Even in the bodyman industry. Insurance companies year after year shorten the pay rates and times expected. Even though many many slightly old models by 1-2 years even brand new ones have newly designed area's that take 3 to 5 times more time to pull apart or work on. They keep cutting what they want to pay down. Forces people out. And they wonder why so many industries not even automotive alone are scrambling to find techs and workers. Doesnt help alot of the old timers in just about wvery field are dying out, retiring or dying
@@BobbyBeltzyt i hope so. For both of our sake and venture desires and want for growth i wish you all the luck and the best too! When my shop works on more and more i want to be able to bring back the lost values of doing honest work and helping others at the same time. Not just soley for the money. More and more i see greed just grow and butchers everywhere. Sad. People these days dont care if someone dies or gets hurt they just want to make a buck. Bothers me more and more people dont know who to trust or who you can trust at all these days it seems
Thats the one thing i forgot to mention with job B is that you built a relationship with some good customers it didn’t feel like a job it felt like helping them out and could feel the trust they had for you to take car of the thing thing they needed to support their family! Dont loose that! Be that for other people!
You mechanics have nothing to worry about compared to Collision Repair where you have to take 5 trades and compress them into one, everything you touch has skulls and crossbones on them, primer and small paint repairs done in the open, bondo dust everywhere, no one makes it to retirement age and enjoy it because most die of cancer and the last day you work is your last day for any benefits including health insurance, pension plan is unheard of last day is your last day of anything financial, welding around gas tanks goes on daily, I could go on forever, you repair hundreds of different models without any repair manuals up to you to figure this out and don't break anything and the worst part is there is no consideration given to the repairman who only hears about what wasn't good enough no matter how well you repair those wrecks the customers will never be satisfied because their baby was no longer a virgin and would never be the same again. Try this on for size and then talk about a shitty career..
Hey man this aint a race we are all in this together. I got alot of respect for body guys i dont have skill to be one but we are thinking of you guys too.
You made me feel sick bro… i m 27 plus years in, AND ITS PURE B.S. just as you say…100% WTF to do? Lean on my ancient HVAC skills??(an industry with no rewards?) Repairing a car is so satisfying, but i just dont know anymore….
Transition into golf course mechanic.if you have your diesel licence..make 100k plus work full time 6 months basically off .easy work .or start your own business
If you think thats bad. I work as a bodyman. Ive been to shops that pay you comission ontop of flag. And some of those shops have whats called out house hours ( things normally done outside the shop if you aren't capable of doing it yourself ) and if you can do it its called in house hours. And then there is frame time for the frame machine. Pull time and etc. ontop of your hourly rate based off your skillset and experience etc. know what some do? They fudge the numbers on your time sheets and alot of the time your hours dont add up and you have some sort of net loss. Know why? They were pulling some or all of your jobs hours and allocating it to the shops hours instead so you dont get it and so forth with various things. Its pretty much another version of fraud. And they will lie and give you the run around and make stuff up. Happened to thousands of bodymen for the said company i use to work for. Pretty sure it happens almost everywhere if the boss knows his way around not getting caught playing with fraud. They would also notoriously do many versions of insurance fraud.
I am a young technician at kia and all we ever do is warranty work i always see flat rate people fighting over customer pay work and even when an hourly sells a brake job alignment etc. It gose to the flat rate people how am i supposed to improve if what ever I sell gose to the flat rate people?
Leave! Don’t be afraid you have the leverage find a hourly fleet job that treats their employees fairly and watch out for those warning signs in job D like i said.
It’s to bring the whining down! But naw for real i’m going to reseal it. I was just looking for some B footage to take up the time from the audio, and I also had some RTV that I lost the cap on lol
1:06 im looking to be a mechanic and i already see your first problem. You dont go into mechanics expecting be be paid well even in a qualified wage. Atleast in Australia being a light vehicle mechanic is not a high paying job, you do it for passion mostly.
They lie we are told in the states is coming out if school you can make 100k. Thats what these young guys expect and the never warn us what exactly goes on.
LOL good fucking luck paying for shit with your passion, thats the mindset that makes mechanics so fucked. But hey, good luck working for shiny rocks and praise, tell me how it works out.
Another thing that comes up if you ever hear this term. We are an Open door management. They're open doors as long as you're telling them what they're doing is great. If you tell them they're not doing great oh boy things are going to go downhill real fast.
The term Open Door Management means if you don't like the way management runs things the door's open. Just don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.
Its not complaining, its shining a light to people that maybe coming into this or some people that feel stuck not everyone is ok with getting taken advantage over at work.
OK, so you left the world of being a mechanic.....and so, what are you doing now, instead? I ask because if anyone else still in the trenches. starts to think about leaving, one always needs to know - and do what instead?
I didnt want to add in the video where i went because well… truthfully the job im in now is nothing to write home about. Dont get me wrong its good i just think its the company thats the problem. While in job D for that fleet i decided to transfer within the company and move to there storekeeping department basically same pay and benefits will less back breaking work, but the company bureaucracy seems to be worse in this department. I wanted to end. The video on note of optimism and not tell them how my nee job is…MEH lol.
@got me stumped, thinking western star… i work for a 2 man team with a boss that just does not know how to run things. We do sub contract work for paccar used truck center, I have my own bay in their shop. Lost our shop, after our boss went crazy with money on his house and then we had a bad year. Struggling to get ahead so I can leave, was hoping to get into paccar but corporate won’t allow it until someone retires lol. We’ve done work for international used truck center and international engineering division. Done work for hub group, g&d, the truck driving school near us, and a bunch of owner ops. Thinking about signing on with my buddy doing mobile heavy forklift repair. He gets paid very well but he’s away from home a lot. Considering doing that to get experience for a few year and pay off some debts, then go back to getting out of work at 3:30 lol
Whats your major electric company provider? They usually have their own fleet division that they invest alot into and with your background on hydraulics and heavy duty trucks you can be a major asset!
The coronavirus. UA-cam is sometimes weird with the algorithm. I don’t know if they still are when it comes to that, but it was also a nod to Paul Harrell. R.I.P
I believe your a good MECHANIC because you're calling yourself the way it should be... Not the stupid word "Technician", that dumb term sounds lowers the value of the worker and it's skill, making them just like the one who who just change parts without proper diagnosis... Oh, they are nowadays... If you know what I mean...
Do you know that you are on the road of destruction and God's wrath? The answer to this question is in God's Word the Holy Bible. Romans 3:9-22 explains man's condition and guilt before God. How can God's wrath against you be avoided? Romans 1:16 explains the way to be saved from God's wrath; Acts 10:34-48 explains the gospel message which is what you need to believe in order to be forgiven your sins against God because justification before God is achieved through faith as explained in Romans chapter 4. Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:16 explains how God seals you and gives you the guarantee of eternal life by believing the gospel. God credits the righteousness of Jesus Christ to you so that you can stand before Him blameless and enjoy his goodness forever. However, if you reject the gospel the only thing left for you is eternal punishment in the lake of fire because you have offended a holy and righteous God.
I cant thank everyone enough for making this my most watched video on my channel so far!!! THANK YOU!! P.S…yes i know that was WAYY too much RTV on that transmission 😅 just needed to get rid of a tube of RTV and needed some filler footage to fill in the gaps on the audio…and yes im going to reseal it… THANKS TO EVERYONE AGAIN!!
I was a Master ASE Tech For 23 Years and left the field and never looked back and was the best thing I ever did, And they wonder why there is a Shortage of Mechanics.
Good on you for not sitting and taking it!
Putting that transmission together way way way too much silicon. Output seal toast.
I did notice the output seal! Yea shes getting changed
This industry has been screwing mechanics since the Model T rolled off the assembly line. Many moons ago the auto industry realized that a lot of cars on the road would create a high demand for mechanics and that would mean mechanics could demand a high wage that would cut into dealers profits. So ford introduced the flat rate pay system to suppress mechanics wages and it also gave dealers the ability over saturate their workforce without affecting their bottom line. We’ve all been there, 6 guys in the shop for the day and about 10 billable hrs worth of work on the lot. What other trade does this? Not to mention buying $20k-$30k worth of tools without being self employed.
Trade school recruiters and talking heads have been fluffing up this industry with bs like “ techs in high demand! “ and “ techs will be earning 6 figures! “ for decades. When in reality all this industry will get you is bad knees, a bad back, and a box of tools worth pennies on the dollar of what you paid.
When I got into this hellscape of a trade all the old timers warned me to get out and I didn’t listen. Don’t be like me!
Beautifully said I honestly had no idea. Ford started the flat rate system. It’s a damn shame.
My body is shot and I'm ready to retire. I've worked at several dealerships. Never had benefits, never had a pension. The manufacturer does everything it can to take your money away. We need mechanics they say? Give us a reason.
They dont have one
Thanks for putting this video together…. I see WE arent alone.
Not at all
I did the GM dealership flat rate treadmill for 40 years. If you take training and are good at what you do auto repair is a good career. If you're good you will never worry about your job or pay. I had skill level that allowed me to threaten to walk away if i got screwed on a job. A quick conversation with the shop manager would usually work out the details. The times it didn't work out i proudly walked off the job. Had a new position within days with better pay. Like i said if YOU'RE GOOD you'll find people beating a path to your door to hire you. It's not an easy job but if you have skills and the passion to fix things you'll do well.
Scan tools and scopes are a massive investment now too .
Agreed! You be the leverage not them.
@@falcorthewonderdog2758 as long as you show you’re a hard worker you’ll get in the door anywhere. You walk into most shops nowadays and there ain’t a swingin dick in sight
I have owned my own garage and autobody for 36 years 8 years before that fleet mechanic on tractor trailers and I can't wait to call it quits! It's never been this bad can't get parts -everyone in a big hurry and don't understand what it costs to keep the doors open and no respect!
Wow! Its interesting to hear it from a small business owner, sorry.
Left the trade when cars were starting to become more and more complicated. It is a thankless trade that receives very little respect even though mechanics have vast knowledge of electrical and mechanical principles conjoined with the ability to repair those systems. I moved into custom industrial machinery which is so much better then vehicle repair.
Good on you! Congrats!
Some of us are still wrenching cause we don't have options
There are plenty of options. The skill of being a mechanic opens the door to many other hands on trades.
I got my ticket in 1985 and worked at 2 GM dealers and both were complete bullys. They cheated there employees and customers. I saw one woman get an egr valve changed and paid nearly $500. She paid cash and got a small handful of change back and she was so upset she threw it at the cashier. I knew i wouldn't last there. Sure enough i made it less than a year and they lay me off.
My knees went bad at 45 and i left the trade at 50. I never worked anywhere again. I am broken with severe depression from both my career choice and our garbage health care system
Hey man don’t give up, We are here for you. There are alot of techs in this comment section alone that share your story. And at the end of the day there is always hope!
Fellow tech. There's a saying in the.... Let's call it the truther conspiracy world that the powers that be pulled a magic trick and bankrupted the middle class in their current standard of living. I'm growing tired and sore myself, but I want to see this country on a right and virtuous path and I'm trying to live long enough to see it happen. Or shove my foot in the ass of the last Scumbag who's trying to destroy me and US. That's what will have to keep me going. God Bless!
It is absolutely criminal what they are doing, the government too demanding such high tech for better fuel economy
Yea right?! Its over engineered garbage thats overpriced and doesn’t last
Hvac stuff has become this too..ever changing new refrigerant gasses.
Thinner coils so transfer heat better and fail quicker too..
an old R22 system eons ago would last for many decades.
.today's ac units have a mess of electronic boards that are easy to zap and are expensive to replace
@3beltwesty probably cheaper to make and distribute and in hopes of it breaking and you buying a completely new one
@3beltwesty True on all electronics and appliances of yesterday too .
All that tech for little to no gain in mpg
Been turning wrenches for 50 plus years. Yes,some shops out right suck! That is why when things did not go my way, I started my own shop. This is not all butterflies and rainbows. Having your name out there is not for the faint of heart. Lots of the general public have this pre-conceived thought that you own a business, you must be RICH!!!!That thought could not be further from the truth. It was only after 2 heart attacks, surgery and my Cardiologist telling me YOU ARE DONE! Next time the Doctor might not be able to save my life. That is when I closed up my tool box and thought about my future. It has been 5 years now and I still miss the excitement of the shop life. It is not for everybody, this life as a mechanic. But their is a feeling down deep inside that gives me a sense of pride when you can take what someone else has written off AS JUNK! And you able to see that others are wrong, and you are able to return this Junk back to its rightful owner, working. Not many other professionals can see that, or do that.
Wow! Yea at the end of the day your health is more important then anything. i got a friend who owns a shop and yea its not all butterflies and rainbows its tough!
As a former "meat n taters" tech yep as a rookie or vet your fucked as a tech. Un real hours worked, shitty pay and no benefits for the most part. And no I never worked where tools are supplied. I'd say up to 50% of my monthly net went to tools. You have to have them and some jobs can not be done without special tools for that job. And now a days it is better to be a garbage collector over being a mechanic. I quit back in '96 because of all the electronics coming into play.
You got out at a dam good time!
Thank you so much, for the glimpse inside all the work you’ve done, hopefully it gets up to the rest of us, God bless you and your family
Thank you! And thank you for watching!
One thing I know from experience is working at the dealership sucks. Never will I work at one again. Most of the guys in the shop are miserable assholes, then there is the favoritism, and backstabbing, and low pay. I am enjoy working on cars still and have made alot of money. Enough to have no problem paying my rent, owning three cars, save alot of money, and travel when time permits. It all depends on where you work. The most money I ever made in one day at my job was $800 in 8 hours. If you are fortunate enough to work in a shop that pays commission, especially if it is like 20% and is very busy then don't ever leave.
I agree NEVER AGAIN will i go and work for a dealer.
Started in the dealerships also, dead end. Have been with fleet of trucks for 30 yrs and has been rough the entire time. I enjoyed my work but it came with the same problems as you have stated.
Done in 1 year and glad its everyone else's troubles
Hang in there buddy and enjoy retirement! You earned it double over.
*_Only an idiot would not count what Mechanics go thru, with their Warranty Time and such. But when you really want to sing the blues step over the fence and see what kinda crapola Body Mechanics and Painters go thru. Here in this area, a high school kid with a 100 dollar lawnmower makes more per hour than a 20 year vet with 100 thow in tools ..._*
I dont know how you body guys do it… i herd story’s and knew some really skilled guys. But management wants to give McDonalds pay for a da Vinci sculpture
@@BobbyBeltzyt *_You got it Bub... The Insurance Companies shredded the Industry laughing all the way to the bank. When I got in as a kid, we made almost double what Mechanics did. Now in this area Mechanic shops get 150.00 per hour Body Shops get 52.00_*
Thats insane!
Holyhell! Dude i lived that paint/body life. Its just as funked as you say!! I worked as a used car tech at the blue oval….WHAT A JOKE.
Debating opening a shop dedicated to restorations,(had one in the early 2000s),but even that money is slow and hard to keep rolling….
@@BobbyBeltzytSo right sir…
Don't be afraid to fire your boss! It took me almost 20 years from the beginning to realize that as a professional I wasn't content with being average, I wanted to be a top performer/earner. I was lucky to have a couple of good jobs early on working with really good people. But when conditions changed, I pivoted other directions and now had to learn what it was like in reduced integrity environments. In time I learned that "I" had value and that was empowering. Now, my biggest problem was to not overplay it. Power is an aphrodisiac and I didn't want it to corrupt me as it had many of the managers that I had seen over the years. In the last 20 years it has served me well. Make yourself valuable but don't be a fool. Almost done with it all now. Hope it helps somebody.
Thanks! Its def a good to put your ego en check! And good luck and enjoy retirment
Waaaaaay too much sealant in the video
Lol i know i know its not going in a car just needed to get some flim time and waste a tube of old RTV
I'm retired now. Most of my working career was as a mechanic/ shop foreman. Most places I worked for were Good to Great. I still enjoy the diagnostic challenge as I always did. Every employer and co worker is different. I found it best to focus on my work and avoid the drama and always be ready to defend your reputation. Would I pick another profession if I could start over again. Most likely not.
Thanks for the info. Enjoy retirement.
Good video man. I worked at a Firestone many years ago. I definitely was not happy with the practices there. I went on to do aircraft work. It was much better but layoffs happen way too often. I only got hit once but that was enough after working at a startup jet company. Then I got into medical device r&d fun job but in 5 years a 72 cents of a raise was not enough. I got into facilities work for a good bit and now I'm back to a r&d environment. My point is we put blinders that we can only do one type of job and it's not true. Networking is key and always learn everything that you can. I love working on my hotrods, but I would not want to do it for a living. Good luck man!
Thanks! Thats an awesome mindset man the skills of a mechanic aren’t just a narrow path they can be applied in many directions! Glad you are figuring it out.
@BobbyBeltzyt Thanks! I'm definitely in a happy place. I feel for those that feel stuck in a job or profession. Truth is just start bugging people where you want to go. I bothered the first aircraft job for a year before I got a interview. Funny part was I made 50 cents less than a new guy with a A&P license and didn't spend 40k for school. I just want to see others forge their path and be happy.
I like how you picked out what you learned from each job even though you didn't have good experiences. I think that's the best way to take life. You can't control the world but you can control how the world affects you! Thanks for sharing your story Bobby, I hope your channel grows so big that you can quit your job!!!!!!
That is true! You just gota roll with the punches do be beaten down just for a paycheck! And lets hope man! Lets hope we can make it big!
I been a certified master automotive technician for 40 plus years and you speak the truth I will tell you two stories about two different places I worked one my boss told me to not put anything under a rear of a car with a independent rear suspension I told him to put something under it he didn't and it fell on my foot he was more worried about getting the job done then my foot another place I worked the boss told me to finish the engine job the kid started I told him he broke the plastic fuel line he said for me to repair it and get it running he said it would only be temporary I did what I was told and he told to drive it around the side of the building and let it run but he wanted me to work on something else and run back and forth and check on it but it caught on fire 🔥 I hear what you are saying my mom told me to go into the Air Force and I have a pension now and working at Boeing they hire out of the military and I would be ready to retire from there 😢
Ahh thats terrible man! It sucks that you were hurt from someone’s ignorance
Easily the worst of all the blue collar trades. Glad i left the dealer
Its a tumor on the backs of techs!
It is sad to hear your story but not uncommon. Companies want profit over content long term techs. It is prevalent in many sectors of the mechanical trade industry. I was a tech all my life and a John Deere service manager for the last twenty years. The dealership always had problems to keep the techs up to the speed of engineering changes that were constantly being introduced. Good luck to your future ventures.
They’re just gonna keep on beating this dead horse until it stops coughing up money I guess…
But Mike Rowe says all the time about how there are all these fantastic, great paying jobs in the trades...... I worked in the trades for about 10-15 years and moved on, never looked back
What do you do now?
@@BobbyBeltzyt IT stuff - SysEng/NetEng
@@varmint243davev7I have something for Mike Rowe. 🖕
The trades need cheap labor, that's it.
This is why sending your car in fails so badly. These people are slaves eradicated by humanity, the government, and the present awful cars of today.
Were, pretty much set up for failure
That output shaft seal is giving me the willies.
Its getting replaced i just messed around with the transmission for some filler video
I don't know how I survived 39 years in the trade
Wow! 39?! God bless!
@@BobbyBeltzyt High school drop out started full time at 17
That’s amazing
@@BobbyBeltzyt Worked on Chrysler K cars and Dodge Omnis remember those?
Me too. Almost 50 years in the trade.
Also we forget more stuff than most people will learn about vehicles in their lifetime. As long as I have a good service laptop to access data, diagrams, and schematics, I can repair anything that ain’t destroyed lol.
Exactly!
Thank you for posting this video.
You're welcome
You summed it up perfectly. Many think 🤔 they just need to eat it and grudge on like a good little boy worker (ant) 🐜
Especially when you work for Mechanically, clueless, technically, clueless, white shirt, pencil, pushing finger, pointing idiots .
That’s why I started my own business 30 years ago. Life been excellent ever since not working for maggots who can’t do the jobs they ask others to do for themselves living off your back doing the work where you’re the one actually producing the money and they’re the ones sucking your life blood out of you.
Never work for maggots or parasites
I highly agree. I’ve had people told me to suck it up. Take it stop being such a snowflake but seriously I don’t like abusive relationships. Lol
As someone that started working in a two bay full service gas station as a mechanic in high school, and later went on to a trade school to “learn to work on vehicles” which is really code for over paying for asc certifications. I can honestly say, some times it is better to start your own shop and hire someone to handle customers than it is to work for someone else. But when you go off to college to learn to do work you’ve been doing for years, and suddenly start seeing red flags at the school do what I did and get out and get out fast. As it will only get worse. And getting certifications does not make you a good mechanic, or the place you work at a great shop. I’ve been working on cars since I was 16, and I am now 56 and the only time I use a scanner is to clear the codes. I listen to what the car is telling me is wrong, not what some code on a computer that a book says is what’s wrong as a code does not tell the whole story.
We can learn alot from seasoned guys like you! Thanks for your story.
AMEN BROTHER🫡
I deal with working on my own car and Jeep and it's headaches can't imagine working on different cars daily
Yeah, I don’t recommend it lol
I quit lots and lots of times.
Now I stopped giving my money to a woman save it.
I’m goona save up $100k and disappear into Philippines.
Where I could still wrench.
$100,000 in the Philippines will make you a very wealthy man. Good luck!
Did 40 years, mostly hated it!
Sorry to hear that
Sounds like typical company greed to me. Nothing new.
Absoluetly
I’ve been a tech 48 1/2 years. Very difficult. Every year is getting more difficult. More high-tech vehicles. people does not want to pay for vehicles high tech. But hang in there there will become a reckoning someday💰😎
Hopefully, I’m nowhere near it when it happens
Light duty trucks where you have to disassemble the entire truck to make a repair, that's crazy. I'm talking about diesel pickup trucks. Very poor design not really made to be repaired. The Dodge Ram 5.9 Cummins wasn't bad at all and 7.3 Ford was worse but not that bad. Today when you raise the hood on a diesel pickup, you can't even see the motor for all the junk!
But wait, it gets worse! Take the same engines and put it in a full sized van call it an Ambulance, with all sorts of panels switches and lights and accessories and radios. It's a nightmare just to diagnose it and week long process to repair, maybe two weeks if they don't have the parts.
Vehicles today are designed to be sold to people who have no idea what the hell they are buying into, not designed to be repaired but replaced.
Unless you get into diesel truck repair, you will probably never make top pay working on autos. But even at $40 per hour as a factory or OE certified diesel tech, it's so difficult they can't keep mechanics. It's 99% physical labor. In fact, dealerships make off their money off parts and cut labor to a minimum. All dealers pay flatrate and they go by the book, and they wrote the book! They pay half of what the motor labor guide pays. All mechanics who work at dealerships are working for half price. They cheat you out of half your labor time.
Exactly! They got you right where they want you at the dealership! I remember seeing a video of a newish f250 begin sold and sent to Saudi Arabia. They opened the hood and there was 0 emissions devices on it! You could see the valve covers! And the delete kit was all from factory.
Really solid thoughts and reflections at the end. Also the red flags, that “We’re a family” is classic coded language for “We’ll treat you like shit but don’t leave” lol
KillaKay does really funny Walmart manager skits and he always hits us with that “Look, we’re a family, alright?” Lmao
Thanks buddy! And i love killakay! Dude cracks me up hes done mechanic clips and dude is spot on.
You sure you put enough goop on that transfer case?
@@jims6323 its a transmission, and full send, screw it!
I was thinking the same thing. LOL
I'm not a mechanic but I was thinking the excess is going to eventually end up in the gears. That can't be good.
5:00 way too much silicone jeeze
Dont worry its going to be resealed im not done with the transmission i just needed some B roll footage to take up some time on the audio and also had to get rid of a rtv tube with no cap lol
@@BobbyBeltzytbad footage mate regardless
Don't waste your time or life been a mechanic .. you are on the road to no where ....... been there and bought the t shirt ....
Yeah, same I got a whole wardrobe lol
I have a ton of stories like that from my IT career. Took me years before I found a good company to settle down in. Sure, it still has nobbers in it, but it's a good crack to be fair.
I see that alot with the younger work force. Not like the boomer generation who has had one job forever and would take all the BS. But alot of people wont take it and thats good!
@@BobbyBeltzyt Agreed. Management styles have changed radically since I joined the workforce back in the mid 80's and I think a lot to do with it is, GenX onwards, won't take crap so easily. And then you have the huge amount of workers rights since then.
I get the impression the US lacks many of those rights (ruthless Corporations = dickhead bosses), and I think Europe has too many of those rights (Lazy, knowing it's difficult to be sacked).
I work for a US company in the UK division and work with the US guys and Europeans. I think the UK has just about got the balance right. I may be biased though.
But the US has the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world, so...does the workforce pay that price?
I think your on to something! I dont want to get too political (cuz thats one way to ruin a channel! Lol) but ive said we arent a capitalistic society in america anymore we are now a corporatism one.
@@BobbyBeltzyt Yup, I've heard that many times from my American colleagues.
Yeah in a meeting to tell us how wonderful we had it they said they were going to treat us like family and I stood up and said whoa whoa hell no I know how family does you I want to be treated like a guest 😂 SO glad I'm out of the BS
Lol!! Good on you!
Even in the bodyman industry. Insurance companies year after year shorten the pay rates and times expected. Even though many many slightly old models by 1-2 years even brand new ones have newly designed area's that take 3 to 5 times more time to pull apart or work on. They keep cutting what they want to pay down. Forces people out. And they wonder why so many industries not even automotive alone are scrambling to find techs and workers. Doesnt help alot of the old timers in just about wvery field are dying out, retiring or dying
In 5 to 10 years it’s going to be a very interesting time in the automotive field. I have no idea what it’s going to look like.
@@BobbyBeltzyt me either, its why ive been trying to start my own shop, cut out the bs as a tech for a company
I hear you man! Good luck with it! I want to run my own business be my own boss too. Hey you never know maybe this youtube thing will work out 🤷🏼♂️
@@BobbyBeltzyt i hope so. For both of our sake and venture desires and want for growth i wish you all the luck and the best too! When my shop works on more and more i want to be able to bring back the lost values of doing honest work and helping others at the same time. Not just soley for the money. More and more i see greed just grow and butchers everywhere. Sad. People these days dont care if someone dies or gets hurt they just want to make a buck. Bothers me more and more people dont know who to trust or who you can trust at all these days it seems
Thats the one thing i forgot to mention with job B is that you built a relationship with some good customers it didn’t feel like a job it felt like helping them out and could feel the trust they had for you to take car of the thing thing they needed to support their family! Dont loose that! Be that for other people!
You mechanics have nothing to worry about compared to Collision Repair where you have to take 5 trades and compress them into one, everything you touch has skulls and crossbones on them, primer and small paint repairs done in the open, bondo dust everywhere, no one makes it to retirement age and enjoy it because most die of cancer and the last day you work is your last day for any benefits including health insurance, pension plan is unheard of last day is your last day of anything financial, welding around gas tanks goes on daily, I could go on forever, you repair hundreds of different models without any repair manuals up to you to figure this out and don't break anything and the worst part is there is no consideration given to the repairman who only hears about what wasn't good enough no matter how well you repair those wrecks the customers will never be satisfied because their baby was no longer a virgin and would never be the same again.
Try this on for size and then talk about a shitty career..
Hey man this aint a race we are all in this together. I got alot of respect for body guys i dont have skill to be one but we are thinking of you guys too.
Been at it since 86 hard work
You made me feel sick bro… i m 27 plus years in, AND ITS PURE B.S. just as you say…100%
WTF to do? Lean on my ancient HVAC skills??(an industry with no rewards?) Repairing a car is so satisfying, but i just dont know anymore….
@ there are options don’t give up hope! Do your research on fleets and just look for the warning signs from job D
That looks like a b series transmission 💪💪💪💪
Good eye that it is!
Shoulda stayed at job C
I would have stayed….but also the place it was located was a big, congested city with alot of crime and taxs.
Hindsight is 20/20
Transition into golf course mechanic.if you have your diesel licence..make 100k plus work full time 6 months basically off .easy work .or start your own business
I always heard about that. What state do you work and what do you work on?
If you think thats bad. I work as a bodyman. Ive been to shops that pay you comission ontop of flag. And some of those shops have whats called out house hours ( things normally done outside the shop if you aren't capable of doing it yourself ) and if you can do it its called in house hours. And then there is frame time for the frame machine. Pull time and etc. ontop of your hourly rate based off your skillset and experience etc. know what some do? They fudge the numbers on your time sheets and alot of the time your hours dont add up and you have some sort of net loss. Know why? They were pulling some or all of your jobs hours and allocating it to the shops hours instead so you dont get it and so forth with various things. Its pretty much another version of fraud. And they will lie and give you the run around and make stuff up. Happened to thousands of bodymen for the said company i use to work for. Pretty sure it happens almost everywhere if the boss knows his way around not getting caught playing with fraud. They would also notoriously do many versions of insurance fraud.
There needs to be some serious whistleblowers that is disgustingly evil
I am a young technician at kia and all we ever do is warranty work i always see flat rate people fighting over customer pay work and even when an hourly sells a brake job alignment etc. It gose to the flat rate people how am i supposed to improve if what ever I sell gose to the flat rate people?
Leave! Don’t be afraid you have the leverage find a hourly fleet job that treats their employees fairly and watch out for those warning signs in job D like i said.
thats the improper way to apply silicone to a transmission case
Well aware! But still going to SEND IT!
@@BobbyBeltzyt😂 rtv gear dampener
It’s to bring the whining down! But naw for real i’m going to reseal it. I was just looking for some B footage to take up the time from the audio, and I also had some RTV that I lost the cap on lol
An hour is too far , I never wanted to drive more than a half hour to work , limited my opportunities tho
It SUCKED trust me but i was hurting at the time…gota do what you gota do
It happens.... everywhere...
I call it politics..
Yup! And it sucks!
The dealership does the company, employees, and customers.
Yup
1:06 im looking to be a mechanic and i already see your first problem. You dont go into mechanics expecting be be paid well even in a qualified wage. Atleast in Australia being a light vehicle mechanic is not a high paying job, you do it for passion mostly.
You need to be paid a decent wage and with benefits such as insurance.....
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk your lucky to get that lol
They lie we are told in the states is coming out if school you can make 100k. Thats what these young guys expect and the never warn us what exactly goes on.
@@BobbyBeltzytExactly!! I switched from paint/body to mechanic for a couple years…. What a mess. Now i m doing freaking construction/tile work!!
LOL good fucking luck paying for shit with your passion, thats the mindset that makes mechanics so fucked. But hey, good luck working for shiny rocks and praise, tell me how it works out.
Another thing that comes up if you ever hear this term. We are an Open door management. They're open doors as long as you're telling them what they're doing is great. If you tell them they're not doing great oh boy things are going to go downhill real fast.
Thats a new one! Never herd of it but ill be sure to keep that in mind, thanks!
The term Open Door Management means if you don't like the way management runs things the door's open. Just don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out.
@@BobbyBeltzyt I first h-e-a-r-d it almost 50 years ago.
Find work that you would do for free and if you get paid for it......BONUS !
Thats a great way of thinking!
you wouldn't even bang chicks for free if you had to do it 40+ hrs a week for 50 years
I would love to quit my job in HVAC/R but they pay me way too much money.
How come you want to quit?
This is all jobs.
Yes, but im giving you a insite on my story.
That was my thought too.
That sounds like all the jobs anymore what are you complaining about
Its not complaining, its shining a light to people that maybe coming into this or some people that feel stuck not everyone is ok with getting taken advantage over at work.
OK, so you left the world of being a mechanic.....and so, what are you doing now, instead? I ask because if anyone else still in the trenches. starts to think about leaving, one always needs to know - and do what instead?
I didnt want to add in the video where i went because well… truthfully the job im in now is nothing to write home about. Dont get me wrong its good i just think its the company thats the problem. While in job D for that fleet i decided to transfer within the company and move to there storekeeping department basically same pay and benefits will less back breaking work, but the company bureaucracy seems to be worse in this department. I wanted to end. The video on note of optimism and not tell them how my nee job is…MEH lol.
List job c for a homie lol. My boss is screwing me
Lol i can only give hints thats all
@got me stumped, thinking western star… i work for a 2 man team with a boss that just does not know how to run things. We do sub contract work for paccar used truck center, I have my own bay in their shop. Lost our shop, after our boss went crazy with money on his house and then we had a bad year. Struggling to get ahead so I can leave, was hoping to get into paccar but corporate won’t allow it until someone retires lol. We’ve done work for international used truck center and international engineering division. Done work for hub group, g&d, the truck driving school near us, and a bunch of owner ops. Thinking about signing on with my buddy doing mobile heavy forklift repair. He gets paid very well but he’s away from home a lot. Considering doing that to get experience for a few year and pay off some debts, then go back to getting out of work at 3:30 lol
Whats your major electric company provider? They usually have their own fleet division that they invest alot into and with your background on hydraulics and heavy duty trucks you can be a major asset!
WTF is "the beer thing"?
The coronavirus. UA-cam is sometimes weird with the algorithm. I don’t know if they still are when it comes to that, but it was also a nod to Paul Harrell. R.I.P
👍
Thanks!
Seroiusly ya aired up split rim tire and you were in cage. Tire suppose to be in cage.
Lol thats not me…thats a meme
It's very funny!
I believe your a good MECHANIC because you're calling yourself the way it should be... Not the stupid word "Technician", that dumb term sounds lowers the value of the worker and it's skill, making them just like the one who who just change parts without proper diagnosis... Oh, they are nowadays... If you know what I mean...
Cars suck ! You have to have one though.
Yep, if you plan on going more than a couple miles in a day lol
😭
😭
Same story ever were
It’s sad I wish I could do something about it
Do you know that you are on the road of destruction and God's wrath? The answer to this question is in God's Word the Holy Bible.
Romans 3:9-22 explains man's condition and guilt before God.
How can God's wrath against you be avoided? Romans 1:16 explains the way to be saved from God's wrath;
Acts 10:34-48 explains the gospel message which is what you need to believe in order to be forgiven your sins against God because justification before God is achieved through faith as explained in Romans chapter 4. Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:16 explains how God seals you and gives you the guarantee of eternal life by believing the gospel. God credits the righteousness of Jesus Christ to you so that you can stand before Him blameless and enjoy his goodness forever. However, if you reject the gospel the only thing left for you is eternal punishment in the lake of fire because you have offended a holy and righteous God.
Amen! I go to confession, eat his flesh and drink his blood, have you? Ave Maria! Vivat Christus Rex!
Unless you are a Catholic you are going to hell
@@liambyrne591 I Disagree.
@@tathanbailey6225 why do you disagree or agree
Karl Marx said "religion is the opiate of the masses."
To which I add "religion is the opiate of them asses."