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?
I know it’s been mentioned a few times already, but have looked into fleet work? I make 70k a year, and the hardest thing I do is replace injectors on 15L deisel. Major work gets sent to the dealer. Im a lead tech in my shop, a tech 3, we tend to spend most of our time diagnosing CEL. Most of the time, it’s abs or aftertreatment problems. The company provides snap-on tools at our shop. They are supposed to be rolling it out to all shops. Without air brake certification, you would start out as a pm tech making about 43k. If you have a few years experience with air brakes, you could hire in as a repair tech making around 58k. I work for the retailer that everyone loves to hate, walmart, but it pays the bills. Vacation, 401k, stock, health, dental, vision. At this point, there is such a shortage of techs, most fleets don’t care if you have any experience with heavy duty or diesel. If you’re competent and know your way around a shop, they’ll hire you.