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Wow, I have not been on here in a long time and didn't realize all the responses. Slowtech, well put. I wrote this 2 years ago, well I have moved to a completley different state, and have been working at a new dealership for 2 years now. Now, I know you need the lower payed techs, I think why I take it personally is just because the type of person I am. When I first started doing this I was ready to make money! EVERY oppurtunity I had to watch or even help one of the older jedimaster techs do something, I was there. Thats how I learned. I wasn't afraid to jump into a job and I wasn't afraid to ask questions, stupid and logical. lol. As the years go by, the harder I worked, the better I became.And I bet 99.9% of you guys were the same way, you wanted to succeed. In no way shape or form am I a arrogant person, I will never stop learning from the older guys or anyone as a matter of fact. I think the way I see it now, is the generation after me comming up. I just don't see guys have that drive or passion to want to improve themselves, they all want the easy way out and all the handouts. I am not trying to be disrispectful but In my personal expereince have never met a good technician come out of these high dollar trade schools. I would tell younger guys, lube techs, "hey would you like to come see how to time up a timing belt?" the usual response...."No thanks, im good" Now, I'm not saying everyone is like this, but I think a majority of them are just plain lazy. I am now at a shop and there is only 4 of us, 1 lube tech and 3 techs, and we all make the same hours every week (flat rate) and I am payed what I should be payed for my skills. A lot has to do with where I use to work. But the merry go around is true, and the problem now is, the older guys are retiring and there are to many few good technicians filling those places.

I'm only 29, but I did start my automotive career at 16. Advancement and knowing the latest training has always been my number one goal. I am now the lead tech at my shop. Then you have the gravy tech, which seems to be filling the bays up more and more. The guys that don't care about training, don't care about the warranty job, and always seem to avoid the "challenging" repairs. You can't fire them because it's to busy OR you can't find the next quality technician to make your team more successful which seems to be more harder to find. For management it's great, here is a guy we can pay 10.00 per hour, that does nothing but flushes, alignments and brake jobs, and makes the shop profit. For us technicians, it's being stuck with the nightmare electrical problems and diagnostic problems, trying to scrape up every possible hour to make ends meat. I'm not really directing this to the younger guys that are just starting out in there career, but the guys that have been doing this longer than me, or even longer. How do you guys handle these kinds of employees, to me it just seems like they will never change and always get away with the way they work.

I've grown up in the electronic age, but it still amazes me seeing all these new vehicles not last past 100k, but a old beater keeps ticking along mile after mile. Do you ever think though, 100 years from now, someone will be writing the same type of article, but about how the electronics of the past (today's technology) were simple to work on and dinosaur technology?

That's a good point, I have always feared being a service writer and being too "technical" with the customers. Building relationships with customers is what I have been trying to work on the past year, but its kind of hard to do that in a dealership, but I have left hundreds of business cards in customers dashes! And yes, putting wrenches down is hard, it's almost a pride thing.

lol that's a good point.

Thanks for all the input. One of our service writers hit the road. I would fill in when the other writers had days off. I'm just not a sit behind the desk all day kind of guy. There is deffinetley more pay involved, and If it was easy everyone would do it. Maybe I'll give it a test drive for a few weeks! Thanks again everybody!

I was offered a job today. My service manager asked me if I would like to be a service writer AND a technician at the same time. I asked him, well how would that work?? His suggestion was to spend this amount of time in the shop, and this amount of time at the desk...."we will work some kind of schedule out." I have worked on cars for about 14 years now, I don't want to turn wrenches forever. I do want to move up in the world, and his suggestion was to get exposure in all areas of the service department. Has anyone done this before, or just any opinions would be greatly appreciated! Brian

It seems like I have a thousand tools for so many different purposes, a certain ratchet for this bolt and different ratchet for that bolt. It seems also now that I have gotten that way with flashlights. A flashlight for working in the interior, A huge light that attaches to the hood when doing engine repair, a pocket flashlight, a flashlight to do a quick and safety check over the vehicle during routine service, a drop chord light when working underneath the car, and maybe a couple more stashed somewhere. Does anyone else have this problem?

Great story!

I'm not a manager or owner, BUT it drives me nuts when half of us are wearing are uniforms, shirts tucked in and groomed, then you have the rest that look like they have worn the same uniform for 2 weeks. I think it is very unprofessional and the first thing a customer notices is cleanliness.

Just found out about this website and chatted with some great people! seems like a nice site with good folks. Nice to be able to communicate with techs around the country!