For those of you that are mechanics out there and don't mind sharing. I am a mechanic at a small local service station and I make $9 and hour. I have a two year degree in automotive and am working on my ASE mastertech Cert. So on to the question.. what is your wage? Do you work at a dealership or independent shop? and what certs do you hold? For those of you who want to share its greatly appreciated!
I'm a service manager for Honda and my techs start at 11.50 an hour for lube guys that just do the basic maintainance, a full repair technician starts at around 15.00-17.00 and my masters make over 25 an hour.
I started out the same way for Pep Boys as an installer @ $8/hr with commission. in just 3 months I had brakes, Hvac,suspension, auto trans and the promoted me to a tec. The more ASE certs you can earn the more $$$ you can make.
I am an all around Class A Journeyman Mechanic, with Hvac 608, 609 & Universal certs, lamps, brakes, electrical, smog, and all ASE for automotive, but i decided to let them lapse 15yrs ago.
I started in Automotive 22 yrs ago and top pay at that time was around $16 - 20.
Moved on to Aircraft Technician w/certs for $24 - 28.
Moved on to Trucking for $18 - 22.
Now for the past 12 yrs i am a LEAD Tech Mechanic for a Contracted Urban Bus Company here in California making $42 w/ benefits. Still have my Hvac Certs and various others, Maintain a Class B license w/passenger endorsement, but I have no Desire to obtain any ASE/Master, but yes in some companies the more ASE certs you have the little more $$$ you can get, but there are some situations where the company requires you to have them for nothing more than braggn rights for the Company Advertisement.
The ratio of automotive vs bus mechanics are 14:1.
So for the past 5 yrs there have been a very large loss of Very skilled Truck/Bus Mechanics due to age and retirement, and near impossible to find qualified replacements for them.
So if you love being a Mechanic like i have, then it doesn't matter what you work on does it? just follow the money
For those of you that are mechanics out there and don't mind sharing. I am a mechanic at a small local service station and I make $9 and hour. I have a two year degree in automotive and am working on my ASE mastertech Cert. So on to the question.. what is your wage? Do you work at a dealership or independent shop? and what certs do you hold? For those of you who want to share its greatly appreciated!
I have a few licensed mechanic friends up here in Canada. All of them got paid next to nothing for the first few years while "apprenticing". However 5-10 years later, they are all making the equivalent of over $50K/year before taxes. And all of them said the key is to work for a big name corporate dealership as opposed to an independent if you want decent pay and security. Not sure if that's the case in the US. And they are all ASE mastertech cert for a few years now.
Good luck either way. From many I speak to, at the beginning, try to get into a big corporate type place, then when you've got all the accreditations and experience, if you have the balls and follow through, and lots of business acumen, you'll have no problem opening up your own shop. I've seen it happen over a 10-15 year period a few times now in some of my older car buddies. But by then, you're doing more managerial work than straight working on cars.
Thanks for sharing guys. Right now I am paid under the table and take home 360 a week which is barely enough to survive in itself, but my boss is going to put me on the books in the next couple weeks so I think I am going to ask for a raise to 12/HR. I think that seems fair for the type of work I do and the diagnostic skills I have. Do you guys think that seems fair after only working there 6 months?
2.4 - I'm not a mechanic and don't know about wages, etc. I've been in my field (plastics engineering) for about 28 years now, 30 years total in the plastics field. I started out "entry level" and moved on from there.
As I entered my second year in the engineering department I was asking for more money. My manager explained that I'd received almost 20% pay increase since moving up from the production floor. I told him "Give me 20% of what you're making as my increase and I'll be happy. Don't get me wrong, 20% of what I was making is nice, but not as nice as 20% of what you make."
The ultimate advice I'd give anyone is that if you don't ask, you won't receive. Be respectful and be ready to back up your request with a list of accomplishments and reasons why you are worth it.
I've worked in multi-operation corporations and now work in a small family owned business which takes good care of me. However, over the years I've been able to bring on skills that cover nearly every aspect of the business. I can handle product design (3D CAD), tool design, tooling repair, plant efficiency improvments, plant layout and development, computer system maintenance and repair, ERP system setup and maintenance, process costing, cost estimating, machine troubleshooting and repair and have even negotiated business contracts. The owners know that if needed, I can do pretty much anything that needs to be done.
I'd compare it to the certifications you mentioned. I'm sure there are many operations that use them as "feathers" in their caps, but I have to believe that being as versatile as possible is respected and rewarded by operations also. I've tried to drill that into my son's head - the more you know the less you'll lose out on or end up paying someone else for. He was in a large corporate retail setting and realized that going the extra mile was appreciated by his manager, but there was little that manager could do in terms of his compensation and/or position. Now he's at a privately held tool and die shop that isn't that strong in benefits, but he can write his own pay check through over time. He's catching on, even leaving earlier in the morning than I do, and understands that the more he can do, the more value he has, and his pay rate will change accordingly.
So, once again, it never hurts to ask and put the best foot forward!
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