Not a shortage of techs, it's a shortage of employers that pay a fair wage for the skills required.

There is no shortage of skilled mechanics. There is however a dire shortage of skilled mechanics willing to work for very low wages.

$50,000 worth of training $50,000 worth of tools 30 bucks an hour That's a hard sell

My son is a tech. He was getting paid $28/hr after 10 years while the stealership was charging the customers $135. He quit and opened up his own shop. Now he charges $100/hr for actual hours, not the "book rate" plus the margin on parts the dealership was getting. He's so busy he has to turn work away. I basically have done all my own work on my cars for my entire life even though I work in management in a fortune 10 company. Over the years the money I've saved doing it my self has more than paid for all my tools. Now retired, I restore and restomod old cars.

I was an auto mechanic for years. ASE certified Master Technician. I enjoyed the work but it was stressful a lot of the time. During Covid we were laid off and I found a job at a Aerospace company making twice the money, no stress, they provide all the tools and in a brand new heated and air conditioned building. Why the hell would I ever want to be an automotive technician again ???

Workshops in Australia charge out at $150/h. The worker earns $30/h. Shop charges went up, workers wages didnt, yet companies cry theres no decent workers.......

I spent 40 years in the trenches... When the shops labor rate versus the technician pay rate got so ridiculously stupid, I decided my slice was just too thin. My last 20 years, I worked under the radar for cash and tripled my income. That other 80% of the shops labor rate that I never got to see in pay, suddenly was mine. The reason you can't find technicians is they have figured out you're a fool to be a mule. Be your own boss, and pocket 200k a year

We gone from companies not appreciating workers to companies openly hating their workers. It doesn't make sense, maybe it's class warfare playing out.

I walked away from the industry after 12 years wrenching on Mercedes Benz, Maserati and Ferrari. There is no respect or appreciation for what we know or how much we work. Can’t find anyone reliable? They refuse to pay the ones who ARE! If we’re only paid flat rate, where is the incentive, especially for a master tech in a dealership who frequently gets massive teardown jobs under warranty? 3 days of work to get paid 7 hours and be told “that’s just what the book says” is how you drive techs out of the industry. I’m done wrenching. I’m in college now to become a physicist. I’m much smarter and worth far more than this industry is willing to compensate for.

Let’s take a look at the history of flat rate. The first cars ever built were very few, and owned only by the wealthy. Their coachmen were tasked with operating and maintaining them. Then came the mass production of the model T. Suddenly there was a mass influx of vehicles on the road and very few people who could maintain them. So coachmen/mechanics began leaving their positions to go service cars for the dealerships and were charging top dollar hourly for their work. This cut into the dealership profits and they didn’t like it so they propositioned Ford to come up with a solution. Ford answered by creating a set amount of time that it should take to preform certain tasks, and thus flat rate was born to screw the mechanics, and make the dealership more profitable. Fast forward to present time and the same tactics are still in play. We are very few, overworked, underpaid, and under appreciated. Yet the industry does nothing to improve on these conditions, and wonders why we’re leaving. So to sum this up, fuck em let them fix their own shit!

You stated "the pay isn't good" at least twice. There's your answer. All the other things you mentioned are just symptoms of low pay.

I was a tech for eight years. When the shop was busy I could easily book 60-80 hrs a week, but the shop was rarely busy year round, pay sucked, and vacation was below average. A younger tech left to go work for a firetruck manufacturer doing entry level assembly work and was pulling in more money then most of us there. Needless to say I gave it a shot starting out as an electrician there. Almost doubled my income in the first year. Good techs should be making a minimum of 100k a year.

Long hours, working weekends, dirty job, low pay, and I have to buy my own tools! Yeah sign me up.

A welder needs a welding helmet and a good attitude and gets $50 an hour. A mechanic needs $30K in tools in Australia to get $28 an hour. It does not make financial sense to be a mechanic.

Here’s the deal. Years worth of training and $50k in tools for $28hr with no medical and retirement. This is what mechanics made back in the 80s and 90s but it has not increased today. Today a shop is charging $200+hr, the average truck is $75k, and the average car is $50k. But the shops only want to pay $28hr with no incentives to basically be it’s doctor. To top that off back in the day you could make time, now book time is reduced and is a joke. Today in California you can make more than $20 working fast food with no training or tools. To keep up to today’s inflation a mechanic should be making $75hr. I guarantee if shops payed this they would have a tech in every bay.

Retired now. ASE certified master tech along with additional certs (expired now) in smog testing and repair, also had my safety certs for brake (air brake also) and lamp. Few years ago before I retired (10 years) , nobody wanted to hire a 57 year old tech with over 100k in tools and pay a decent wage. Wanted to start me at 20.00. Some of those shops are still looking. I still keep in touch with a few shop owners, there labor rate at the moment is 180. per hour. Techs are getting about 30-35. Shop owners want good techs with the skills and tools, you're going to have to step up and pay it out in todays world. I stay busy at home taking on side jobs for half the price. Personally do not own a car from this century. My newest is a 91. Don't even get me going on being able to get parts that don't fail

I don't want to hear any complaints from company owners. I went to over 100 interviews over a year and a half for any tech/mechanic positions at every kind of shop, dealership, independent small shops, used car dealerships, junk yards, fleet operations. You name it I applied for it. At every single one I was told to leave the second I mentioned I have a felony conviction from over 13 years ago. I hope all these business go out of business. I made one mistake 13+ years ago and still can't get a job and yet they still complain they can't find workers. I"M RIGHT HERE!!!

Back in the 70's and 80's techs got paid a 50 percent wage per flat rate hour. The days of 50/50 are long gone due to large corporate owned dealer networks. Corporate and shareholder profits truly screwed the industry.

I'm a red seal licensed mechanic. Been turning wrenches for nearly 50 years. With the abuse, flat rate systems, wages (the list goes on) - I'll stick to working on my own cars, maybe a neighbours. Beyond that? GFY.

My mechanic ( a fellow marine) recently passed away from leukemia, and it’s not been easy to find a new one. When I met him he was rebuilding a transmission. Good luck finding someone that can work on one of those these days.

Nobody wants to work for a wage that isn't survivable unless you are living in a 2+ income household and/or shacking up with all sorts of roommates. But, that is the unfolding American social & economic dystopia that is our future.

meanwhile all the shops near me won't hire me because I don't have 2 years experience despite wanting to work.

They quote your pay to take a whole engine apart takes 3 hours. For starters, it really takes 7hrs then 2 rusted bolts snap taking 2 more hours to remove it yet they still pay you only for the 3 hrs that the manual says it should take....that is if the car is brand new and everything is perfectly clean and disassembles fine. Then you wonder why they don't want to work for you????

I can tell you why I stopped turning wrenches full time. I am a diesel mechanic, I got my degree, plus I was a 91B for the U.S. Army(active duty). I was only paid $13.50 starting out in 2016. I didn't even come close to being able to live on my own. I was 25-26 years old, living with my parents. Since I am a diesel mechanic/tech, I was forced to buy really expensive tools to be able to work on the tractors and combine. Just for refenerce, I worked for a John Deere dealership. Well, one day, my old boss called me and asked if I still had my cdl, which, of course, I still did. He told me what he was going to pay me to drive a semi again, and it was almost double what my yearly salary was turning wrenches. So I basically spent 2 years(5 semsters) to become a truck driver, which I still do today. Sh@tty pay, price of tools, and flat rate is killing the industry. I make damn good money just to slam gears all day.

i was in the body refinishing side of things for 30 years , they kept finding ways to cut our pay over the years , until i found out by taking to the detail car washers that just started a month ago were making more than me. i packed up and never went back 😫

When I was 21, never got bumped up from a tire tech. So I ended up going towards industrial maintenance at a bakery. I'm 26 now, getting paid 2.5x more than I was 5 years ago with CAD drafting, electrical troubleshooting, and much more specific machine knowledge (fillers, seamers, blow moulding, etc.)

I agree 100%. I was running my Auto repair business that I had operated for 45 years in 2020 when Covid hit. Two of my top people decided to retire. I thought about trying to find replacements but quickly realized that that was not going to be possible. I retired and closed my shop. No regrets. Retirement is very nice.

The place I work at dropped the ASE requirement 2 years ago that tells you how bad it's getting.

Its times like these im glad i got into fixing my own stuff years ago

I come from the paper industry and we have the same issues. The companies dont appreciate the old guys who know the machines so they give up and leave. One was on the cusp of retirement and offered if they'd put him on days, he'd give them another year to interact with all four teams as they rotated though days. The manager declined and 35 years of experience walked out the door the next day. As an aging GenX guy, I've seen guys try to counsel the young guys and they either won't listen or go to HR about being "harrassed". HR comes down on us and we just leave. Good luck making paper. Good luck finding competent help.

I left the industry because the pay is awful. I was a flat rate lube tech at GMC/Buick getting paid 30 minutes per oil change, and in that oil change you had to check the air filters (some cars like Buicks had a long process to extract the cabin filter), rotate the tires, change the oil, measure all the tire treads/brake pads, notify a main shop tech of any repairs needed so they can come inspect the car and send a write up, wash the car, install new wiper blades, etc. I didn’t list everything we had to do, but I ended up averaging 45-60 minutes on the oil changes because there was so much to do on the cars. In a 9 hour day I was only flagging 6ish hours. We were encouraged to sell air filters but only half the people wanted them, so it was a waste of time to disassemble the dash to check the cabin filters. One time i did a recall on a 2021 GMC Yukon for the third row seatbelt, and it only paid 0.2 hours (which translates to $3.8 done in 12 minutes or less to stay profitable in terms of time). I will never go back to flat-rate work. It’s just a way for companies (especially dealers) to screw over the employees and pay them peanuts

42 year tech here. When I started in the '82, I thought I would have it mastered in 4-5 years. Technology only picked up speed. You can never "master" this constantly evolving tech. There are literally of thousands of DTC's (trouble codes) for today's vehicles. Thousands of wiring circuits & data lines. Some vehicles have dozens of computer modules. This shit ain't easy at all. I began in a Ford/Isuzu dealership. After a decade of dealerships, I went to independents to get away from dealership politics. The hourly wages in my industry haven't much changed since the early 1990's. And I still go to school to stay up with this GARBAGE they build now. It's a shitty job with no appreciation from shop owners who can't fix a goddam thing. I've even quit a few shops over their greed & dishonesty with customers. The thieves seem to thrive in this industry. It's sickening to see the shop owner's favorite techs are the biggest ripoffs of customers. And watch these crimminals stay in business. Thank goodness I went self employed 15 years ago. Don't ruin your life & be a mechanic like I did lol. Most techs blow out their lower discs between age 45-55 ( age 44 for me), after being hunched over the hood of cars for a few decades. Have fun kiddies !

Anyone who's worth their salt as a wrench is worth significantly more in Industrial Maintenance.

This is the same old story. I worked as a teen in my dad’s garage in the 70’s, overhauling engines, replacing tranny’s, brakes, doing it all. We could never find reliable help and were forced to close after working day and night for years for very little profit.

The industry has managed to run off all the competent techs. You can't make living on a job that pays half the time it takes to complete. It used to be that you ate it on certain jobs but made it up on others. I left six years ago, and it was hard enough then just to break even. The system that was designed to make a tech efficient and to be motivated, no longer worked. The only part I miss about my old job is the satisfaction I got from fixing a problem. That's something only a good tech could feel. I was fortunate to work with a sharp group of guys, we took pride in our work. Unfortunately, we had to move on. For those that have moved on to something better, I'm happy for you. For those who are still working under worsening conditions, I feel for you. I don’t have any regrets, I worked with some good people and made some good memories.

Brought my RAV4 to the Toyota dealer for an oil change. Two days later, I popped the hood and found that the technician had left the oil filler cap off the valve cover, jammed into a little nook in the engine compartment. There was oil spray everywhere from the open oil filler hole. I've had worse experiences. Oil drain plugs not tightened and falling off. Oil filters not tightened and unscrewing. If you have your car professionally serviced, keep an eye out for obvious faults like these.

us good techs got tired of making all the money for someone else. I will never work for someone else again. now I make a hundred dollar an hour for me. and I work half as hard as before

Yup, sitting at work for 42 hours a week to only flag 27 hours and be screamed at by advisors. Fuck that. I told the dumb advisor yesterday, I can roll my box out just as fast as I rolled it in, grabbed my shit and started walking and they watched them freak out.

I was doing $17/hr flatrate on the lube rack at a Toyota dealership and then got thrown in the main shop to do special services with no raise or bonus. Figured things would turn around, but the work just kept piling on since we didn’t have an express shop to handle the oil changes, so I left. It was also pretty shocking to learn that I had to buy my own tools.

I found a good mechanic near me and I'm stoked. He's not cheap but I don't care. He's honest and does great work

A young kid with blue hair and a ring through his nose can make more money starting at Amazon than what most shops want to pay someone with 3 - 5 years experience.

Planning on leaving the trade myself, everyone else pays more for less work/stress. The guy’s washing cars make more money than the guys fixing the cars (cuz of the flats rate system). How does that make sense?

When dealerships were infiltrated by MBAs they went from paying technicians commission to paying them flat rate. This allowed them to lock technician pay at one level, while the dealer operators were free to raise rates to whatever the market will bear. Technician pay has fallen from 50% of the labor line to about 25%. GM pay has risen from $125k a year to $350k - $550k. This, along with warranties that go to 100,000 miles, has driven the best people out of the profession.

One thing I'd like to see more of, are establishments where OWNERS can work on their own cars. I've seen and been to one, back in 1992-93. It was staffed, and had techs on hand to assist. You rent out a bay and tools, maybe attend a safety briefing, and you do your own maintenance, e.g., oil/brakes/tires, whatever t/f. Paying upwards of a C-note for an oil change (synth.) on most cars is re-cock-ulous!

Started in a Jaguar dealership in 1987 not long after 50/50 split of shop rate. Watch it decline gradually over the next 25 years. The dealer principals and manufacturers always talked a big game about taking care of techs. Unfortunately they are like politicians talk a big game when they want something but unfortunately they almost never deliver. It’s all about sales a yet service carries most dealerships. Being a mechanic was a great trade in the 70s thru the 90s then it started declining rapidly. Everyone wants a mechanic no one wants to pay or listen to them. So fix it yourself is what I say. Or do like the manufacturer wants ( when it breaks throw it away and by a new one. ). Sorry to be negative but I know a lot of mechanics that feel the same way.

I got out in 2020. No regrets. Keep it a hobby. There's guys that aren't even mechanics that have 2 post lifts in their garage because they do something else that actually makes good money.

The biggest issue i have is most of the techs out there think they are better than they actually are.

I've been in the tech industry for just over 30 years and I recently been laid off. One of the skills that God gave me is the ability to fix cars. And it's something I love. It's something I'm good at. I approached my local dealership about fulfilling a mechanics position. Everything went well until they offered me the job at $20 an hour and I needed to bring about $4,000 of my own tools. I told them they could kiss my grits.

I have been an certificated aircraft mechanic for 35 years , I work on everything I own and the only shop I have taken my cars to is a smog shop. I wouldn’t go back to wrenching on anything for anything less than 747 Captain money. Want mechanics? All it takes is money.

I'm not a car tech but I am a retired certified millwright (64). I don't drink, don't smoke, NOT a dope fink and the number if days I've missed from work in my entire life (44 yrs) you can count on one hand. This is what's happening in all the trades from what I've seen in my life time at work. Employers don't want to pay but the big shot in the office gets a million dollar "bonus". I made more money in 1982 than what employers are offering today based on an inflation rate calculator (yes, many of us can do basic math). In fact these employers are offering 50% of the wage they should be paying based on that inflation rate calculator. Just remember, that if an employer would actually pay the correct amount, that would just mean that I made the SAME money as in 1982 ----- NO RAISE !!!!! So if they are going to pay half the wage they should be paying then I'll just retire. Fix the busted junk yourself "BOSS". By the way everyone I know is a tradesman of some kind. One of my friends is a very very good car tech but he just retired too and said F it.

Was a ford tech in 1999. The year flat rate was implemented. 5 years in i left. Toyota. Kia. Volkswagen.dodge. i went thru all the dealerships. Each one was more criminal than the rest. Look up jones west ford in Reno,Nv they had a drug ring selling percosets and vikodine. They got busted. I was let go for smoking weed. Lol. Meanwhile a drug ring was transpiring behind the scenes.

$30 hr flat rate , working weekends and free pizza just wont do the trick these days

Definantly one of the biggest reasons why I didn't stay in that Career was the pay as you mentioned. Also during my time period they were requiring multiple ASE Certifications as well. Its crazy that Techs standard is lowered so much now. The reason i didn't stay in that industry wasn't just the pay, it was also how I was treated. I worked multiple dealerships back in 2006-2010. Every one of them ended up laying me off like I wasn't a valuable asset to the dealer. Which if you remember that time period there was a some economy issues during that time period. Found odd jobs until I ended up working at a Locamotive Repair Business for about 7 years, then eventy got a good contracting position for support management on websites. Been with that for the last 5 years, definitely is helping support my family. I still work on my own vehicles especially my 86. Enjoy your content, thanks for sharing!

Makes owning a Honda trail 125cc my next vehicle.

The comment section here is VERY correct. The auto mechanics industry has cultivated this type of employee, you shouldn't be surprised. Even in your video you said that at your old shop the car washers were next in line to be techs. That's poor business management at it's finest. If you want good techs who know the job and show up tools in hand, you need to pay for them. As you said, the job isn't worth it for the little pay you get, and the responsibility and training you need. Btw I do see that you get that from the fact you point it out, but I'm just commenting on my experience. In 2010 I attended tech school for auto mechanics as an adult student. A smaller tech school that was in my area, at the time in the Midwest. I graduated top of my class, with honors and awards for my work, and completed a two year course in one year, while also earning a letter of recommendation from the schools head administrator. When applying for jobs after graduation I was looking for ENTRY LEVEL only positions, to build experience and work my way up. Meanwhile earning the time and experience needed to take ASE cert. exams. And no, the schools near me did not have the advancement ASE programs to cert while in school, I asked many times. I was applying for beginner level jobs, that were listed as $10 hr jobs, which I could have made work for a couple of years after the schooling, and only one of the 12 shops I applied to even contacted me back. And I interviewed at that shop, during which time they told me because I had no experience at a shop, even as an OIL CHANGE TECH, they couldn't pay me more then $8 an hour! So I interviewed for a $10 position and they offered me $8? For an ENTRY LEVEL position. I walked right out the door and started shortly after as a counter person and warehouse guy at a small electricians shop... making $10.50 and hour, with paid vacation and holidays. And within the second year I was at $12 an hour. Auto shops do not take their own businesses seriously, sorry to say. That is what has led to this. They need to PAY MORE. that's all. Shops charge $100-$150 per hour but pay techs near nothing. Often $20 per hour or less. Well when your customers get mad at bringing things back repeatedly, and your shop gets bad rep, it's deserved. They have nobody to blame but themselves. Thanks for the vid though was a good behind the scenes look. I will thumbs up

I have an Associates degree in Automotive Service Technology, used to work at a Honda Dealership (3years) then Ford (1year) -owned by same people. Quit because of pay and shop conditions, lack of supplies like hand soap, red shop towels. Lack of equipment like jack stands and jacks, special tools. Broken tire machine, no wheel weights, unsafe lifts. Idiot service advisors, poor management, and no parking for vehicles. I just quit, resignation letter said effective immediately, picked up my tool box and was out of there. Now they got these young high school kids working. I was reliable, always on time, perfect attendance awards every year, non smoker, non drinker. I dont want to be a technician anymore, now i'm self learning how to do automotive collision repair, painter.

I left retail service for Govt/Fleet with the USPS. Basically taking care of 40 year old rebodied Chevy S-10's. But since I'm fresh from the outside, I have a better understanding of newer vehicles so when the Metris fleet has issues, it comes to me. I'm also the only tech in the shop with EV safety certification from my time with HPD during the late development cycle for the 2.4 IMSA and Indy engines, so when the EV fleet rolls out, I have a feeling it'll make its way to me as well. But I gotta say, it's nice. Tools are provided (not the best stuff, but decent; lots of Proto and Gear wrench). No more flat rate stress. Flag your 8 and be done for the day essentially. Lower pay, but very good benefits and I'm in it for the retirement; something the dealerships can't offer me.

Comes down to people not wanting to pay what it takes to fix their car. Get people all the time that would rather pay 600 for tint but not new tires. I get tired of dealing with broke people with big dreams

I work in the Auto Body industry started back in 2008 and there is a huge shift in what's going on now we do have good people but like you said the company will literally pay someone right off the streets with no prior experience and will also provide all they're tools to do the they're job. Where when I got into the industry back in 2008 you were expected to have your own tools do work correctly no drugs no drinking and do good work or you were fired now if you just show up to work your given a Gold medal for participating and when your caught screwing up its a slap on the wrist and no big deal. I completely feel ya on this one.

I would never work at a dealership; I always worked as an independent mechanic and did quite well charging half the flat rate that the dealerships did in labor and sold my parts at Jobber rate because I got them at wholesale. I am retired now, but still do diagnostics and teach my friends how to fix their own cars and boats.

At least you can bring up these discussions here, I remember at 18, me complaining at work just like you did in the first minute, and a manager took me into her office to say my negativity was bringing everybody down, which is weird because they agreed with me.obviously afraid of people standing up for themselves.

I was a mechanic for only three years. Destroyed my body, I regret deciding to take this path and now I’m left with a skill I hate to use. I don’t even change my own oil anymore

Raise your shop rate, make a more aggressive parts matrix, increase your shop supply fees, and pay the employees a generous living wage. With raise built into the CPI calculator. 100k tech salary is right around the corner with my shop.

Employers aren't paying good enough. I work out of my home garage and I make almost twice as much as I used to.

You forgot about the tool commitment. That brings down your take home pay a lot, at least for the first decade. Great hobby, terrible way to make a living.

And this is why I have taken to working on my own cars.

When you look at the hourly shop rates at dealerships and then see what the mechanics in the shop are earning it's no wonder guys don't want to do the job anymore. They're expected to do the heavy lifting while the dealership rakes in the cash.

That's why I opened my own shop.

Whats funny is that I started doing all of my own work, and it's taught me that aside from very specialized pieces of equipment (mostly having to do with alignments, all the TPMS bits or "Driver-Assist" sensors) it's not hard. Yes, it can be physically demanding, and certain parts of it can be annoying to do without specialized tools . . . but the vast majority of it is literally diagnosing issues and then just replacing a part. Adding a good Bi-Directional scan tool will get you 99% of the way there. Modern cars with their dumb computer-controlled-everything's are where this starts getting muddled, but people are finding ways around that outside of specialized tools, too.

There is never a shortage of employees there is only ever a shortage of employers willing to pay a decent wage. You pay a decent wage you get all the quality technicians you need.

Just quit a shop not long ago. 11 hour days, no lunch breaks, and was expected to do a ton of “complimentary” and warranty work. I’m too old to put up with that crap for such low wages. 6 techs at that job left within 5 months.

You forgot constantly buying new tools because some JA engineer designed some new thing that needs a $400 tool to take it apart and that tool is going to be obsolete in 2 years because the manufacturer decided the the engineer's idea was stupid and cost too much to manufacture.

Got rid of my newer truck, now all the cars I own are from 85, 89, and 02. Used said money to start building a garage with lift and machine shop. Soon ill be able to make any part I need and work on anything easily. I already got friends who want to rent the lift out from me to work on their stuff. If anything besides a hobby I see this whole setup as a fall back in case the economy goes bad and I lose my job. It honestly was less than I thought to build the whole place, and some of yall may wanna look into it and go independent.

This is too bad. I've always had respect and admiration for good technicians/mechanics. I've always enjoyed working on my own cars and do as much on them as I'm able to. I decided a long time ago that since I enjoyed working on cars as a hobby I'd hate it as a job. It wouldn't be fun anymore. I guess that was a good call.

Most people seem to think that a technician just plugs in a scanner and it tells them what to do and they don’t have to think.

My father is a very good mechanic with all the tools you need. So whenever i have to work on my car he helps and provides the tools needed. There is no way in hell I would ever become a mechanic for anything less than $200/H plus tools, benefits and everything else. For reference I work as a sheet metal apprentice for $28/H, I've installed rooftop units in January in the snow. I'd still prefer to do that than change a power steering pump on a modern car or a beat up shit box. And remember every single problem in a car was designed by someone in an office who could have made it way better.

I just got a p0327 on my Toyota. I don’t mind fixing stuff; it happens. What angers me is that the manufacturer thought it would be cool to disable 4wd, traction control, cruise control and top gear all for a knock sensor code. This is unacceptable. And if I took it to a dealer they’d charge $175 an hour and the technician would get $24. Outrageous.

The good news is even though your car might not run properly after service at a dealership, it will be spotless and smell nice LOL

There haven't been mechanics for 20 years. The computer replaced them, all we have are code readers and parts changers

Best thing you can do is work on mechanic maintenance for a manufacturing place. Great money, benefits, retirement funding, weekends off, home early, less stress and overtime is available if you want it.

Something needs to change in automotive industry or there is going to be a collapse.

That’s why I do work myself I don’t trust shops especially dealerships

$120k pa for a technician here in Australia. The USA is not suffering a shortage, the employers don't want to pay a competitive wage. Yet they are happy to charge $200ph for labour to their customers.

Lol. I'm about to quit manual/cnc machining because I only make 21/hr. Im really good at it too and completed a formal apprenticeship through work and college. I started out as the stereotypical apprentice that gets all the tedious shit jobs that everybody else with 10+ years of experience refuses to do. I kept up with it so well for 3.5 years and have a really competent tool collection. I'm better than everyone else on a milling machine. I get the nicest surface finishes and remove metal the fastest. I wanted to get into tool & die, aerospace, robotics, or even better; design cnc machines to build here in America. What do I have to show for after those 3.5 years? Asthma, a herniated lumbar disc, corporations that refuse to hire me because I'm a white guy, and a bank account that won't even get me a new car. Of course most people have no clue what a machinist is either when talking about the trades, so there is no social status or appreciation for the job either. I'm just going to take my tools home and get some desk job working for the government. None of the trades are worth it. I live worse than a medieval peasant despite making parts for shipyards, docks, construction engineering firms, steel mills, and water treatment plants. I'll come back to the trades when my pay gets tripled. I'm not interested in wearing the steel toe boots, faceshield, respirator, gloves, and hearing protection anymore. The pay is shit and I'll still get hurt/poisoned anyway despite wearing all my PPE because thats how cumulative exposure works, especially if you work more hours.

I was lucky to eventually find a shop that is exceptional, willing to educate, and is a blast to be around. The owner and head tech has bent over backwards for me when I was in tight situations and sourced things I thought impossible at the time. He and his shop have single handily cemented my love of not just cars but working on them. I am a network and cybersecurity IT by trade but love working on my Audi or any VAG product. Much like network infrastructure setup or a incident cases; turning wrench's and busting knuckles is a way for me to delve deep and get hands on with something I love. I see others with the same passion in the local community but much like me see the industry as a dead end or limitation to financial growth. Its sad to say and see. Some of the best people I have met where car people. Either hands on type or throw money and appreciate it types.

Being a car wash guy pays better than the flat rate diag guy

So many places don't diagnose problems anymore, they just fire the parts cannon over and over and over, hoping that if they throw enough new parts at a problem, eventually they will win the lottery, and solve the problem without even having to figure out what it is. Fortunately, I have a good mechanic, and an honest shop. I 100% agree with your video.

Speaking from an ex master tech point of view... There's no techs because the pay is generally SHIT. You have to buy thousands of £ of tools to do the job. And a lot of customers are rude and expect every job to take 5 minutes.. and then complain about nothing to try and get the job for free.. after 25 years I was done

Its hard work and inflation made it so the pay isn’t even enough to support yourself. You will make more money driving a forklift where I live than you will as a mechanic. That’s true not an exaggeration in the slightest.

It's not just a problem finding auto mechanics. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are also leaving the jobs. Overall pay for talented healthcare professionals is going down because trained nurses, respiratory therapists and other specialists are being replaced with "Medical Assistants (MAs). MAs are the people that do your sign-in paperwork and sometimes take your blood pressure when you arrive at the hospital. Like the car washers that you mentioned, the MAs are important, but are not paid well and required little training. Insurance companies run the show at all hospitals, and the insurance companies force the hospitals to cut staff so that more money can be sent to the insurance companies. The doctors are fed up with the system as well, because they can no longer provide the patient care that they need to provide. In many ways, the same can be said for the difficulty in finding teachers. Student to teacher ratios are forever increasing to offset the lack of funding required by ever-increasing state and federal mandates. Also, the lack of parent involvement in teaching and raising children makes teaching more and more undesirable.

now it seems like they are so understaffed inspections and oil changes need to be scheduled weeks in advanced. back in the day you could get both done in an hour walk in. agree the next inline to techs is the car wash or interior cleaner/detailers because the auto tech schools are over $50,000 now to barely be paid $15 an hour. this will be the first industry to crumble

Not a shortage of techs but a shortage of shops that conduct honest business

At Mercedes we were taking porters (people who just move cars around the lot) and making them express techs because no one wants to do it. I don’t blame them, I’m over it 14 years of this crap and I’m just beat.

Back in HS in the 1970s-1980s there were auto shop programs in most schools. One of the junior colleges near me had a very extensive auto programs (regular cars, heavy vehicles, rebuilding (engine & trans) diesel tech, body & paint) so you could go through that and get a really good background in it. None of that is around anymore; the HSs have dropped auto and most 'shop' programs, the junior college still has a basic auto tech program but nothing as extensive as before, and they completely dropped the body & paint program.

I work industrial maintenance and its hard as hell to find someone worth a damn

Lot of good mechanics have started their own specialized business like LS swaps, JZ swap, etc. Social media has made it easy to get your name out there.

People would do it for the right money. Its quite rewarding work. But if it can't fund a family, you literally cant afford to take the work.

15 years ago at my dealership upper level techs made like $38 an hour and the labor rate was $140 an hour. Now the labor rate is $240 an hour and upper level techs make...$38 an hour. Don't worry we have double the managers now to motivate us with pizza....actually they don't even do pizza anymore they just come up with idiot processes that make everything worse. Now they require us to make videos (for free) on every car to send to the customer. Which is perfect for someone like me who hates talking, hates people and likes cars. 😐

Thats why I have gone 'Full-Cuba." I fixed up my 1967 Buick and all is well.

I gave it 15 years, miss having an alignment rack, tire machine and balancer but otherwise I'm good. Even stopped doing side work since the gov wants a piece of that too.