The world of auto mechanics is split into two categories. You have the people in the trade because they genuinely love cars and then you have the people who went into auto repair because their high school guidance counsellor said they should. The first group you could identify with as the hackers, the people that take stuff apart because they find it fascinating, and this interest level over a number of years combines to make them rockstars. This is referred to as the 10,000 hour effect on HN. With the other group, they end up doing basic work but never doing the high pay, challenging work. The common slang for this group is "Mouthbreathers" (1).
So there kind of isn't an average non-rockstar mechanic. I will try to answer your question anyway. A person changing oil and doing brake pad replacement might make between $8-12 in Tucson. This worker would not do any engine diagnostics, nor any specialty work like alignment, air conditioning service, or any problems that would be unusual. A surprising number of problems auto shops repair is unusual. Things like "What is that noise at 70 when I hit a bump" which can often be a hard puzzle to solve.
A better mechanic who can use all the equipment could earn up to $1000 per week as a base, but more typically would be paid on a flat rate basis. So you might get $25 per hour flat rate, and you pay would be $25 x #ofhourscharged . The "flat rate" is typically based on Mitchell Time Guides, which was a book and is now a DVD which lists the expected times to do a standard repair. Unusual problems are not covered in this book, which is somewhat inaccurate but is the best the industry has. (Startup idea: crowdsourced auto repair times).
Specialized skills can get you more money, like any other business. If you are fantastic at transmission repair, or at engine diagnostics, or at solving diesel problems, then you can almost set your own rate. I have a friend who could make a few hundred per hour solving engine drivability problems, but I will note that he is unique. He fixed IBM mainframes before turning to cars. He has his own shop, and works by himself. He fixes cars in a day that other shops have spent weeks on before giving up.
Dealership mechanics can make the most money. A few reasons:
- They work on new cars, so nothing is rusted or dirty. No rusted bolts to slow you down.
- they work on the same cars over and over again, they become familiar
- they have warranty work coming in, and recall work
- the dealership charges more per hour typically than an independent shop
- the dealer is forced to buy the latest equipment, and to send mechanics for training
- the automakers restrict repair information from the auto repair aftermarket
Remember that cars are complex systems now. They involve mechanical parts, electronic parts, wear items, user behavior, and you never have enough information to solve the problem. You don't get to see the source code on anything, most of the time you are diagnosing blind. There are no logs to review besides the trouble codes. Trouble Codes only tell you what the opinion of the ECU is, not reality. I sold several million dollars of equipment based on this distinction.
(1)Side note: once (1996) I won a cruise with 4000 other Snap-on Tools people. My ice-breaking question was "How many mechanics do you let work on your car?" with the typical answer being "none" or "just a couple" which is revealing if you consider that on average a Snap-on Tools dealer has 300 customers. So 1% pass the standard of a salesman who visits him once a week.
Many mechanics aren’t really directly employees of the shop, and often get paid based on work they get (some even have to “rent” the stall). It can be an interesting industry.
"doing jobs that become much harder because of location, etc etc all for 30% less money" --- our mechanics make $75 an hour flat rate. That's 3x what they make at their respective dealerships (on an hourly basis). The fact that master technicians (all 8 ase certs, 20+ years of experience) from mercedes, ford, nissan and toyota are offering mobile car repair services and have already finished over 1000 repairs on our platform is probably a good indicator that not every mechanic thinks the way you do.
I am not claiming that you are wrong or that YourMechanic will succeed (only time will tell).
p.s. Of the 1000+ cars we have fixed, not a single customer ever came back to us claiming that our techs made the dents, scratches, stole stuff etc. I am sure we will one day run into some of those interesting people. I may be cynical and/or naive, but I happen to believe that most people are basically good.
I am just baffled by the idea that people here think there isn't a huge dent to be made in the universe in auto repair. There are 723,400 auto mechanics in the US alone, making a median of $35k in an incredibly inefficient marketplace that fleeces and inflicts misery on millions of working class families (who get to work and their kids to school in cars, not fixies) every year.
Auto repair is 90% diagnostics and 10% wrench turning. A lot of newer vehicles have symptom matrixes with a process for repair. Lowering the skill floor for mechanics.
What’s interesting to me about auto repair is how techs are paid. A lot of shops do book rate. Example let’s say you have to replace a front half shaft. Book rate pays you for 30min. If you take an hour to do it - you lose money.
Every car owner wastes time and money at repair shops that tend to be so opaque and corrupt that there are sitcoms about it. Most mechanics employed by these shops get paid much lower than they can charge as an independent mechanic.
Yet, the middlemen who run the shops make many times more than the sum of the cost of labor and parts.
Are you saying that trying to fix this for the 250M+ car owners in America is a problem that doesn't really matter?
I'm not sure what aspect of this conversation is "low intelligence", but automotive technician salary data doesn't often match reality where techs can (and often do) make close to double their "official" salary in side jobs. I'm a full-time engineering manager at a startup in LA, and I do repair gigs in my garage during the evenings and on weekends--all word-of-mouth referrals from former and returning customers. I've made a shade over $30k after expenses this year doing 2-3 jobs a week. Most are catalytic converter replacements that I charge a flat $500 for on $145 in parts; takes me an hour per. I've done everything from rear main seals to fuel pump replacements to in-and-out oil/filter changes.
What your comment and sentiment misses, I think, is that a significant percentage of mechanics do shade-tree jobs that won't ever be accounted for in official reports. Dealers and shops have become extremely hit-and-miss, part quality fell dramatically during the pandemic (ask me how I know), and thrifty consumers are more inclined to spend money on independent mechanics that work out of a small shop; there's a ton of money not being accounted for in the process. Maybe not "cool" or "attractive" to you, but I'd love to never have to touch a keyboard again and spend my time working on cars, boats, and fabrication.
Plus, if you can do the work yourself it often becomes more than worth it. A mechanic's time is expensive—yours probably is not. If you have alternative transport to get to work or fetch parts and can work on it in the evenings, stuff can be done very cheaply.
For example, paying a mechanic to repair an air conditioner (replace compressor, condenser, drier, and associated parts, with a flush out and refrigerant recharge) is prohibitively expensive. I was quoted $2000 plus labour to do this work last month by a reputable mechanic. I did it myself for about $600 with parts from rockauto.com and very basic tools (socket set).
Mechanics work ungodly hours and deal with very painful situations and barely make a living wage that can support a family. You feel like you are getting bled dry because the service does not scale. A highly trained professional has to focus on your problem until it is fixed and the solution is often very time consuming. Insurance costs are high and so are labor and material costs. It doesn't mean the mechanics are making a killing. The owners are often well off though. Hiring more mechanics scales for them.
Except that people are quite often ripped off by car mechanics. Whenever there is an information asymmetry some proportion of the individuals with more knowledge will take advantage of it. I know nothing about cars, so when a mechanic tells me my car needs a $1000 repair, I have to take them at their word or get a second opinion, which is usually more effort than I'm prepared to expend. That sort of imbalance is irresistible to some people in all walks of life, including auto-repair, sales, and engineering.
You have to be good at repairing cars, but probably not an actual mechanic. An actual mechanic may not make enough to afford the parts.
I had a truck that was less than reliable in the past. I had all the know-how and tools to fix everything myself, and even had the money to buy the parts. But I shed a single tear and then traded it in for a newer, more reliable car because, while I was making good money, I had been sitting in my driveway at 8:05am still trying to crank the engine over a few times too many. My boss wanted me there at 8, not 9:15 when I was able to get a ride from someone else.
And that's half the point of the article. If your job demands you be there on time, you can't own a clunker even if you can afford to fix it and know how to fix it.
I'm a regular college grad, but always liked working on my own car (and didn't always trust professional mechanics.)
That lead me to consider becoming an auto mechanic at one time but after hearing some stories - and looking at the pay scales - I jumped back on my desk and rode off into the sunset.
The stories -
1) Constant complaints by mgmt about productivity.
2) Grueling work schedules
3) Pressure to upsell additional work
4) Customers blaming you for new problems
Sounds a lot like working in tech for 25% of the pay, doesn't it?
Nowadays you can pay a mobile mechanic to come work on your car for a very reasonable rate in most urban areas. I find doing this is usually at least 75% cheaper than the dealerships and much more convenient.
I still do minor repairs and things like battery swaps myself and keep an OBD reader in the car for preliminary investigation and research before I call the mechanic. But otherwise I probably average less than $1k USD per year on vehicle maintenance and repairs, tires oil included.
Obviously this excludes things like transmission swaps but those are ideally once in a decade occurrences with proper care and maintenance otherwise
The difference here is that we're willing to pay those vehicular technicians a realistic amount of money for their expertise, and nobody expects a mechanic to fix your car for for free, even if it'll "only take a second".
I also have a healthy respect for their skills, and if my car breaks down, I'd be embarrassed about my ignorance and inability to fix or diagnose the problem (and I suspect most people would too).
Mechanics rates are over 100$ at even the cheapest shop. The overhead rate is over 60% which is kind of the problem. At dealers the overhead rate is probably close to 80-90%. There just isn’t enough pass through for folks doing the work
People should know this though. My auto mechanic (in the US) charges $90/hr plus costs. I don't think he's making $180K/yr and even if he were, it's the market rate.
Total compensation or salary? I'm pretty sure mechanics are paid a base + commission of the sale. The less time they spend fixing the car the more commission they can make (as they move on to the next car). It's an incentive to work. If the labor takes more than the estimate, then the shop and the employee are losing money.
So there kind of isn't an average non-rockstar mechanic. I will try to answer your question anyway. A person changing oil and doing brake pad replacement might make between $8-12 in Tucson. This worker would not do any engine diagnostics, nor any specialty work like alignment, air conditioning service, or any problems that would be unusual. A surprising number of problems auto shops repair is unusual. Things like "What is that noise at 70 when I hit a bump" which can often be a hard puzzle to solve.
A better mechanic who can use all the equipment could earn up to $1000 per week as a base, but more typically would be paid on a flat rate basis. So you might get $25 per hour flat rate, and you pay would be $25 x #ofhourscharged . The "flat rate" is typically based on Mitchell Time Guides, which was a book and is now a DVD which lists the expected times to do a standard repair. Unusual problems are not covered in this book, which is somewhat inaccurate but is the best the industry has. (Startup idea: crowdsourced auto repair times).
Specialized skills can get you more money, like any other business. If you are fantastic at transmission repair, or at engine diagnostics, or at solving diesel problems, then you can almost set your own rate. I have a friend who could make a few hundred per hour solving engine drivability problems, but I will note that he is unique. He fixed IBM mainframes before turning to cars. He has his own shop, and works by himself. He fixes cars in a day that other shops have spent weeks on before giving up.
Dealership mechanics can make the most money. A few reasons: - They work on new cars, so nothing is rusted or dirty. No rusted bolts to slow you down. - they work on the same cars over and over again, they become familiar - they have warranty work coming in, and recall work - the dealership charges more per hour typically than an independent shop - the dealer is forced to buy the latest equipment, and to send mechanics for training - the automakers restrict repair information from the auto repair aftermarket
Remember that cars are complex systems now. They involve mechanical parts, electronic parts, wear items, user behavior, and you never have enough information to solve the problem. You don't get to see the source code on anything, most of the time you are diagnosing blind. There are no logs to review besides the trouble codes. Trouble Codes only tell you what the opinion of the ECU is, not reality. I sold several million dollars of equipment based on this distinction.
(1)Side note: once (1996) I won a cruise with 4000 other Snap-on Tools people. My ice-breaking question was "How many mechanics do you let work on your car?" with the typical answer being "none" or "just a couple" which is revealing if you consider that on average a Snap-on Tools dealer has 300 customers. So 1% pass the standard of a salesman who visits him once a week.
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