Where to start looking for an automotive career
 

Ok guys I need ideas, I know now is not the best time to look for another job for obvious reasons, but I really want a career not just a job if you know what I mean. I've been at my current job for 4 years: 2 years as a mechanic and 2 years as a Customer Service Writer.

I'm not necessarily looking for a dealership job specifically, but anything automotive that would make a good lifetime career, that's what I wanna accomplish at this point in my life. Anybody got any ideas please feel free to chime in, thanks

Not really sure what to tell you, but the only way to get a good automotive career that I know of is to work at a good dealer or find a good mom and pop shop somewhere that work's on the type of car that you would enjoy to work on all the time.

Other than that I can't think of anyway to get a good automotive career that will be able to support you for the rest of your life. Maybe if you worked really hard you could find a way to work at a dealer and do some other kind of work other than physical labor on the car's.

just get into soemthing else since wrenching gets old. For me, this filed is ok as a weekend warrior (hobby and side job).

^ This. Don't turn a hobby into a job.

You can go back to school and get into designing or engineering

think like a pinoy, get into the medical field (LVN/RN)

obgyn?

Well I dont really work on cars right now I used to and I got tired of it, and thats why I am doing customer service writing now. I dont work on cars, I write work orders, control the work flow, create estimates, handle customer complaints, its a very stressfull job, and I dont mind it, its just I wanna do this for a big auto company full time. I graduated from UTI and those guys got ads everywhere, youd think with all those ads, youd be able to find a job no problem, but thats not the case.

Even though I DO know how to work on cars and I know 3rd gen RX7's like the back of my hand, I dont wanna work on cars as a career, just a side hobby because I already tried that for 2 years and didnt like it. However what Im doing right now Service writing, I can imagine myself doing this for the rest of my life, only for a larger company and making a lot more money. Ive been doing this for 2 years as well, and even though its EXTREMELY stressful, and high paced, and I gotta deal with a lot of customer complaints, its something I can still imagin myself doing, I think ive found what I wanna do, I suppose all I can do is start applying, and praying :)

seeing pek pek all day long is a plus :lol::lol::lol:

the only real decent automotive career is where there is money. basically in european models and sports cars, real sports cars, generally not 7's.

american motor dealers suck big dick for pay, since they all are going flat rate now just to screw you out of your paycheck. some independent shops do well and pay well, so does being a smog tech.

service writers do get paid more than service technicians, which is also why i quit playing their game. service writers shouldn't even be getting paid 1/2 of what the techs are, that is half of the problem. when i see some service writer sitting on his fat ass, lying to a customer with a straight face i just shake my head and feel like screaming. that being said, if you can sell ice to an eskimo and feel good about it, be a service writer, if you don't- find a different career path than anything automotive related if you really don't feel like turning wrenches.

there's only a few fields in automotive careers anyways:

mechanic
writer(fuck service writers)
salesman(see above)
service/sales manager(see both above)
dealer owner(you'd be better off and wiser retired)
engineer


so unless you're an engineer, look at going back to school.

lol well I will admit there are service writers that lie to customers and sell things ppl dont need. In fact theres a guy at my job that will steal lie and cheat to get the extra commision and it makes me sick, because he steals MY money too, but i'm not gonna get into that right now.

Its understandable that a lot of ppl dont like service writers, and guess what, a lot of ppl dont like mechanics either, not even me! haha they will also tell you something needs replacement or itll fall apart tommorow, when in reality it doesnt NEED replacement right now. I do make good money at what I do, and I do not lie to the customer, because I imagine that I AM the customer.

A customer might come in looking to replace only his battery, but Ill sell him 4 michelin tires, alignment, a battery, 2 front ball joints and a RF wheel bearing if he NEEDS it. If a customer comes in for an oil change, and he has bald tires, im not gonna ignore it, because thats money that I could have made there, plus the company will be liable if the customer gets a blowout, and then he comes back saying... nobody told me my tires were bald, they said everything was fine!

I have had a bad experience with the Mazda dealer in terms of service, because they fixed my FD's coolant leak a couple years ago (BTW I do all the work myself now) and when I drove it home the car was idling funny, and the rpms were sticking, I already knew what the problem was, they didnt readjust my TPS properly. When I brought the car back, they told me "well those RX7's are very unique cars, you might wanna bring it to a rotary specialist" and then I repeated myself "but my car wasnt doing this before!" so they finally after arguing with me, adjusted my TPS sensor like id requested in warrenty and the problem was solved. I will never bring my car to the dealer ever again in my life.

Being both a Servier Writer and a mechanic for 2 years each I will say one thing.... one is NOT harder then the other, they both equal out. Being a mechanic is nice because you dont have to deal with customer complaints, but you have to deal with a buncha warrenty crap like balance and rotation and free inspections, I use to hate that. Being a customer service writer, you dont gotta deal with doing those jobs, but you have to deal with angry customers... "why is my car taking so long"? "Why is nobody working on my car"? wheres the manager? lol Most of the time none of that stuff is my fault, its the mechanics fault but they blame the Service writer and thats just the way it is. So ya its definitley not an easy job, but im not gonna take the easy way out and quit, I just learned to grow a backbone and deal with it, lifes tough and you cant run away from problems you have to deal with them head on.

If anything, im the guy that defuses an angry customer, sometimes a customer will leave angry at the service but they say, at least this guy was trying to be helpful :lol:

ohhhh i should do this, then i'll finally know what it looks like!

Education and persistence are the keys to getting the job you want. Right place right time is the #1 way in and you just have to keep at it. Sounds like you know what you want you are just frustrated and venting. Thats understandable with so many people unemployed, things suck right now period.

I can say that I'm much more on demand during the recession. :icon_tup: Noticed that my post count hasnt move much since 2006 since I'm very busy :lol:

I've been lucky enough to pursue my engineering career around cars at an auto manufacturing plant right here in good old Cali. For one more month, at least. I don't design cars, but the equipment used to manufacture them. I like being around cars all day, but it's just like any other job except the end product is a car instead of a water pump. I'll buy the same hammer as a construction company, it just happens to be used to hit car equipment. And the manufacturing plant produces a car every 54 seconds. So when something doesn't work right, you hear about it.
As for other careers, design requires a lot of art or technical background in very specialized fields like engine, suspension, nvh, materials. I do love being around cars, but I would be just as happy to have a non-car oriented job as long as I can go home and wrench.
FYI, Tesla is planning to open another manufacturing facility in socal soon if that interests you. I don't have any connections there, but something to look into.

own your own shop

My shop is looking for a good Customer Service writer. Someone who knows there way around mechanically. And like anywhere theres chances to be promoted to a manager in the future. I'm just a Tech right now. And i dunno what kind of pay your looking for but its work a look if your interested. Its a International/Navistar Diesel Truck Dealership. The dealership name is Westrux International. We are located in Carson. (310)549-4110. Check it out.

Edit- Diagnosing Diesel trucks and working on cars is completely different so for me i didn't turn my job into a hobby.

its not easy to be self-employed. its would be nice to become a "boss" but it comes with lots of headache and such.