Muffleman

Hi all,

Anyone know what a car mechanic can expect to earn in the South ? Also, MOT technicians and mechanic trainees ?

Ta muchly



Matt

Mark Miwurdz

Main prestige dealer or small independent?

For a technician (depending on seniority), I would guess in the range of £16K - £30K. Take a look in the jobs section in the back of Autocar.

No idea what an MOT tech gets but a trainee will be anywhere between minimum wage (or less) if it's a sweat shop and £12K a year (just over a fiver an hour) with a main dealer. Someone on a recognised apprenticeship will probably get an annual hike in line with qualifications and/or age.

Cheers
Kav

rr_ww

Got a little experience of this Main VW/Audi Franchise details

I get the impression you're still at Schol thinking about a career in it. Well I did 2 years FT College (BTEC Nat Dip) 2 Years as an apprentice to fill in the gaps and 5 years as a skilled Technicain.

As an apprentice its a day release scheme, so one day a week at college, You end up with NVQ1,2 and 3. Expect to get the wee wee taken ALL the time. So you need a thick skin. And expect to have to do stupid chores like empty bins, clean floors and equipment. Dont bitch about it just do it and they'll respect you more. Kick up a fuss and you'll hate it.


1st Year £6500
2nd Year£7500
3rd Year £8500

Semi Skilled technician £12-18K

Fuly Skilled £18-23 ish

MOT will be around £25K. Its because it draws cars into the garage and you can normally expect to get work from a failure. MOT Testers know this so can use it as a bargaining point when negociating pay.

But you cannot become a tester for so many years after you qualify. IIRC And you have to hope the garage will pay for the course, repeatedly if you fail. The TEST is even more stupid than the driving test!! I know a EXCELLENT tech who failed because the examiner said although he dis all the checks perfectly he didnt do the things in the right order! They like you to walk round the car a specific way, so if you happen to work slightly differently you'd fail!

Master Tech £25-30 Sometimes more

All the adverts say OTE / Unlimited Earning potential etc But to get near that expect to work nearly every Saturday morning as overtime!

Ive now quit.

Its a mugs game in my opinion. I got into it becasue I loved cars and mechanical engineering. What I never accounted for was the reality of the job. The bitching by your managers. (who have never done the job themselves and so have no idea of the problems) The mentality that its always the technincians fault. (Even more fun when the fault in intermittant!) That any Tech that makes a mistake gets docked money (anything from £100 upwards) And the underlying knowledge that people who havent been to college, got anything more than people skills as Service Advisors get more money that the MTs!!!

Another reason is the way cars are built nowadays. open the bonnet on any Modern VW and try and change the lambda probe or the cambelt without having to take half the car to bits! Headlight bulbs that cant be changed with the unit in place! etc etc. The car maufacturers will say that its a wonderful example of "packaging" BS its just so when the goons in the factory build it its faster! Plus you are ALWAYS up against in terms of times. Customer doesnt want to pay huge labour rates for changing parts (understandably) so the garage will give quote less time. Thus when you overrun on time your efficiency rate goes down so in 3 hours you loose the bonus you've worked so hard to get all month!

The whole trade is "Get it in - Fix it - Get the next one in" About numbers though the workshop. Not about getting the car right first time.

I know of at least 5 under 25 technicians who've changed careers. Including myself. In 20 years they'll be a skills shortage. But the Trade is antiquated and doesnt look any further than the next tax point so tough!

IMHO

Diesel

And that will be £45 an hour to you sir - more if its intermittent!!! I think it is a great skill though, and at least YOU save the £45 an hour

Muffleman

Thanks for your replies. I'm kinda flattered how young you think I am I'm actually looking at buying a business as a going concern and keeping the current staff - just wanted to know what salary costs are likely to be.

So it's a small independant, not a £90 per hour main dealer !!!

Thanks again



Matt