A day in the life of an auto mechanic.

[fastfredracing]

Simple rack and pinion job , pays 3.5 hours. I am crushed busy , did not really have the time to do the job anyway, but took it because the customer was crying the blues. Rack was special order, supposed to have it in 3 days. Day 3 no rack , pissed off customer on the phone, day 4, no rack, day 5 no rack, day 6 , rack arrives. I get it at noon, finish up the days work, and start on the rack at 4:45 yesterday. I am planning on staying late to get this job done, and get this guy off my back. Rusty crusty pig of a car, frozen bolts, fittings on ps lines are frozen. I fight the mother out. Come in this am, do a couple of little jobs that were scheduled, then finish up the rack. Took me about 5.5 hours, I get paid for 3.5. Fill with fluid, start car, and then watch the fluid pour out the end seal on the improperly rebuilt rack and pinion. Call parts store, no new rack for 3 more days,(probably 6 again) call customer, get some attitude on the phone from customer. And then pull in another car, and start all over again. I love my job!
I can probably do this job in 2 hours now that all of the frozen fittings are loose and I anti seized all the bolts that fought me coming out. But all said and done, I will work for 7.5 hours, and only get paid for 3.5 , be 9 days late of the deadline, and will still have a pissed off customer when I hand him the bill.
By the way , this thread is for you Asphalt gambler. Good luck in your new ventures, you will not miss this field much.

[GH85Carrera]

I feel for ya.

I actually enjoy working on my own cars but I ca't imagine doing it for someone else.

[fastfredracing]

I LOVE working on my own cars, no deadlines, do not have to quote a price and completion date, if I get sick of it, I just walk away. To try to make money at it can prove to be quite the challenge. There are at least 20 variables trying to undermine my completion of any given job, and I usually get bit by at least a couple of them. Wrong parts, no parts, broken /stripped bolts, frozen fittings. intermittent electrical problems, check engine lights, cranky old ladies who want an inspection while they wait, right when I am in the middle of putting in a clutch, I could go on and on and on...... Hey , I made my bed, Hopefully I can be out in 5 years, and just play with Porsches.

[billybek]

I hated being up to my armpits in grease when the POS didn't belong to me.
Another thing I hated about working on cars is having them drip on my head while working under it.
Switched to refrigeration. No flat rate, better pay and less tools.
Starting to enjoy working on my own again.

[KevinP73]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I LOVE working on my own cars, no deadlines, do not have to quote a price and completion date, if I get sick of it, I just walk away. To try to make money at it can prove to be quite the challenge. There are at least 20 variables trying to undermine my completion of any given job, and I usually get bit by at least a couple of them. Wrong parts, no parts, broken /stripped bolts, frozen fittings. intermittent electrical problems, check engine lights, cranky old ladies who want an inspection while they wait, right when I am in the middle of putting in a clutch, I could go on and on and on...... Hey , I made my bed, Hopefully I can be out in 5 years, and just play with Porsches.

This is what I call the "Welcome to my world" syndrome.

[Oh Haha]

I am soooooooo glad I didn't pursue being a mechanic after I was laid off. You guys that wrench for a living have my utmost respect.

[Hugh R]

After I sold the DB4, I realized that I don't really enjoy working on cars, under the car, head soaked in oil, antifreeze, back hurts. After 40+ years of tinkering with hobbies, I'll work on my Targa, but as I get older, its more of a chore than a pleasure. I have a local friend with a lift, that makes it tolerable.

[RWebb]

when young, a little experience quickly let me figure out two things not make a career out of -

#1 - was digging ditches in the hot Louisiana summer sun

#2 - is this

[James Brown]

This is the reason I became an aircraft mechanic and gave up autos. Better breed of customers (for the most part)!

[Zeke]

Never turned a wrench as a pro, but I've done my share of jobs for pay. Fred, you've got more dedication than I ever did. I had a couple things go wrong on the last 2 recent jobs and quit cold. Right now I'm selling out everything that has the name Porsche on it and soon after that go all but the basic tools.

Just got my truck out of the shop today for a simple tune up and filter change while I did some woodwork. Great day compared to how it could have been with bloody, dirty knuckles. I made about the same as the mechanic, so it was a wash. I'll take that arrangement any day.

[syncroid]

fastfredracing , I feel your pain!
Luckily I am not flat rate but I still have a gun to my head to perform. I have been working on these wretched Porsche cars since 1985. If I had it to do all over again I would have pursued something in the medical field and I would be a couple years away from retirement at this point. I've purchased over $200 thousand dollars of personal tools since my beginning and they are worth next to nothing if I were to try and sell them now. My hair dresser owns about $400 dollars worth of tools and makes twice what I make. Like you said earlier, "I made my bed and now I have to lie in it."

[KarlCarrera]

FFR

The customer won't tell you so we will. Thanks for busting your a** for the customer. You are doing a job that to many take for granted and are forced to work with what they bring ya.
In today's world respect, gratitude and understanding are unthinkable, we want it now! No excuses, no understanding. And....we want to bi*ch about the price and delay.

Your doing your best and the right thing, customer be dam*d


Karl
88 Targa

[lisa_spyder]

OK Fred,

After too many years of doing this stuff and having to appease the customer, keep the peace in the workshop etc I can tell you I know how you feel.

1. Build more labour into ANY job that you smell a problem...even a whiff. Do it up front. If you lose the job good, you sound like you've got enough work to afford to lose the bad ones. Then when you get to the end of the job, maybe you haven't taken so much time and can give your customer a nice surprise with a saving on the labor. ANY times quoted are for standard repairs on new or as new cars...no allowances for age, previous bad repairs, etc etc...throw the damned book away...

2. Go bananas at your supplier if you have to. I am SICK TO DEATH of sub-contractors and suppliers who do not provide service or parts to acceptable standard and who NEVER wear any of the cost. Oh the stories I could tell you...like 911 heads that were not modified to stated spec on the order or MFI pumps that were not correctly repaired...$1000s of rectification for us to bear . A few years ago I blew off 2 of our machine shops and a pump repairer. They gave us NOTHING except the bills which they expected to be paid and...so bye bye all the work we would usually send them. They are toast in my book now.

Rant over....I love my customers...I do not love some of the suppliers and subbies...but I get rid of them FAST now and brief the news ones to the standard I DEMAND. Cost is not the issue usually for us; standard of work is. Happy to say our current lot of people we work with for parts and machining etc are just great...

[Schumi]

I never was a mechanic for my sole income, but for a good 5 years I did a lot of private work, mainly Porsches. The best thing about all the Porsches I worked with is that no one ever expected the car to be done sooner than it could be done.

I never did a job that had a hard time limit. The work was purely in my leisure time, and keeping other jobs and not working for a shop is probably what kept me loving working on cars. I couldn't image doing it professionally. But it has crossed my mind.

[aigel]

I feel for you man. I have done some jobs as favors to friends and it was bad enough to see that being a mechanic for pay would be a nightmare. If you can't change careers, I'd get the hell out of PA to a dry climate without road salt. That will make a huge difference on a lot of jobs.

G

[RoninLB]

i've worked all kinds of jobs

wrenched "B"level work at a couple of garages but that doesn't come close to the insanity that goes on wrenching in a boat yard. All the customer wants is for his boat to run for the weekend and when a pia customer breaks balls we tell him we'll start working on it Monday morning. [we were closed Mondays] As a "B" mechanic i would be on a boat wrenching and listening to complaints. I always eventually responded that they should slip the "A" wrench a $50 to get ahead of another boat for work. It was tough sometimes and innovation was often desired. Do anything you have to just get the boat running asap

No state inspectors, trapped customers, insane mechanics. If a customer goes to another yard down the channel it was just another game of musical chairs where 5 guys run around 4 chairs and try to sit when the music stops. We received nomad customers from other yards and they received ours. It was nuts

Once a customer who was a lawyer sued the shop on behalf of another customer. When the lawyer's boat was taken out of winter storage the following year and prepped for summer he was charged an extra $8k [early 1980s dollars] for bs made up work that the boss said he needed. The excess happened to be the amount customer 2 received in a court judgment. The lawyer paid in full and continued to be a customer for years. Pictures of damaged outdrives were passed around the yards to show insurance guys etc......... total insanity. The only thing that worried my yard is the IRS coming around and taping the shop in a seizure with tool boxes inside.

if i ever had to take a wrenching gig seriously i would have gotten an electrical license and did that along with AC and cleared big bucks from supermarkets etc. The usual routine for good job $ new installs is that they need an AC guy and an electrician. I would have elimated 90% of my competition immediately

[john walker's workshop]

some days chicken, some days feathers. that's just the way it is. personally, i like it, because i specialize only in what i like to do, aircooled 911s. you have to learn not to get into a job that you get a bad feeling about from the start. just call em up and say sorry, the car is a liability to both of us.

[GH85Carrera]

I suspect I am like a lot of the guys on this board that work on their own cars. I enjoy working on my own car. I would like to spend a week or two just hanging out at John Walker's shop just to see the way he does things. I am sure JW would consider it pure hell to have a fan boy hang out and ask questions while he is trying to make a living.

Every time I come across a problem while working on a car I realize I could never do it for a living.

[jeffgrant]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I would like to spend a week or two just hanging out at John Walker's shop just to see the way he does things. I am sure JW would consider it pure hell to have a fan boy hang out and ask questions while he is trying to make a living.

That might actually be a new revenue stream, along the lines of a dude ranch.

Basically, pay to be an intern at a shop for a week.

Crazier things have happened, I'm sure.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Every time I come across a problem while working on a car I realize I could never do it for a living.

+10000

My 993 almost never goes to a pro and I've learned a lot of lessons with my Porsches. But man would the hobby become a buzzkill if I were wrenching on others' cars for a living.