Thanks for all the advice. My current situation. I have parents who still live on their own but their health is declining and my mom is succumbing to the early stages of alzheimers. I'm the youngest of 4 and we all help them when we can so they can maintain some independance. 3 of us (including myself) live within 10 miles so if aything pops up one of us can run over there. So at least now and in the near future re-location is not doable.
The other part is I'm 45 and am somewhat...........................Ok .............. a lot......... burned-out by the business. In many aspects I feel that I'm a 45 yo stripper with lines on the face, a saggy a$$ and floopy t-ts that is well past 'her' stage time. I did own my own shop in the mid- 80's and one thing I know for sure. Today there are a lot better ways to make $$$ with-out the huge overhead.
Most all repair shops today are hiring/ training very young guys and not paying them squat and have just a few older, experienced techs to oversee them and problem solve. This in itself would not be an issue except the way in which techs are compensated.
No doubt that auto repair is expensive these days but the $$$ disparity between what the customer pays and what the technician receives is getting wider and wider. 25 years ago the commission 'split' was 50/50 of the paid customer hourly rate between the tech and the shop. That INCLUDED at least some basic benefits too.
Today the split typically hovers around 24-28% of the door rate for the tech INCLUDING marginal benefits. You do the math
The Flate Rate Pay System looks ideal to everyone......................on paper. In an ideal world it does actually work................................for a while......until someone in the labor $$ food chain decides that someone else is making too much. In the end all the parties involved think that EVERYONE ELSE is making too much. At that point the work environment is akin to a pack of dogs fighting over a scrap of meat.