Some good points have been raised and we all know where you stand SpawnedX, in fact I was thinking of you when I made this video. I’d just like to throw out a couple of things for consideration. The first is what do you think a tech from the 1950’s would think of a vehicle made today? I would argue they probably would have a hard time wrapping their mind around the technology or even imagine working on it. Now if you take that same situation and apply it to right now and transport yourself 70 years into the future and what do you think you would have? I think a similar situation. My point is that automobiles seem to be on if not close to the cutting edge of technology. We as technicians have to keep up with this technology in order to continue to do what we do. Technology evolves as well as technicians. What applies today will not apply in the future. With that in mind I think there is some hope for the future and I think we as technicians and auto repair enthusiasts can help direct that future.
I think employers have always treated technicians with some distain. After all they’re business owners and anything that effects their bottom line such as technician education or specialized equipment cuts into that bottom line. Despite the fact that dealerships are charging $100 per hour+ these days I still think the margins on repair are pretty thin as a result of the technology that exists in the auto repair industry. The flat rate system exists in their eyes to help motivate technicians into performing for them. But as has been pointed out more than once this approach can lead to poor quality repair and resentment on the part of the technician which can also adversely effect the bottom line of the repair business owner. I agree that this is probably the #1 thing that needs to change. It seems to me through the course of this dialog and other dialogs about ETCG1 videos that we’ve established the problems and what we would like to see changed. Now that we’ve done that, what solutions do you think will be viable to confront these issues? I don’t want to tell new technicians to ‘run screaming’ rather than get a career in auto repair. I also don’t want them to learn the hard way that they choice they made in career can cause them a great deal of grief and expense. That said perhaps I have a little pull in the industry at this point and through me YOU can possibly effect a change. There are 2 things I’m passionate about with auto repair, the first is automotive education but the other is technician advocacy. I started ETCG under circumstances that led me to hate the repair industry (for a while) and one of the things I told myself when I started was that if I ever got to a point where I might be able to effect some sort of change on the system I would take that opportunity.
So I’ll put it to the group. Now that we’ve established the issues what do you think I can do as EricTheCarGuy to help change the situation or at least draw enough attention to it so that the discussion gets taken up by those that can effect real change in the industry? I’m serious about this, I’d like to do what I can to make it so that those of you in the industry won’t be telling new technicians to ‘run screaming’ rather than get a career in auto or diesel repair. I’d also like to encourage those of you interested in a career in auto or diesel repair that you can have a happy and prosperous career as a technician. So forum, how can I be of service?