SRT is having issues

[Erik Miehrig]

Hi there, haven’t posted much on the forums but been a follower of Eric ever since I first started to want to get into this field.

I went 3 years to community college for Automotive and Diesel and got two degrees out of it, and I entered the truck repair end of it. Started at an independent shop, and moved on to a dealership. I was relatively stress-free at the independent shop, but no benefits of any kind. And I mostly worked on old junk with no service information, which was way out of my training and what I wanted. I quit for a dealership. However, things have become… interesting.

At my old job, SRT was never a huge problem. I had to work overtime and all to get it done, but I was never under huge pressure so long as I worked. Once I moved to the dealership, SRT is king. My times have been horrible, as a new tech being put on jobs by myself. I recently had a regen diag which took 20 hours, I had no clue what I was doing and only through the help of my co-workers (including a Master Tech) did I even get on the right track. Truck threw a code that actually didn’t help, once I did everything I could on that it threw another code which did lead me to the problem.

My point however, is SRT. I am failing at making SRT, and cannot make those times as a new tech thrown onto stuff like that by myself. I’ve been talked to by my boss twice about times, he says “you have to pick up the pace, your best isn’t cutting it” but has no solution to help me. I absolutely bust my ass and move so fast my boss’s boss said I need a segway or something I move so fast. I am about ready to hand in my 2-week notice and find another career. My former teacher says none of these shops have any plan in place to train new techs or help them but I sure do get to hear the ridicule for not moving as fast as the guy who never picked up a wrench in his life but is my superior wants it to go.

Your opinions?? I need advice from those in the know. I’m about at wit’s end with this place. The paycheck isn’t worth the blood pressure medication… and I know how many techs they have lined up after me who can do better… none.

Topic

[Ian]

Welcome to the wild, wonderful world of the stealership. My last job was at a woefully outdated stealership shop (seriously, the place was built in like 1969 and hadn’t been updated much since then.) as flat-rate tech. The manager who brought me on was pretty understanding, but he was canned after I had been there about a month. The new service manager got on me for some of the same stuff. The thing about being the new guy is you’re gonna have to eat a lot of s***. I know for a fact that as the new tech, I was taking on some of the jobs that other techs didn’t want because they knew they would loss their lunch on those jobs. To make matters worse, my hours sucked because I wasn’t certified to do warranty work. In fact, I had been there SIX WEEKS before management got me squared away with all the stuff I would need to get certified to do warranty work. I was still working through all the stuff I needed to do to get certified to do warranty work when they let me go.

My advice is don’t quit your day job, but start looking at other pastures. I’ve got a job at a different shop now and I’m looking at doing the same thing…

[Jason White]

Sucks to hear but don’t let it get you down too much. Your story sounds like so many guy’s stories of how it was when they first got out of school. Mine too. Keep your head up.

You went through all this schooling, more than 90% of people, and now you have all this technical knowledge but you are out in a field trying to learn how to apply. It sounds like you haven’t learned to efficiently apply this, and haven’t come far in the whole hands on, know how, skill set. This takes years to develop. The flat rate is based on “average mechanic, average tools” on a good day. You’re green, not to that level yet. I bet your boss isn’t paying you that well, so what does he expect?

When I first got in, I was the kid in the shop that had to get the mechanics to show me where the dipstick was sometimes, and had to get help with oil filters sometimes. Made a ton of errors. Saw an alignment being done and was like “wow I have no clue, maybe I can learn that”. Even out of school I was heckled, told I wasn’t fast enough, I would never be more than an oil changer, I wasn’t even a good oil changer, told I wasn’t getting it, I didn’t learn fast enough, I need to go find another job because I’m not cut out for this, told I’m slow, I don’t fit in…. blah blah blah,… I was fired, let go, ran out of shops a couple times, all of that. Well whatever, now (see sig line) I’m far beyond that. Now I’m the go to guy, now I’m that guy that the others go to and “how did you know that” and make most things look simple. Now that I am on the level I am, looking back, those guys that did that to me when I was green, well they weren’t that good in the first place and I’m glad I’m not like them. Damn failures that were trying to run people out so they wouldn’t take their jobs. Seriously, looked up some of them on social media and most of them flunked out. I will say this, I never will forget how I was treated, and make it a point not to treat the newcomers the way I was treated.

So, ignore them. Accept in this cut throat industry you’ll have to deal with these. You may have to change jobs or get fired a couple times. Just take your time, do things right, and do it right the first time. Take mistakes as lessons. Always work to learn and improve. It will take a while, but you’ll get there.

[Author]

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