The Tuscaloosa auto repair thread reminded me of a question I've been thinking on for years. In our town we have a community college that has a well established auto mechanics program. They graduate students every year. Yet, in this same town it's difficult to find anyone who is competent and willing to work on vehicles.

We ought to have FIVE top-notch independent shops around town, but that's not the case. I can think of two, and one has a bad reputation.

Where are all our young, college-trained auto technicians going?

idk

Only thing I can figure is they are going to dealerships....I gotta think it's getting harder/more expensive for independent mechanics to work on newer vehicles, because the manufacturers are clearly trying to make it harder for anyone other than THEIR mechanics to work on them.

Why bust their ass to earn a check anymore when they can get everything they need or want either subsidized or free these days?

The schools teach you the basics so you can work in a shop. The dealerships send you to special schools to learn their vehicles. With the software prices for all makes of cars being so high to acquire they are better off to go to the dealership. Price for start up is outrageous.

Gomer nailed it. What it takes to work on vehicles these days is ridiculous. Everything is computer based diagnostics, many of which are proprietary to the brand. The independent guys usually cannot purchase or cannot afford the equipment to do time and cost effective repair work. My dads a service manager at a GM dealer and the stories he tells me about how unefficient it is to work on these things is crazy. Case in point on a new Cadillac, it takes 1.5 hours of labor to replace a headlight bulb, because the front fascia has to come off to get to it. That's just terrible engineering. But these days the manufacturers know that the vast majority of people take their car in for windshield washer fluid.

Just starting out, with all the electronics needed for newer cars, one would have to probably start working for someone else.

Too much money to stock what is needed to open up one's own place.

God Bless,
David B.

My FIL has a newer GMC pickup.....said one of the headlight bulbs is easy to replace, but to get to the other you have to remove all sorts of stuff and it's a huge PITA

Yep, if I recall the drivers side is a piece of cake, and the passenger requires arms the size of a toddler or removing all that crap. I pulled it off somehow with a huge set of hemostats and a filthy mouth.

Gomers right. With all the computers and whatnot in newer vehicles, you gotta have a mechanicical engineering degree to take off a lug nut.

It reminds me of a story I heard a while back about a farmer having problems with a new(ish) John Deere tractor that wasn't running. The "mechanic" from JD showed up, wearing khakis and a polo, and the only "tools" he brought with him was a laptop. The tractor was running fine when he left.

That's BS.

Cost is the main reason. I sold a machine a few ago that runs codes for diseal. Just codes only. 800.00 to get the machine to actually do a diagnosis is a little over 10grand. It takes several thousand dollars in equipment to have the right tools. That's not including outher tools and lifts. Just in computers alone. I figure someone will say you don't have to have all that crap. But now you do. Brakes even have to have a scan tool to clear the light after repairs.

The general public cant EVEN IMAGINE how FAST technology is changing from one model year to the next!!!!!! There is NO WAY anyone (a technician) can keep up with the changes and complications even with full training from the manufacturer. Then they want to pay you only 50K a year to pull your hair out every f-ing day. You just DON'T KNOW!!!!!

I've got everything needed..........getting me to do anything is a different story. I love retirement

What's hilarious is when we hook up a $10,000 scanner that we have to pay another $2-3,000 a year to use and let the customer know what we find, and they let me know for a fact that the 17 yo kid at autozone with the $30 code reader already told them that it was something else. Even with the best tools it can be tough to diagnose the newer stuff but the dealerships are no better. I've fixed cars and trucks in minutes that dealerships and other shops have worked on for days without success and I've had just the opposite happen People are not trained to be mechanics anymore they are parts changers. They are trained to go through a diagnostic tree, test, replace and retest until problem solved. I hate that and it bites me on the butt sometimes because I pretty much refuse to work that way.

With 3D printers coming along, all you need is an old tractor. Take it apart, scan the parts with a laser, and print off a new tractor. To hell with a dealership.

Lol

You laugh, but I'm serious. A farmer could print tractor parts in his shop instead of ordering them.

A boat captain could blow an oil pump 100 miles out, print a new part and be back in gear in 8 hours.

3-D printing is a game changer.

Hoggin I nail my employees for that crap to. I always tell em our scanner is not the answer just a reference. Had a woman get straight up pissed today because I couldn't tell her if her alternator , ecm or just a bad connection was the reason her durango wasn't charging.