should i go to harley davidson school? (mmi)
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,675
Likes: 95
From: Billings,Mt.
Wow your right.I did respond back then.
My son went to Sequoia Automotive School like 9 years ago.
Got his foot in the door at a Chevy dealership.Now he is a union bus mechanic.
Less chance of advancement at a MC dealership.
My son went to Sequoia Automotive School like 9 years ago.
Got his foot in the door at a Chevy dealership.Now he is a union bus mechanic.
Less chance of advancement at a MC dealership.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 498
Likes: 0
From: Timbuktu
Gotta love the fallacy of the mechanic and 6 figure incomes.
The only way this is possible is as follows,
You get paid $25/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 16 hours a day every day for a year.
You get paid $30/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 13.33 hours a day every day for a year
Or get paid $50/flat rate hour, And flag a minimum of 8 hours a day every day for a year...
I will stand by this, there is NO WAY you can make that kind of money at a stealership HONESTLY and there is not that much gravy work for 1 tech to do to flag that. and that's without the politics...
Becoming a flat rate mechanic in this day and age is a foolish thing to do. More mistakes happen and thieving/hackery is done under flat rape system than say an hourly county fleet job.
Newer cars/motorcycles etc, have problems that the tech cannot diagnose properly and quickly if he's only paid 0.2. That's a fact.
Until the repair industry catches up with other legitimate trades, I advise any newcomer to stay the hell out of if.
YOU WILL NOT MAKE MONEY.
The only way this is possible is as follows,
You get paid $25/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 16 hours a day every day for a year.
You get paid $30/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 13.33 hours a day every day for a year
Or get paid $50/flat rate hour, And flag a minimum of 8 hours a day every day for a year...
I will stand by this, there is NO WAY you can make that kind of money at a stealership HONESTLY and there is not that much gravy work for 1 tech to do to flag that. and that's without the politics...
Becoming a flat rate mechanic in this day and age is a foolish thing to do. More mistakes happen and thieving/hackery is done under flat rape system than say an hourly county fleet job.
Newer cars/motorcycles etc, have problems that the tech cannot diagnose properly and quickly if he's only paid 0.2. That's a fact.
Until the repair industry catches up with other legitimate trades, I advise any newcomer to stay the hell out of if.
YOU WILL NOT MAKE MONEY.
Road Captain
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 548
Likes: 1
From: Cardboard Box
Gotta love the fallacy of the mechanic and 6 figure incomes.
The only way this is possible is as follows,
You get paid $25/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 16 hours a day every day for a year.
You get paid $30/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 13.33 hours a day every day for a year
Or get paid $50/flat rate hour, And flag a minimum of 8 hours a day every day for a year...
I will stand by this, there is NO WAY you can make that kind of money at a stealership HONESTLY and there is not that much gravy work for 1 tech to do to flag that. and that's without the politics...
Becoming a flat rate mechanic in this day and age is a foolish thing to do. More mistakes happen and thieving/hackery is done under flat rape system than say an hourly county fleet job.
Newer cars/motorcycles etc, have problems that the tech cannot diagnose properly and quickly if he's only paid 0.2. That's a fact.
Until the repair industry catches up with other legitimate trades, I advise any newcomer to stay the hell out of if.
YOU WILL NOT MAKE MONEY.
The only way this is possible is as follows,
You get paid $25/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 16 hours a day every day for a year.
You get paid $30/flat rate hour and flag a minimum of 13.33 hours a day every day for a year
Or get paid $50/flat rate hour, And flag a minimum of 8 hours a day every day for a year...
I will stand by this, there is NO WAY you can make that kind of money at a stealership HONESTLY and there is not that much gravy work for 1 tech to do to flag that. and that's without the politics...
Becoming a flat rate mechanic in this day and age is a foolish thing to do. More mistakes happen and thieving/hackery is done under flat rape system than say an hourly county fleet job.
Newer cars/motorcycles etc, have problems that the tech cannot diagnose properly and quickly if he's only paid 0.2. That's a fact.
Until the repair industry catches up with other legitimate trades, I advise any newcomer to stay the hell out of if.
YOU WILL NOT MAKE MONEY.
On the flip side, we had 2 guys in my shop that worked as a "team". What this meant was they both had absolutely no moral value and had no problem scamming customer pay jobs on top of warranty work. Back then my feelings on it were simple, scam warranty all you want as long as you keep it under control and don't get us audited. Customer pay? No, you don't steal money like that.
These guys would get customer pay oil leaks that were coming from the oil pan and say it was the rear main. Fix it in 20 minutes, get paid for 3,4,5+ hours depending on the car. Job should have cost the customer $150-200, instead it cost them over a grand. They would do this daily and the service manager was in their pocket so they didn't give a **** since it brought in a lot of money for the dealership. These guys would turn out 13-20 hours, each, a day.
If you have the ability to steal money from people like that, more power to you. I couldn't do it and I got the hell out of the business.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,428
Likes: 0
From: Rescue, VA
A bunch of these schools just take your cash, and have no real interest in YOU. They teach the stuff, and if you don't get it, no worries, we got your cash. Think about some community college courses, they teach small engines and such.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 498
Likes: 0
From: Timbuktu
You're actually 100% correct, which is why in my post I referenced the best honest tech I knew making 60-70k, but this was after he had around 20 years in the field. Not exactly amazing for the time put in.
On the flip side, we had 2 guys in my shop that worked as a "team". What this meant was they both had absolutely no moral value and had no problem scamming customer pay jobs on top of warranty work. Back then my feelings on it were simple, scam warranty all you want as long as you keep it under control and don't get us audited. Customer pay? No, you don't steal money like that.
These guys would get customer pay oil leaks that were coming from the oil pan and say it was the rear main. Fix it in 20 minutes, get paid for 3,4,5+ hours depending on the car. Job should have cost the customer $150-200, instead it cost them over a grand. They would do this daily and the service manager was in their pocket so they didn't give a **** since it brought in a lot of money for the dealership. These guys would turn out 13-20 hours, each, a day.
If you have the ability to steal money from people like that, more power to you. I couldn't do it and I got the hell out of the business.
On the flip side, we had 2 guys in my shop that worked as a "team". What this meant was they both had absolutely no moral value and had no problem scamming customer pay jobs on top of warranty work. Back then my feelings on it were simple, scam warranty all you want as long as you keep it under control and don't get us audited. Customer pay? No, you don't steal money like that.
These guys would get customer pay oil leaks that were coming from the oil pan and say it was the rear main. Fix it in 20 minutes, get paid for 3,4,5+ hours depending on the car. Job should have cost the customer $150-200, instead it cost them over a grand. They would do this daily and the service manager was in their pocket so they didn't give a **** since it brought in a lot of money for the dealership. These guys would turn out 13-20 hours, each, a day.
If you have the ability to steal money from people like that, more power to you. I couldn't do it and I got the hell out of the business.
I didn't necessarily post that against you. I was just stating the math necessary to make that kind of money.
It's funny you mention rear main seals. I worked with this Asian dude that was an absolute theif. He was one of those $90k/year techs. He'd sell 8 hour rear main seal jobs on cars that didn't leak and collected the 8 hours and threw the seal in his box. I know his because I worked on the vehicle afterwards and could tell the trans was never out because the exhaust has to come out and was still rusted shut.
I too left the industry, and I'm glad to see another qualified honest tech got out. The stealers are really left with the thieving hacks.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 66,948
Likes: 4,573
From: TOAK western branch
Reminds me of that Dateline special with the 40 foot RV loaded with cameras and the guy drops the oil pan and puts a hand full of steel shavings in the pan to show the customer that he needs 10k worth of work.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 3,183
Likes: 836
From: KMHT KFMY
hell the local "trade" schools here have Adult Ed courses that teach basic HD repair, and go up from there, for 400 bucks you get a few grand of knowledge.
I'd start there before I dropped 28 grand on MMI
I'd start there before I dropped 28 grand on MMI
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,403
Likes: 20
From: Indy
I know a guy that works at a dealer, he works on my bike at the dealer, I had thought about wrenching there also, but he said you like to ride, if you work here you won't ride again pretty much. They work around 55 hours a week in the summer, and they were busy this year until just about a week ago they got to 1 week out for appointments, so they will be busy ish until Christmas.