Scotty, as a young man just starting out in life, with ASE certs, and presently making minimum wage, the supervisor says that pay raise only comes with upselling. That brings an implied mandate to compromise moral principal. Is it possible to make a living in this trade without ripping people off? Where and how should talents and time be focused to simply make an honest living as a mechanic?
You should find a shop that makes profit thanks to its good reputation, not up-selling unnecessary services. You're making min wage so you don't have much to lose by looking elsewhere. Also since you ARE certified, you should be making more than min wage.
That being said, be aware that sales are a necessary part of any business, so you will never escape it completely. Learning how to sell a service is a skill that you'll need when you eventually decide to start on your own.
Wow. They're making you upsell for a raise? No wonder mechanics these days are dishonest...all the more reason for me to continue working on my own cars. I lost trust in every mechanic shop the first time I took my Mazda to one. I only trust close friends/family who are well-experienced independent mechanics that don't have bosses forcing them to upsell things.
In my opinion, in order to be an honest and successful mechanic nowadays, you have to open up your own independent shop rather than work for one. Both of my grandfathers had their own mechanic shops a long time ago (I wish they were still around to teach me a few things), they literally learned the ins and outs of cars by themselves while growing up. They had no certifications, just pure experience. They worked as mechanics because they enjoyed doing it, not so much for the business it brought. And most importantly, they were honest so that their customers would trust their work and return to them if they had any other issues. They each had their own shops, and guess what...they were the only ones working in their own shops.
Nowadays this mechanic stuff is becoming a big corrupt business with constant upselling just for the extra profit without caring about the customers they serve. Maybe if these shops/chains were honest in the first place, they would get those same satisfied customers back. These dishonest mechanic shops/chains have so many customers coming in that they don't care about customers returning. I bet most of the people who go to these big chain mechanic shops trust them because of their name and corporation (like Firestone, Pep boys, etc) compared to a small independent shop. Dissatisfied customers are definitely not going to hurt their business just because of how many they get. I have an uncle who is a manager at Firestone (interesting right...) and he always tells me stories of dissatisfied customers that threaten to leave negative reviews. His exact response to them was "The negative review you're going to write about our location is not going to even put a dent in our business." Yup, he has so many customers coming in that a handful of dissatisfied customers seem obsolete. And to sugar coat things even more, these big mechanic chains hire young kids that just got out of high school for cheap labor. They don't have a clue on how to do things properly, and they probably work as though they don't care about the job. They are the ones that actually do most of the upselling, while the big technicians in the back just perform the work the customer was suckered into paying for.
Sorry if this was a long, annoying post for anyone. I just wanted to give you guys my insight on all this. Scotty is probably THE best mechanic out there today for keeping his honesty AND even teaching us how to work on our own cars so that we wouldn't be suckered into scams. If you know a thing or two about how cars work, you won't be easily scammed in the first place.
I wish the very best of luck to the Topic Starter btw!
Thank you, Mountainmanjoe. I appreciate your answer and time.
I have to say upselling will be part of any automotive repair job you will ever have wether it’s preventative maintenance or things you find performing a safety inspection. There is no compromise of integrity if you do it right. And at the end of the day you can’t make every person who’s car you worked on happy though you know the maintenance is important in extending the life of there vehicle or maintain a safe vehicle not everyone will understand that and will think they are being taken advantage of. Cars now a days are not just change the oil and drive as much as they used to be. Tighter tolerances closer specs and electronics do require more maintenance to keep going. People who sit there and bash all dealers and repair facilities or that there all perfect are what lead to that misperception and that cars don’t need maintenance it’s just a rip off then when the car broke down it’s the cars fault haha it’s a vicious circle. But in my opinion get your experience and make your way to a flat rate position because that’s where the real money is and just remember who you are and your morals
