My husband is a mechanic for a major Toyota dealership in so. Calif and I am a SAHM of a two year old and a two month old. Recently his work is getting slower and slower, we are drowning trying to live off of his income that is now almost 1000 less and continuing to decline. As a mechanic he get's paid flat rate which is a small percentage of what the dealer charges for labor. For example if they charge you 3 hours of labor at 112 dollars each hour he only get's 16 for each hour. Some days he only gets 2 hours after being at work for 8-9 hours. It's seems like it would be illegal for them to pay these mechanics this way but it's not. He used to make really good money now we are afraid of losing everything. There are a lot of people that get ripped of by dealerships and think it's the mechanic but really there are truly honest hard working mechanics out there struggling, many which have gone to school to learn this trade just as my husband did but the shops that hire them treat them like scum. I don't know about you but I'd want someone skilled and knowledgable working on my 20,000 dollar investment. Are any if you going through something similar and also if you may have relocated for more opportunities and if so where??
Thank you for your answers, we have been looking into Texas there are a ton of automotive positions there and the cost of living seems way more affordable, we currently rent a townhouse for 1200 and that's the cheapest we could find. I would definantly find a job but we only have one vehicle so it would be a little tricky. Thank you all for your suggestion and input I truly appreciate knowing we aren't alone. I think California has just been drained of all resources and we need to move on for our children's sake.
My friend is a mechanic and gets pretty good work, and he is also going to school. He works at a Volvo dealership in Texas. I don't know about relocating, or much about the field, but if I were him I would certainly be applying everywhere I could find.
We are also struggling financially and so we are always on the lookout for a better opportunity.
Piece work sucks when the boss or adjuster under bids it. Most jobs, in that field, are already figured that you can do this in such and such time. If you get it done faster you win, if it takes you longer, you lose. That's how autobody works too... I was married to an autobody man for 20 years.
These are tough times. If he's working for a good dealership I'd encourage just trying to cut corners and hang in there until the economy turns around.
Been there done that.
Like any skilled professional people want the services for free. If I were you I would look into moonlighting. I know that around here that there are traveling mechanics that come to your home and fix your car/change your oil/ect. All for about 1/2 the price of the shops.
My husbands dealership actually closed down due to the economy and such. He got lucky though and applied to work in the city of la and got hired. If you don't want to relocate look into government jobs. There are some out there and you can't beat the benefits. Although my husband is making less, we are saving almost $400 a month on healthcare because it's included as one of his benefits. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
Can you husband do side work - evenings and weekends to make more money? A couple of years ago we found a great mechanic nearby going through the same thing and we had him fix something on one of our cars because we couldn't afford the dealership prices. We now take all four of our cars to him. And he stays pretty busy. He charges more per hour than the dealership was paying him. And we pay a fraction of what we would at the dealership. It's a win-win. I don't think he's even working at the dealership anymore
My friend Brian worked for Toyota here in So. Cal, I think he relocated to Oregon. You might really like that, affordable to live.
When I lived in California, we lived only 8 miles from the border. There were a lot of woman that would come over and work as nannies for almost nothing. They would take 2-3 kids for 80 bucks per week or something crazy like that. I could not run my daycare successfully in San Diego. So when my husbands company folded it's doors, we came back to the midwest.
I would check with career builder all over the midwest. Find out which places have the most openings for the work he does. THEN, check out the want ads for places to rent. Email daycare providers in each area on Craigslist to get a feel for what you would pay. Check out the job situation for yourself.
I'm sure it's very hard. We had some retirement money to get to in order to move and we chose our house and bought and closed on it before we even left California. We bought it in the neighborhood we are in because we lived here before and the daycare was good here.
I used to have a friend who was just a "natural" at car mechanics and I used to LOVE having him work on my car for "whatever's fair" as it was. It was not how he made his living, it was just side work for him but it gets me thinking that for the price of business cars at Vistaprints.com (http://e.vistaprint.com/a/hBOhew3AZdBOAB8duH1DJJoeg5J/vph1) and a little leg work you could probably hustle him up some people who would love to have their own personal certified Toyota mechanic at a fraction of dealership prices!
As for Los Angeles, we've been struggling to keep my husband working for the past 3 years and now live with his mother (who doesn't really want us there) with our 3 children. Leave while you've got your shirt!!! We're thinking about Portland, Oregon or maybe Seattle.
Good luck to you!!!
sounds like he need a new employer and all the suggestions below are really good. also sounds like you need to go back to work to help contribute.
What about Sear's?
They have automotive shops and good benefits, I imagine.
they are good in our city.
My husbands job was eliminated and he is working in a field that he has had p/t experience in for over 13 years however he is making 1/3 of the pay. We live in NJ but have not relocated because from what we have researched, things are pretty much the same all over. He had filled out approximately 500 online applications to no avail and has gone on a number of interviews, most being ones that have multiple applicants where they are requesting tons of experience, just as many degrees and paying absolutely nothing. It is a hard situation, it truly is. The main reason my husband took the job he did was because we couldn't afford the Cobra benefits that were costing us over $1200/month. His starting pay was actually less then what he was getting from unemployment, but we looked at it that he had to start somewhere. I wish you the best of luck.
Move here to Texas. There are jobs here for skilled workers and the cost of living is cheaper.
My husband is a mechanic also for a different company though so I know all too well about flat rate. we have been enjoying oru 20 hour weeks...NOT...We moved to the west coast for my husband to start his "career" four years and it was so bad that we moved back to the midwest in a smaller town. Needless to say he makes only $2 less here but the cost of living is so much cheaper that it is like a huge pay increase. This time of the year tends to get a bit slower and we have a service advisor that left and lucky us it was his so training a new advisor means less hours for my hubby :( Tech degree from UTI and specialized training and the costs of tools. I hate the field...but my hubby enjoys working on vehicles...if we could just skip the politics. 180 is what our customers get charged and we don't even see more then a tenth of it...crazy!
Anyhow we are in a small town and like I said make only $2 less then when w lived in the burbs of seattle! much much better our $1225 rent went down to a now $800 mortgage!
As far as relocating, try Texas. I'm not saying that because I'm here, it's because I was in the car business for 12 yrs and I know exactly what your husband is going through. There have been recent studies showing jobs have increased in the bigger markets, Dallas, Houston etc. I had six techs on my team at a Honda dealer and it was tough some days. If you want to stay there and you have a garage he should start building his clients at the house. If not, look into an independant shop, he will do much better. Good luck!
I would think going on vacation to Texas might be a good idea, you can see what jobs are avail. and see what the neighborhoods are like that you might be looking at.
One of my friends husbands is a really good mechanic but had to go to part time and is now teaching at the local vo-tech to support his family. That is now their main income. He still has shop payments and all that goes with it too. Another friend is doing okay but only works on foreign cars.
