I'm hoping to start at college in September and learn a trade but am wondering what sort of money mechanics make? That is self employed as well as working for someone else.
I've been heading towards gas installation for the past year, but I'm not decided and can only say that cars interest me far more than gas boilers. I done about 6 months with a gas installer / plumber so I know what the work is like, but I have no experience with car mechanics.
|
Go for gas! Cleaner, easier, lighter work and much better paid. A lot depends on where you work because there are strong regional variations. By and large the very high labour rates charged by dealers are not reflected in the wages that their mechanics earn. I used to be in service end of the motor trade quite a few years back and still have many close friends in the business. As a new, but capable, starter you would be earning £7-10k. After a few years and becoming qualified that might reach to £15k. A top tech for one of the prestige brands might earn £35k in the south east. My next door neighbour is a plumber and CORGI fitter - he probably earns double that! The plumber over the road has driven nothing but Porsches (and new ones at that!) for the last five years.
To earn good money in the motor trade you'll have to set up on your own - but its not easy (been there and got the T-shirt). Working for someone else means you stay on poor pay relative to the skill level required. You get the boss coming around peering over your shoulder telling you to get a move on, get the job finished etc. Lots of managers in the franchised dealers are semi-literate graduates in business studies etc., and have no idea how to service a car - but that doesn't stop them telling you you're doing it wrong and taking too long.
|
.*******
Actually I was just thinking of something the plumber / gas fitter said who I was working with. He was a heavy vehicle mechanic for years and said he would have done plumbing years ago if he had known.
Anyway it's more of a thing of enjoying the job. As I said I've had a taster of gas / plumbing work for 6 months and it doesn't interest me. You know, I just feel working on cars would be more interesting to me, but obviously money comes into it and I'll probably end up taking your advice.
|
|
|
|
There's nothing stopping you doing both. If you earn lots of money as a plumber you could then think about starting your own car repair business. There's plenty of room in the market for independent specialists. The biggest gap in the market is for diagnostic services and people that actually understand how things work without relying on code readers to give them the answer.
teabelly
|
|
|
I'm not decided and can only say that cars interest me far more than gas boilers. I done about 6 months with a gas installer / plumber so I know what the work is like, but I have no experience with car mechanics.
There's much more to gas than boilers. For example a friend of mine started off with British Gas as a domestic gas fitter and progressed to Transco working on gas governor maintenance. Currently he's doing very nicely. He gets a good wage, a generous payment for when he's on call-out and very generous overtime payments. He has a company van and covers a wide area which makes the job very interesting for someone that likes seeing a bit of the countryside. He works from home and doesn't have anyone looking over his shoulder all the time. He's really chuffed.
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
There is a massive pending skills shortage in the Gas Industry - sufficient that I should think its likely to be a very good place to be over the next few years especially if, like the snail's friend, you have skills to offer.
Mechanicking on the other hand, might be different. I know a lot more about the Gas Industry than I know about the mechanic world, but I would have thought that with the increasing presence of computers within vehicles, especially given that the majority of those computers cannot be maintained, would have generally mean tthat the skills requirements would change and perhaps increase the pool that they can be drawn from - i.e. I don't see any shortage pending any time soon.
|
|
|
|
When starting out you will probably have to do some form of YTS or it's current equivalent - this will be a very low wage for 3 or 4 years. Once qualified you'll start to move up the salary ladder and as you get more experienced you will be able to earn bigger time saved bonus. The tech's at our dealership are taking home approx £20k a year
|
Go Gas.
It smuch easier to start up on your own with your own company as a corgoi registered fitter than it is to start your own garage.
Working conditions are much better for gas fitting than mechanicking. Its a short step form gas fitting to plumpbing, and you will never be out of work.
|
|
And if you do go gas we'll have a resident expert for all our central heating queries in "I have a question"!
|
|
|
I would not encourage anyone to rush into motor vehicle service work. The motor trade has realised that a reasonable proportion of young men will always be interested in cars, and that they have a ready pool of young muscle to recruit from.
The fact is that most motor vehicle maintenance is virtually skill free. Give any able bodied and able minded person access to tools and equipment, a decent workshop manual and the fault already diagnosed, and they will be able to do the job. The only real skill is in fault diagnosis.
So, you can run a busy workshop with one skilled foreman, and a number of less skilled "monkeys". There is no need to train those people lower down the food chain well, or value them because they are very easy to replace.
My father ran a workshop and haulage business, and never tired of telling me not to go into the trade. Needless to say, I didn't listen. But, once the "honeymoon period" was over, and I saw how the career of a mechanic was going to pan out, I got out quick!
However, I can recommend gaining an understanding of how cars work, to be used in a hobbyist, or DIY manner. It is very satisfying being able to maintain a car properly, for yourself, or for family, without the commercial pressure of time.
Plumber, gas fitter, electrician are all more attractive options.
Number_Cruncher
|
People my think I'm mda, especially as a 'professional', but I would be delighted if my three children became gas engineers/plumbers, electricians or carpenters. These are skilled trades with constant demand and the potential to be self-cmployed or even run a small business from early on. The on limit to earning is your own stamina and enthusiasm.
Stay away from car mechanics unless you have a family business in the trade which will pay you far more than you should be earning.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
|
Just because something interests you doesn't make it a good job to be in. I've had computers all my life and eventually (at 30) wound up as a ICT Technician at a college, believe me when I say it totally different, the worst part for me is dealing with users that think they know better because 'I have a PC at home'. I'd jump at the chance to be a Gas Fitter/Heating engineer and not just because of the money, I also see a difference between a plumber with his ACOPS and a heating engineer, could be wrong though.
Steve.
|
|
|
|
|
I disagree about motor maintenance being skill-free. I try to do as much on our cars as I can myself, not for financial reasons but because the attention to detail and care needed to maintain the cars safely and avoid causing serious damage takes a great deal of time and concentration. Young trainees with hangovers and heads full of thoughts about women are not always as good as we the customers would like.
|
doctorchris,
I think you are concerned about mechanics being care free rather than being skill free, i.e., I think you have subtly misinterpreted my post.
No matter how skilled a mechanic is, if he or she doesn't take care, the result will probably be a bad job.
My point is that, ask an untrained person, who is, however, careful and logical, to do a job on a car, and you will get a good result - once someone skilled had diagnosed the fault, and told them what to do.
I suppose it is care and logic, which are perhaps governed by temprement rather than by skill, which are absolutely vital in ensuring a safe job is done.
Thoughts about women aren't only for the trainees!
Number_Cruncher
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I know dozens of mechanics at work and none of them(myself included)"learn't" mechanics in a classroom.Although i did an automotive apprenticeship,We were all repairing/fixing/building cars in our early teens,many younger than that.The only decent money with car mechanics is on the racing side and the hours are horrendous.Go for gas,but to be happy think about what in your heart YOU really want to do.Good luck.
|
I have a friend that left the Police in his late 20s, went back to University to study composites. Since then he's worked for Pensk, BA and now works for the Ferrari F1 team. I think he's well paid, seems to like it too.
Steve.
|
Thanks for all the replies guys, brilliant advice. Anyway what I've done today is enrolled on a city and Guilds technical cert. which is more like an NVQ1 and if I find an employer I might even enrol on an NVQ 2 in gas installation before September.
The way the wages are I think I could afford to have my own personal mechanic if I ever ended up CORGI registered. I might do a basic car servicing course at my local college as well, which I think only runs for 9 weeks. That would be a good start.
To the guy who mentioned his friend was with British Gas. I had an interview for a fast track NVQ course with a guaranteed job and CORGI registration at the end of it, but the interview went bad and I never got it. I'm still crying about that :( The shortage does look likely to continue. There are as many guys retiring as there are training I think.
|
>>There are as many guys retiring as there are training
More. And its going to get worse.
|
|
|
|
I earn far more as a self-employed IT consultant than I did when employed by a company. I think in general that the only way to earn good money is to work for yourself e.g. self employed gas engineer, plumber etc. The exception to the rule seems to be the financial and legal sector where solicitors, lawyers, etc can rake it in. I have heard that a lot of people are re-training to be plumbers and this might also be true of gas engineers. I suspect that a gas engineer is more secure though due to the need for gov. recognised qualifications before you can do work.
Leif
|
|
|
