[jhein]

"Ford CEO Jim Farley laments he can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs paying $120K per year: ‘We are in trouble in our country’"

https://nypost.com/2025/11/14/busine...n-our-country/

[burd]

I don’t know a mechanic that makes that.

[jhein]

I thought it seemed high too, but I'm not in the industry so I don't know.

[67Lemons]

I know mechanics who make at least that, it’s big money now a days but there’s also a big investment in tools. The industry is in danger as are most of the trades, kids aren’t going into trades when there’s easier, less physical, less investment intense career paths.

[tom s]

The Chevy dealer I use here has a issue getting techs to do simple stuff like oil changes!Tom

[71GP76TA]

My nephew is a lead tech at a Ford dealership in Montana. He makes $47.00 an hour. He generally flags 50 plus hours a week. About every 6 months he hammers them for a raise and they always give it to him. He said they'd be fu**ed without him.

[PAUL K]

Gee I'm shocked to hear this ��

[locomotivebreath]

This has been coming along time . My high school built a brand new state of the art 2 story vocational/technical addition in 1973 . By 1992 when I started there it was nearly empty . When I graduated in 96 , auto shop & construction were all that was left . What happened ? I went to a public school system that pushed college for everyone . The attitude of the day and still is I believe, is that ya go to college , get a degree ( in anything) and get a decent paying job . Vocational was a stigma , that was for the loser burn out kids . At my school , you couldn’t take any advanced placement academic classes and a vocational program . No one could tell me why.

[unruhjonny]

I have heard that the only other profession which requires comparable investment in tools is a dentist - and they make a lot more;
I have also see the writing on the wall for years now, but frankly I decided against getting into the industry personally...

[salem1912]

I'll be 70 in 10 months and retiring. Seeing new techs coming in I really can't see them in it for the long haul. When I started with Chrysler/Plymouth in 1975 you had the mechanical end and electrical of a car. Now fast forward to 2025 you still have the mechanical end but look what the "electrical" end has turn into ! I already knew the mechanical and learn the computer end as it came year after year. That was hard enough but new guys have to learn both all at once. Years ago to me it seemed the engineers had consideration for repairing systems on cars,now seems they don't care how a tech is going to repair something. Very frustrating! Past ten years I've been in that $$ range but that was flat rate pay and had to work my a$$ off. Now tool wise what I going to do with all these tools I had to buy?

[jhein]

I've never been a professional mechanic. Or, as they say now Automotive Technician. But back in the mid 80's I worked in the parts dept and warranty dept of a Chrysler dealership and a Caterpillar dealership.. I don't know about now but back then there were all kinds of shenanigans going on. Mainly with warranty work. mechanics claiming to do work that was never done but billing for it. The factory had ways of checking like sending back failed parts for verification but they still got away with a lot.

But, as I recall, even the honest guys were making 40k+ or so back then. Some of them were just good and could turn over flat rate jobs pretty fast. So 120k doesn't seem out of line to me now. I even thought about getting into it but decided on another path.

All those guys, totally honest or not, worked really hard and earned their money.

These days, car's aren't really just cars anymore. They're rolling computers. It's really out of control in my opinion. Most independent shops can't even work on modern cars because of the software which the manufactures will not share. So that increases the cost for repairs and the likelihood of failures.

I bet if someone would return to building simple cars that had minimal technology but still had reasonable safety and reliability, you could have cars available for half the price and they would sell like hot cakes.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Ahem, yeap. When mechanics are directed to rebuilt them ECOBOOST engines with Timing BELTS BATHED IN HOT oil. Call it a low coolant cause, they leave.

[scott70]

I took our company work truck to the dodge dealership last week for an oil change, sticker and a tire rotation. Went to pick it up and noticed it still had the old inspection sticker still on it. He came out and threw a sticker on it saying they did the inspection but forgot the sticker. Drove the truck back and then we noticed the front tires were still worn on the outside while the rear were flat and cupped a little. I called the dealership and asked them to talk to the technician to see if he actually rotated the tires. He did and said the technician said he rotated them which I don’t believe so we just did it at the shop. Now that makes me think because I never looked to see if there was a new oil filter on it.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

It's the same sales pitch as those weight loss programs.
lose UP TO 40 lbs
make UP TO 120k year

Most places in my area are paying mechanics approx 25% on the flat rate hour @ $100-120 per hour
Body/Paint techs 30-35% on the flat rate hour @ $50-60 per hour

Mechanics at area Ford dealers around here make about half what that CEO is boasting.

My first dealership job in 1985 painting cars was 49% @ $20 hour ($9.80) / 500-600 week
Every time the insurance commission raised the hourly rate , the dealer would cut the percentage.
In 1999 the scale was 40% @ $32 hour ($12.80). / 650-750 week

Corporate greed has killed the trade more than anything.
50 / 50 split would create more skilled techs

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Auto industry technician is about the last thing I would recommend as a profession.
Unless a service advisor or management in clean clothes with HVAC environment.

[Joe-Touring]

From what I’ve heard, he’s conflating the wage+benefits figure as “pay.” So your salary is quite a bit less than what’s stated.

UPS and the media did the same thing in 2023 when the drivers were negotiating a new contract. “They already make $145,000, these greedy drivers are trying to bankrupt the company!” When that $145,000 was including the cost of medical insurance and 401k, etc

[VCho455]

In my personal experiences with people in Mr. Farley's position they have no real idea what what the folks in the trenches do for them or how they survive day to day.

Their only real concerns are to the shareholders and of course, looking forward to their next job.

[Andre]

Supply and demand as in every industry rules the day. If you can't find enough bodies at 145k then that is not the right package. (pay and benefits etc) If it is still no go at 165k keep going up. At some point there will be enough asses in the seats. Profits might suffer, but without these vital pieces, the business is due to fail.

[mgarblik]

I have been in the repair end and education area of the automotive business for just over 50 years. The mechanic/technician pay situation has not changed much in those 50 years. I have some facts and just my observations from all this experience. 1. Starting pay has always been extremely low and there is not a uniform plan to advance in most dealerships. I have many, many college co-op students nearing graduation that have been working at new car dealerships, often working on 100K+ vehicles, doing complex repairs for a sub-minimum wage pay, $10.00-12.00 an hour in 2025! 2. Dealerships are franchise operations and vary WIDELY in pay plans, benefits, vacation, insurance, retirement, shop conditions, tool requirements, work flow, teamwork, attitudes, just to name a few. They are all essentially independent and can do whatever they want as long as it's legal. 3. Working conditions make a huge difference in job satisfaction. 4. Some dealers put a high value on service, some virtually none at all. I have some co-op dealers that really do everything right. They provide advancement opportunities, good benefits, even company cars to the top techs in the shop. 5. Some dealerships have fantastic technicians, at least a few. Unfortunately, they are often NOT rewarded for their skill or knowledge and often are penalized by getting all the jobs no one else can fix. It's a form of reverse compensation. 6 The elephant in the room is the flat rate pay system. There are many, many technicians who are earning top pay by gaming the system and shooting the "parts cannon" at these cars. That's the only way they can earn top pay. They have to replace something, anything. Diagnosing the root cause of a problem often takes allot of time, research and experience which they DO NOT get paid for. The MAXIMUM diagnosis time for most repairs no matter how complex is 1 hour. So the flat rate pay system rewards cheating. But older experienced mechanics like gaming the system and have figured out how to get 60 hours of pay for a 40 hour work week.
So it's a complex, entrenched, system which won't easily be fixed or changed. If Mr. Farley really wanted to do something about it, he would need to rip it down to the studs and install a completely new service work and pay system through the entire corporation. Then the technicians would flock to FORD to try the new system if it's a good one. "That's why tool boxes have wheels".

[KS circutguy]

I worked at a few dealerships in my 50 years of wrenching. Stopped the stealership game and went to independent shops.
I still don't get why Mechanic's are only paid less than half of flat rate time doing "warranty work" on new vehicles.
We had nothing to do with the design or assembly process of building the vehicles.
I've always wondered why we all never got a class action suit to get or other half of the labor we lost back.
The "flat rate" name should be changed to Flat Rape./