Current Events > i pull up to a mechanic shop, i see mechanics in their 20s, 30s...

(+) Yeah! (+)

i turn right around. letting children work on your car is always a horrible mistake.

That's all the chain places can get because they pay $14 per hour.

So how long does someone have to be a mechanic before they are a real mechanic?

There's a 19 year old kid that works at an exotic car shop in my city

My cousins been a great mechanic since he was a late teen

uwnim posted...

So how long does someone have to be a mechanic before they are a real mechanic?

How did it work for Real Madrid?

The real mistake is taking your car to the shop just to get your oil changed and tires rotated.

uwnim posted...

So how long does someone have to be a mechanic before they are a real mechanic?

i want at least 20 years of experience on the hands that touch my v8 hemi. don't get me wrong, all the new mechanics have to start somewhere. but if you roll into a shop, and you don't see any older/senior mechanics there, massive red flag. like someone else pointed out, the big repair chains, they're hiring kids straight out of the trade schools, mechanics who might not have even apprenticed under a real mechanic. their labor is cheap, and nobody at the top cares if it's any good. they have scores of legal teams dedicated to fighting off 'pesky' customers who just wanted their car repaired and got done up wrong.

you already have to pay for a repair, don't pay for it twice by handing your keys off to a twenty-something stoner fresh from the trade schools in a Firestone jumper. Take the time to find a good, reputable, local mechanic that's been open a good while. a mechanic's experience is measured in decades, not years like most jobs.

Billyionaire posted...

The real mistake is taking your car to the shop just to get your oil changed and tires rotated.

Tire rotation is free

Turbam posted...

Tire rotation is free

lmao... of course it is. and that gets you in the door. and then they squirt oil all over your strut and tell you it's spitting oil. or they unplug something so your check engine light comes on once things get weird enough for the code to trip.

if any auto shop offers you free anything, don't take it unless you're going to stay and watch 'em do it.

A guy in their 30s may have been a mechanic for 10+ years and knows what he's doing by then...

At least that describes my cousin, he's a brilliant mechanic.

But yeah, a shop filled with early 20 somethings with one guy with gray hair is definitely a risky place to take a car to.

LinkDaLunatic posted...

i turn right around. letting children work on your car is always a horrible mistake.

so you just go around judging people now? if youre not capable of working on your car, why wouldnt someone in their 20s or 30s?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

in the mechanic world, sometimes they are, yeah. not always as people have mentioned here, sometimes you meet mechanics in their thirties that have been doing it since their early twenties and that's dandy, not always the case

StarbucksWorker posted...

so you just go around judging people now? if youre not capable of working on your car, why wouldnt someone in their 20s or 30s?

i do a fair amount of work on my own car. but i'm a guy in an apartment. i have nowhere to keep a lot of hardware, i have no space to really work on it other than the parking lot. i also just have the one car, so if it's something that could take a lot of time potentially or require me to pull a whole lot apart, that's usually not going to happen. so if it's not something i can do with a couple hours of my time, my tool box and my jacks, it's going to a shop.

and yes, i go around judging people when it comes to something like this. and that's not a bad thing. these are businesses. they want my money. i want quality service. i'm going to select a business that has its head on straight and isn't full of untrained novices who could outright fail to make the repair or potentially make things worse.

it's not always wrong to use your judgement.

Yeah. Don't work on cars while in rental housing. Too many squealers. A relative got threatened with eviction over an oil change.

LinkDaLunatic posted...

twenty-something stoner fresh from the trade schools in a Firestone jumper

i mean, you're going to Firestone. dealer might charge a little more but you know they're doing that shit correctly. will never understand why people go to jiffy lube or whatever for stuff like that

DrizztLink posted...

How did it work for Real Madrid?

They were around for 18 seasons before they became Real and even then lost their Realness for a while during the Spanish Civil War.

Never use a dealer unless you want warranty work. They underpay everyone and the good workers strike off on their own

Find a good local mechanic and stick with them. When you find someone fair that does quality work, I dont mind paying extra for some stuff knowing its gonna be done right.

PatrickMahomes posted...

i mean, you're going to Firestone.

i did when i was young. nothing good ever came of it. most i will trust them with is tires and even then, do not buy their brand of tires. go for the bridgestones. get the 80k warranty. and for the love of all that is holy... do not leave the shop. keep an eye on em the entire time.

PatrickMahomes posted...

dealer might charge a little more but you know they're doing that shit correctly.

not necessarily. that's a solid maybe at best.

PatrickMahomes posted...

will never understand why people go to jiffy lube or whatever for stuff like that

agreed.

I had that experience at Mr. Tire once. Looked like high school kids and they fucked something up trying to change the oil where I had to leave it there overnight until the grownups came in

Serious Cat posted...

They were around for 18 seasons before they became Real and even then lost their Realness for a while during the Spanish Civil War.

So there we have it.

A mechanic needs 18 years of experience to be considered a Real Mechanic, and they lose the title if they go to war with Spain.