Listening to Auto Techs

Please feel free to post your comments or questions here:

Comment from Technician: I should make more money and have benefits. I have been "turning wrenches" for over 20 years and I only make $18 an hour and no benefits. I need more than that to be sure I can take care of my children and have any chance at retirement. Health insurance is expensive and I have to pay it myself. Comment from long time owner: The term "turning wrenches" came right off the resume. In 2019, I believe that this industry is about a lot more than just turning wrenches. Yes, we still have to turn wrenches for the bulk of our work, but that's not all we do nor should we sell ourselves short. We are technicians, and the more we think and project ourselves as technicians, and not "wrenches", the quicker we can get this industry turned around. From a pay perspective, he may be right. He may deserve more money. Unfortunately, like most technicians, he can not substantiate this statement, because he has no idea on how efficient he reall...

Question from Technician: Your website is autoprosupnorth.com but you are actually a Midas shop. What gives? Comment: The answer to this is two fold. First, because we are a Midas Franchisee, we do not control our "brand", as we would if we were Kalkaska Auto Repair(or something like that). Midas International controls the Midas brand and they will not approve any "digital property" (website) that uses the Midas brand unless they have direct control of that website. They basically have their attorneys call us and strongly advise us to take any offending website down, or face the consequences. If we were "Kalkaska Auto Repair", and you were from a different town, other than Kalkaska, you probably wouldn't know anything about us. You would likely not have any preconceived notions of who or what we are, from a professional automotive service facility aspect. Because we fly a national brand, many technicians may believe they already know who we a...

We wanted to have a safe place for automotive technicians to ask questions from an automotive service shop owner and receive straight answers. It may not always be the answer you want, and it will not always be the answer we want to give, but it will be a straight, honest, truthful answer, given with Integrity in mind. Integrity is a key to long term relationships. You may learn some things about Integrity, that will surprise you, at this link:    https://vimeo.com/64381958 If you are willing to invest in yourself, information provided in this video presentation, can make a difference in your life. Courage and Integrity (as defined in the video)  may be the two most lacking qualities in the automotive service industry today. They may well be what holds us all back from reaching our fullest potential. I will anonymously be posting questions asked verbally by technicians, on this blog, along with additional information and answers/comments to those questions. Please...