Exercise R Us » Running Training » is there a trend in this century?
Question:
Here in Massachusetts, the change in the *Inspection program * prompted the closing of many stations. Not everyone wanted to do inspections anymore. The big guys got bigger, the small guys got out of it.
Response:
To be honest. I also think that it is becoming harder to make a living in this field due to the fact that cars increasingly becomes more reliables. Not like they used to be back in the 70s. Its hard to know for sure what’s going to happen in the future, but I think automechanics is one that is going to be affected by the technologies.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->It seems to me that quite a few mechanics are closing shop or relocating >away from the big cities. >I know at least three now. One who totally leave the profession, the other >moved to a small town far away from the big city. >The other one, well I drove by the place where his shop used to be, the >signs and equipments are all gone. >I think that’s a high percentage. I don’t remember seeing it happened in >such frequencies back in the eighties. Anyone notice anything like that? >What’s going on? > New cars are getting very technically complicated, and about the only people > who are competent to work on them are the dealer’s technicians who go through > lots of training. The older independent mechanic will still have a small piece > of business, but that will gradually diminish as the oldest cars finally quit > running, perhaps due to unavailability of old parts. > —Bob Gross—
Response:
"R2D2" wrote > To be honest. I also think that it is becoming harder to make a living in > this field due > to the fact that cars increasingly becomes more reliables. Not like they > used to be back in the 70s.
If GM vehicles are any indication….they are not becoming more reliable. Every new vehicle or model that comes along fixes some problems and creates a whole new set of problems. Certain things are more reliable, engines very rarely have catastrophic failures like they did in the 80’s, manual transmissions are rarely seen apart anymore….those two items come to mind as being very reliable these days. 4X4 systems on the new trucks are failing left, right and center. We have so many front diff failures these days, which was almost unheard of a few years ago. > Its hard to know for sure what’s going to happen in the future, but I think > automechanics is one that > is going to be affected by the technologies.
I’ll tell you what is really being affected by the technology….diagnosing electrical and computer glitches and failures. We are now seeing tons of "software" problems that are literally impossible to diagnose with the available manuals and info. These are problems that end up being repaired with a "reflash" of the computers. This will become more of a problem and will probably force the consumer to have to come into the dealerships. The info is being released to independents, but of course it will cost a lot of money. By the way, that same info costs the dealerships a lot of money and you "have" to buy it. Ian
Response:
> It seems to me that quite a few mechanics are closing shop or relocating > away from the big cities. > I know at least three now. One who totally leave the profession, the other > moved to a small town far away from the big city. > The other one, well I drove by the place where his shop used to be, the > signs and equipments are all gone. > I think that’s a high percentage. I don’t remember seeing it happened in > such frequencies back in the eighties. Anyone notice anything like that? > What’s going on?
Speaking only for Houston, Texas, usa, most people live in the suburbs. Most auto repair places left the city proper and moved to the subs with the people. There are a lot of quickie oil change places and tire places in the city. Difficult to leave your car in the city and try to find a ride home to the subs because the car repair will take more than one day.
Response:
>I would have to disagree with the dealers are the only competent ones to >work on the newer cars. I think the dealers are the only ones with the >extra cash to spend on the computers it takes to work on the newer cars. My >ind. mech has 30K invested in computer equipment for all the different cars >he works on.
If that is 30K dollars, then that is nothing these days. What is your point? —Bob Gross—
Response:
My point is not all small shops can afford to put the money into the equipment needed to repair newer cars. Dealers with fat wallets and manufacture kick backs are definately at an advantage. And I disagree that dealers mechanics are superior to ind. mech’s. I would much rather have a mech that rely’s on his own shop to pay his bills do my work than a dealer mech that knows he has the backing of the dealer if he screws up. Send them through a multi week course and now they are qualified to tear your car to shreds. That has been my most recent dealings with our local dealer.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->I would have to disagree with the dealers are the only competent ones to >work on the newer cars. I think the dealers are the only ones with the >extra cash to spend on the computers it takes to work on the newer cars. My >ind. mech has 30K invested in computer equipment for all the different cars >he works on. > If that is 30K dollars, then that is nothing these days. What is your point? > —Bob Gross—
Response:
It seems to me that quite a few mechanics are closing shop or relocating away from the big cities. I know at least three now. One who totally leave the profession, the other moved to a small town far away from the big city. The other one, well I drove by the place where his shop used to be, the signs and equipments are all gone. I think that’s a high percentage. I don’t remember seeing it happened in such frequencies back in the eighties. Anyone notice anything like that? What’s going on?
Response:
>It seems to me that quite a few mechanics are closing shop or relocating >away from the big cities. >I know at least three now. One who totally leave the profession, the other >moved to a small town far away from the big city. >The other one, well I drove by the place where his shop used to be, the >signs and equipments are all gone. >I think that’s a high percentage. I don’t remember seeing it happened in >such frequencies back in the eighties. Anyone notice anything like that? >What’s going on?
New cars are getting very technically complicated, and about the only people who are competent to work on them are the dealer’s technicians who go through lots of training. The older independent mechanic will still have a small piece of business, but that will gradually diminish as the oldest cars finally quit running, perhaps due to unavailability of old parts. —Bob Gross—
Response:
I would have to disagree with the dealers are the only competent ones to work on the newer cars. I think the dealers are the only ones with the extra cash to spend on the computers it takes to work on the newer cars. My ind. mech has 30K invested in computer equipment for all the different cars he works on.
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->It seems to me that quite a few mechanics are closing shop or relocating >away from the big cities. >I know at least three now. One who totally leave the profession, the other >moved to a small town far away from the big city. >The other one, well I drove by the place where his shop used to be, the >signs and equipments are all gone. >I think that’s a high percentage. I don’t remember seeing it happened in >such frequencies back in the eighties. Anyone notice anything like that? >What’s going on? > New cars are getting very technically complicated, and about the only people > who are competent to work on them are the dealer’s technicians who go through > lots of training. The older independent mechanic will still have a small piece > of business, but that will gradually diminish as the oldest cars finally quit > running, perhaps due to unavailability of old parts. > —Bob Gross—
no comment untill now