BS degree, layed off a about 2 yrs ago, got a job last year, piece of ****z salary! I might as well go do what I like and work as a mechanic... Can one get a job without asc cert? What would that pay? With just back yard wrenching experience for about 10 or more years ? ...

Guess its Sunday night, tommorrow is Monday, have to go to work therefore coming up with this crazy idea

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1995 E320 smoke silver / parchment

Do what most out of work BS guys are doing these days. Financial advisors..go figure.

Thats ASE and no you dont need one initially. Helps tho, and dealerships usually pay more per cert. Most techs. out of technical school are getting between 13 and 25. Pay for in your case, dunno, probably the same. Best place to start is independent shops. Dealers probably want you to be a apprentice first or go to school or start as a porter. Theres always this 30 or 90 day trial deal and they let you know if you've got a job or still looking.

One of my best friends is a BMW technician, certified in everything, at a large BMW dealership. Been doing it for 20 years and is really good. Makes @ $70K with decent benefits and has been miserable for the last 5 years. The manufacturers have cut back on the allowed times for warranty work while increasing the complexity of the automobiles. Rarely does anything truly mechanical go wrong. It's mostly electronics, and really hard to diagnose. Lots of software bugs and time on the phone to the tech hotline. School 4 times a year just to keep current.
I have been trying to talk him into going into plumbing. No matter what happens with outsourcing, people have to take a dump and most prefer to do it in their own home. Guess it's an industry that will continue to exist regardless of what happens in the world. It ain't rocket science, cripes even I know how to solder pipe!
I'll bet if you're good, show up on time and fix it right you'll have more business then you can handle in a short time. Plus, how freaking difficult is it to keep up with the technology in plumbing? Left is hot, right is cold. Just don't chew your fingernails!

Got the second the plumbing recommendation. I'm a landlord and sometimes visit a landlord board. One of the posters there is a medical doctor. He claims it is cheaper for him to do his own plumbing than to hire a plumber and pay for it via his medical work. The plumber charges more per hour than he makes as a doctor!

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

While I'm no expert in the plumbing career, you still have to "pay your dues" before you start raking in the cash!

Apprentice---journeyman---plumber. Kinda like a medical internship! Plumbing (like many trades) is a union-driven profession.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Yeah. I have a few relatives that are plumbers. Ya almost gotta know someone that knows someone to get thru the union red tape from what they all have said. Kinda like a sponser. One cousin of mine even went thru the apprenticeship, and still had to have my uncles' help(not his dad, but an uncle to him too) to get a job. Kinda wierd. But it may differ from area to area.
The money is REAL good once you get established. But it was a long road for all of them.

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

I know a number of mechanics and could be one myself if the other choice was starvation and homelessness. I will give you some good points and bad. This is not an old guy's thing, most mechanics don't work to retirement age. Dealerships are being bought-up by large corporations, it is a Wal-mart effect. You can open your own shop. Barriers to entry are minimal in this field, unlike many others today(free country, right?). If you treat people right you can be a community person with your own shop. Buying and selling cars as a mechanic can be a lucrative sideline. If you mess with cars much be acutely aware of the many health hazards.

Learning to beat the flat-rate is a lot different than back-yard wrenching. If I had to make it as a mechanic today I would specialize. Maybe as a diesel car mechanic. Maybe as a high performance tuner, invest in a dyno and some computer toys and hang out at the drag strip some.

The community mechanic thing would be nice in some places. You would have to learn when to say no and learn to weed out the customers who may rip you off.

Who your customers are is a big thing in business, if you have to work with people who turn your stomach you will not be happy.

Plumbers--Unions. It depends on the state. Perhaps places like NJ are dominated by union plumbers but I think there are way more non-union plumbers in Colorado than union plumbers.

I think you should call and ask the question to Click and Clack.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I second that spotting rip off artists.......

I had some friends we have known for about 6 years.....they came over nand begged and hounded me to fix their car.........after about a week I gave in.....Guy has problems with both the local Lamorghini dealer AND the local Ferrari dealer. ( He has a Contach and a 308GTS).

Said the 308GTS failed inspection becasue all 4 carbs were leaking gasolene....needed them fixed and that the Deal was a &*^%%$&^%.

Found out the guy still had 26 year old timing belts on the car, told him I won't touch the car unless those are replaced too. Manufactureers spec 5 years or 15,000 miles MAX. Quoted him $1,000 plus all parts needed.

took me 2 weeks to do it. THe carbs at dealer were $3,000, and the timing belt job was $2,600. I made a good wage doing it at my rate.

Well week later he was whining about me doing an oil change for free, then he managed to get 18 quarts of oil in a motor spec'd for 10. Argued he did drain it first......then was complaining about it leaking oil. Told him its 26 years old, its going to leak something. Besides it needed a major service that would replace seals and gaskets he didn't want to pay for. Told him I did not have time......and I didn't I had my honda engine apart at the time for cams valve spings intake etc.

Well his wife started accusing my of screwing the car up......that pissed me off then I refused to talk to them any more. THey then get a lawyer to threaten me saying I was paid to fix an oil leak and made it worse. Well my lawyer (who was on G Bush Sr's legal team) sent them a letter with parts reciepts etc I had from the job I was paid to do, threatened a countersuit for fraud, my legals fees, lost wages and basicly everything the law would entitle me to.........they were strangly silent after that, word has it they are still quite pissed. Well hell they tried to rip ME off. I did everything I agreed to adn then some. Saved them a bundle and thats the thanks I get.

These people sit on their butts all day collect $25,000 a month in rent on properties they have owned for 30 years. Well these people are dead to me.......If they were bleeding on the side of the road I would stop tell them paybacks a ***** and then drive off.

I bet mechanics deal with *********s like that all the time.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I had considered going this route. I had a friend who owned a MB shop talk me out of it. He blasted all the negatives at me, and that was enough. I began to buy and sell cars instead. Seems like more money and a lot less work.

I second the plumber idea. If you paid your dues for a few years, you could go out on your own after that. I've seen many people do that (different trades) and then do very well. My uncle-in-law did stamped concrete while in college. When he got out he got an old diesel truck and started his own business. He's retired now at 50ish, and loaded. He worked his butt off to make it what it became, but he still did it and is set for life.

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1994 C 280 117.5k, White (Good as new)
1997 Toyota Camry 149k Miles (Not so pretty anymore)

1990 190e 2.6 95k (Sold-Should not have)
1981 240d Stick ??? Miles...sold

Don't know how it is where you are, but around here, be a bricklayer. A good, honest, sober one. Show up at a job when you say you will and do what you say you are going to do. Do good craftsman level work. Drive your MBs on weekends. Check around the construction trades. Honest people who do what they are paid to do are so rare around here. Friend is a small general contractor. The trouble he has getting projects done (and done right) are terrible. There are good honest workers out there, but the top homebuilders snap them up. A good plumber is worth his weight too. With low flow toilets and what not, you gotta do things right, or it's a real mess.
Oh and BTW, stay away from anything to do with computers. This busines is going to the dogs in a hurry.

Show me a plumber taking home over 100K a year.

It doesn't take much to make that kind of money, but you have to have a master's license and run your own business - not a very big business either, a trruck, some tools and you are on your way. After that 2k a week for just doing service calls is a cinch, or you can make a bundle in new construction. I do agree that you are not going to find any who are working for someone else making that kind of money, but most are going to be working in the 35-45 an hour range, which still ain't bad.

My uncle was clearing that before he retired 20 years ago.

__________________
past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)