I was a flat rate tech at ford Dealership and got burn out by the constant push to up sell. So 12 years ago I took a fleet job when my son was a year old. It was the best thing for me. As a flat rate tech I worked on weekend at the dealership. As fleet tech M-F 7-4 with hour for lunch. The money is a small% less and I don’t have to buy tools cause all tool are provided now. They are all Snap-on up to date. Equipment for the most part is up to date. We have every type of vehicle in are fleet from caddy to vac cons. No slacking off allowed . I enjoy my free time I coach sports at the middle school level. Would not have been able to do that at the dealership. It’s not for everyone but it works for me. I still work like I’m on flat rate but old habits diehard. I enjoy your channel I think young tech should watch your channel cause you give sound advice.

pro of working at a chain store always have oil and tires to do when its slow, con always have oil and tires to do when its buisy lol

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL, chain store video will be up monday:)

We're not slow here at Hertz Rent-A-Car lol. The good : cars are not older than the 2 years. Payed vacation 5 weeks off. 12 payed sick days. 50 cents raise over year up to the new contract is settled by the union. The bad : promotions are really fucking slow. The amount of cars that came in need to be worked on is a lot average 50 a day around summer, not including new shipments of cars that need to be ready for rent. The biggest problem is corporate bullshit. But I love what I do and work with good people. Big fan of your channel by the way! I have learned a lot from your videos and applied them here at work.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Awesome, I appreciate the kind words!

@andrewcimochowski

7 жыл бұрын

Hector Romero what's the highest hourly rate you can make at hertz?

I have worked at all 3, independent , fleet and dealer and I'm at a fleet now and it is certainly the simplest but I do miss independent work

Garbage truck mechanic here. Dayshift road call man/shop work. I love drivability/emissions issues. Gotta love the EPA

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, The issues you see was unheard of back when I worked on them!

I worked for 10 years at a public schools garage. A lot of times you get a lot of repetitive jobs. Did a lot of clutches, brakes, kingpins, etc, plus tons of what we called pad jobs (drivers pulling up behind the bay for quick stuff like light bulbs, etc.) Biggest advantages were great benefits, steady pay, and job stability. Biggest disadvantage is you are only exposed to certain makes of vehicles, and we had to check the oil in the buses in the mornings (driver's contracts) When they merged with the county garage, I decided to stay until retirement in another department in the schools.Overall, very thankful to have chosen that career path, especially with the uncertain times like the pandemic we are in now

First off I just came across your channel and love your take on the industry! I work fleet repair myself for an organization that services people with developmental disabilities and we have around 170 vehicles to keep running. There are definitely ups and downs. We are paid well, but there are only 2 of us doing it all. Plenty of over time to be had so that works both ways. Keep up the great work, sir!

Got a buddy that works at UPS on the freight trucks. Brakes and tires like no tomorrow. And he makes 85k a year salary. He does work 11pm to 11 am. Being that that's when most of their rigs are down for the night. 4 days a week, 4 days off. Which sounds like hell to me.

@MrChickenspit

3 жыл бұрын

damn, 12 hour days? whew.

@matthannah4621

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrChickenspit I work 12 hour days at Jaguar Land Rover right now. It's not bad... when you're single and no kids.

@lunalancer5971

2 жыл бұрын

They hiring? That sounds fucking awesome to me but different strokes i guess lol

@tylerhill6706

Жыл бұрын

That’s actually a great shift and good work. 4 days off is great and doing 12s isn’t bad at all. Midnight aren’t that bad as long as you take care of your body and sleep

@dwayneallen5871

Жыл бұрын

I work as UPS fleet mechanic my shifts are 6pm to 230am Sunday to thrusday

I just left a independent/fleet contracted shop. Started at a dedicated fleet shop and I can say I love it. Alot of the stuff is not itemized so your not writing down something as simple as butt connectors, gladhand seals, nuts bolts. As you said in the pro part, they dont rush you but some stuff is important to finish. They were super impressed by my efficiency because I had the flat rate mindset when I started from what I was used to.

I enjoy listening to your commentary. Please keep the videos coming.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you and I will!

Everything you spoke of on was great information. I think this is the best video to date Thanks 👍🏼

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks Bennie!

Pretty spot on. I work at an ambulance service as a paramedic and fleet mechanic. I love it.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Awesome!

Appreciate your videos man. Keep rollin

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you! and I will!

man you hit it right on the spot everything you said is exactly what I do and how it is I work in at a fleet shop and I like it but it has it's pros and cons just like you said like your show 👍

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I worked for an independent shop for 5 years, Ford dealer for 3 years,another independent shop for 1 year. In my experience every shop finds ways to screw you, at the dealership I was amazed at how often I end up working for free and all I end up getting are all the recalls, crap warranty jobs, time wasted finding non reusable hardware(don't get me started on that), and of course all the gravy jobs go to the "chosen" one. The Indy shop the owner just wouldn't pay reasonable diag. time, assigned tasks that didn't pay anything, for example driving cars to another shop for an alignment, we would pull all the cars in the garage every night and out in the morning. I just recently got a job working for the capital city in my state and it is amazing, the benefits are awesome, the pay is amazing. This coming year I will make double the money that I usually make in a year, not including benefits.

You're pretty accurate on the fleet experience, it's made me too slow to wanna go work flat rate

Very useful information, thanks.

I Work county fleet and your 100% right.

Did the fleet thing for years a long time ago and I hated the garbage trucks and emergency vehicles because of the wiring problems. Oh forgot another great video !

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you, nothing like working on Garbage trucks in the south maggots dropping on you constantly!

At my work we get some police explorers and they block most of the lifting points with a light bar. It’s ridiculous.

This is a good series of yours, and you're dead on! I worked at a local municipality (approx. 15K) a few years ago and I was told to slow down after finishing an engine job they weren't expecting for 2 months, in two days. Worse thing about that place was working on raggedy ol' leaf machines that would vibrate themselves apart, out of date trash trucks with PTOs jumpin' out of gear, dump trucks with brake issues, stuff from different departments actually. All with NO help! No assistant! Just lil' ol' me! Makin' th same money as a driver. A ASE master mechanic with an "A" CDL (all the drivers had class "B" CDLs) makin' peanuts and th' city council says they can't afford to give me a raise OR an assistant! Those are the times to outsource! They wanna save? Start sendin' stuff out I say. I know yours was just a generalization, but mine was just an example haha! Keep up them good vids! I be lookin' for the next one!

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Sounds about right:) Thank you!

Great video man!! New subscriber, love your content! I couldn’t agree with you more. Right out of tech school I went to a Benz dealer and was there for 14 years. Made good money on flat rate, but towards the end, the cutting of times, favoritism, stress, etc... got to me. I now work for a police fleet in a major city. Probably a couple thousand cars in the fleet give or take. I do have a good hourly wage, and we get a decent amount of OT also. As some of your other followers have mentioned and you as well, I can’t beat the benefits. Insurance is amazing, ridiculous amount of vacation time, the stress was the biggest thing for me though. I feel like I’ve added 10+ years to my life. Anyway another great video and look forward for more to come.

@L59211

2 жыл бұрын

Fellow Benz Tech here! 19 years at the dealership and I agree with alot you stated. I actually just took the plunge and in a week I'll be starting at a Fedex fleet.

@windycityben4850

2 жыл бұрын

@@L59211 Best of luck to you man!! I’m 7 years in at my government gig now and love it!

@L59211

2 жыл бұрын

@@windycityben4850 Thank you! Several of my coworkers have switched to government/fleet and they love it. They helped nudge me in this direction. Glad you are doing well!

@windycityben4850

2 жыл бұрын

@@L59211 I think you will like it! I definitely think your stress will go down. No more flat rate!! 👏

@L59211

2 жыл бұрын

@@windycityben4850 You can say that again. 😂

That shirt is awesome. I've thought about fleet work for ups or fed ex. I have worked for the county as an oil crew guy. We did asphalt and road maintenance and I talked to the guys in the shop and can say I don't think I'd like it at all. Nothing but politics where I was and I'm sure it would be worse now in the county I live in currently.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you! A friend did it for me! Yeah politics can be an issue with any type of work :(

i have worked for dealer, independent, government fleet and company fleet. company fleet is by far the best to have, just have to find the right company to work for, they arent all the same.

Excited for the next video in this series. I work at a Firestone and have worked at a Honda dealer for a few months(then left because fuck drama and politics)

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL, Tire and Chain coming monday:)

Hey sir nice post. I work at a small mom n pop Rental store. It's like you've decribe I'm the only employee so I don't have to fix co-worker screw-ups just mine lol I do see customers use a hammer to try and fix things it never works. Have a good day sir

Had a friend making good money doing just oil changes for a rental company. Thing was it was sub work so he did everything outside, hot, cold, rainy. I helped him for a while but it go old quick.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

I bet!

CONS: You're going to be working on a LOT of junky old vehicles . PROS: You're going to be working on a fleet of NEW vehicles. Um....OK.

I work for a county shop super cool job don’t get a lot of driveability diagnostic opportunities because like you said mostly newer vehicles

Funny I'm just now seeing this. My shop forman came from freightliner and runs are fleet shop like a dealership.

I work for a fleet of class 8 trucks that also takes in outside work and the owner keeps his fleet up to date oldest truck is a 2004ish after that they're all 2016 to 2018.

some interesting points just completely different over here seems to be a lot more different shops over there I think if I was working over there would have to start all over again lol

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Yes very different between us:)

Spent 7 years working on city transit anything from transit buses to support cars & trucks. Hourly pay rate (decent pay rate), returning back to flat rate. Couldn’t deal with the politics of management anymore. Plus working second & third shift hours, and weekends cause it was seniority based. After 7 years still couldn’t get weekends off. It is a low stress, but at the same time everyday is the same thing. At least flat rate you never know what you’re going to be working on.

I think I heard some fleet shops are actually flat rate too. And there are some disadvantages of being paid hourly, time goes slower!!

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL!

I've been at a gm dealership for 5 years now. Ive been extremely stressed out with the new model change overs. And new problems. Im thinking about finding a job at a fleet shop..

@chicanobluesaz4191

4 жыл бұрын

Right on the button man.... 22 years GM here and I'm burnt out. GM has created nightmare customers!!!!

@hidros1461

3 жыл бұрын

Work for Honda or Toyota super easy to diagnose

I gotta say, I work in a fleet shop, and for my personal situation none of those cons apply. We make pretty dang good money, have a nice shop with nice equipment. On call is a pro! Making money sitting at home, and on the rare occasions I get called, more money!

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Nice! I have to be very general with these videos as everywhere is different. Thanks for watching!

I'm hourly, and my shop has all of the cons VERY HIGH STRESS everything is a rush job, trucks run 24/7 (designated runs it's a hauling company). The only budget problem is they dont wanna put money in to the parts the trucks need but dont want us to rig it?? (perform a muirical guess) I basically live there, shop Forman just pencil whips shit and then my shift is expected to fix it all but were the pieces of shit

Your realistic ..love it

I have 2 different friends that work at Penske truck fleet shop as diesel techs now one been there at least 10 years or longer and believe I could be wrong I think he makes around 25 or 26 dollars hr now could be wrong other only been there couple years and I think at 20 hr but all they work on is Penske trucks I know the one that not been as long works the 3rd shift which has to suck he getting all late night service calls

I started at the dealer at Toyota flat rate then moved to the United States postal service in fleet for almost 10 years the pay was not so great for California around 68k gross lots of lazy mechanics that kick it down the road the trucks are old and you just have to keep them running.i was told to slow down a few times. Usps has great benefits vacation sick pay ect.. the one good thing was pay for my class A CDL. Now I work for pacific gas and electric in the utility fleet all kinds of equipment from new to old strong union ibew1245 Great benefits ect... the pay is the top in fleet 58.00 to 63.00 a hour. Great company to work for

I'd have to disagree with the pay part. I make more working for a pipeline company as a "fleet" mechanic as you'd call it. Granted my day can go from working on a 8 month old d8 dozer in the morning to working on a crude hauler t800 semi no older than 2015 I think is our oldest to working or working in the field on a 60 lieter triplex pump in the afternoon. I'm not on salary and I can make more than a buddy with nearly identical experience does at the local cat dealer. Benefits are top notch. Definitely not low stress. Your trying to keep 20 trucks going plus all support equipment and the pipeline pumping oil. We farm out most of our tire work. We do our own brakes. But this afternoon I went from diagnosing a #5 cylinder dead miss and a few emission codes to chasing a broken wire. Lots of electrical issues with the trucks in our application. They see I'd guess 5 miles of rough dirt and lease roads for every mile of blacktop. Hell on wiring harnesses. Granted that is oilfield/pipeline work.

you left out union politics i remember working as an emercancy tech and getting told not to fix so much feed more work to the fleet shop. seems the union was upset about the lowman on the totem pole getting so much ot. there are stresses of working for the government especially if you come out of the private sector. so many times i sat on my but because we had funding for payroll but not parts or travel. i work for a private fleet shop now but it has its challenges to. i think if i could find a couple good hd diesel techs that could work in the field without direct supervision i would take a stab at working for myself.

i should also add just like trucking if working as a fleet mechanic the hazmat transporters are who you want to work for hazmat trucks are generaly well kept clean and moderen refuse trucks are the worst in my opinion

I worked as flat rate and pay plus bonus. For 30 years. And I noticed i was slowing down. My body started declining. Then I started working for the city. It took several years before my pay got back up. And your exactly correct with what your saying. Im lucky our equipment is pretty good. Winter is the worst i have worked 36 hr shift before. But far and few. But overall im very happy with it. And i love my pension plan when I retire I’ll make 1800.00 month till I die then my wife gets 50% for next ten years so ya i like it

What I can steal is very important. Can you do a vid on that?

Yep been there and done all that, from automotive dealers to big heavy truck fleet shops, owned my own shop and also did at home repairs for several years till I moved to Florida. Work first 3 1/2 years at a transport fleet of heavy trucks and moved right into t local government fleet. Guys money is good to make when your young, but I already by he age of 30 realized I needed a sure thing. I got 27 years in and in 3 more years I can walk with a good pension, which is something you won't find at a dealer or local mom n pop shop. Best move anyone can make, I got months of vacation time, sick time, holidays paid, etc. and guess what, my pay check it always the same come to work or not. Only time check changes if I work over time and I cry like a little bitch when they say OT.....at least when they did.......I have not worked OT in 15 years. Our county buys new cars every year, we have a very large fleet and shop in broken down into sections, auto side, heavy equipment side, fire rescue. tire shop, welding shop, small engines shop, parts room and machine shop. Not for everyone, but guys were getting older and easy.

nice video FM thanks

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

got a buddy that works for the county, he said that he only works on one car a day

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL, I have a story something like that but will not talk about it online as he is a friend but as sad as it is, way to common:(

@beemertekm3276

7 жыл бұрын

i know what mean man

@barriflores4097

5 жыл бұрын

one of my co workers use to work in a county garage and told me half of the time they'll be playing poker

I watched all 4 of your videos and I have to I agree with on a lot of what you are saying but I have 35 years as a technician and the last 21 years I have been working for a Municipality And have to disagree with some not all your comments first I make on salary 120 k a year with 5 weeks vacation which is a lot better then the real world and second we are held to a safety and environmental standard Higher then the real world third it has just as much challenges as the real world I can argue my point For hours with you but I’m not I will say I deal with dealers and independent repair shops Who have contracts To do work in n my fleet and their techs are not the best I had to take a 2 part test written an practical and out of 1500 poeple 34 passed I was numder 4 on the list what does that say not all civil servant Techs are what you think

Hallelejuh! Can i get an amen?!?! This pretty much describes my shop to a t.

Work for airline fleet GSE. starting pay around 25 tops out 46.50 more if certified welder. Gas diesel electric vehicles average age equipment 8 yrs gen sets diesel powered a/c lot of hydraulics. Up to 7 weeks vacation. 100k at full scale hourly... free flights ...down side shift work - filters and inspections-over and over...workin holidays ...corporation pc...

@alexvazquez3607

2 жыл бұрын

You work for them? Do you think it's better then the city fleet in the airport?

Fleet shop for the state ❤

I strictly use scotch locks for wiring repairs. Who needs solder.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL!

@chicanobluesaz4191

4 жыл бұрын

That's sacrilege man.....

Anybody here ever worked at a their Local City's Fleet Shop?

Where does full time youtuber fit in? Some of us might be going in that direction... new category? =)

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

IDK, but Humble Mechanic is going full time youtuber, he announced it today on facebook!

@EXOVCDS

7 жыл бұрын

Good for him... he's got a great personality for in-front-of-the-camera-work. I'm still lacking the social media aspect of a lot of the "youtuber" stuff (ads on personal website & all the social platforms) for income on top of youtube. I'm thinking of joining a network... a network might be able to help me out with all of the behind the scene stuff that I have no clue about. Did he ever get his youtube play button?

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

He does! He hasn't posted about it yet, so IDK. Yeah I have a ton of stuff to do just no time! Amazing how much time this eats up! You are getting much more comfortable in front of the camera!

Anyone work for Ryder as a diesel tech ? Any info good bad ?

Quick question regarding flat rate. You or the service advisor quotes flat rate for say FWD axle removal. You come to find out EVERYTHING is 100% rusted and seized. It takes you and extra 2.5 hours. Do you eat that cost? Bill for more? Or do you not do the work and recommend customer replaces all the rusted out stuff?

@flatratemaster

6 жыл бұрын

I always bill more for rust, if it breaks coming out it is on the customer if it breaks going back together it is on the shop

What about fleet flat rate

Thinking about switching to fleet. Im tired of the fucking problems the dealership is giving me

You have fleets covered very well. 4 different fleets; 2 private, 2 public. From pretty bad to really good. Worked out well for me overall. Good video.

I'm gonna have to disagree with the comment fleet pay might not be the greatest because I have done over 150k in a year in the fleet environment. With my other benefits of insurance 401k and vacation time and personal time it figures well over 200k. Oil and gas fleets are a slightly different animal tho

So do you get any shit from other guys for calling yourself flat rate master? And having it embroidered on your shirt? Like when you don't live up to that? I have thought about trying to find a fleet job. That or open my own very small shop. Because I have a big problem with working fast. I'm just not good at it. Also I like working on old junk. I rather rebuild a carburetor and time an ignition than figure out some electrical problem in a brand new car.

@flatratemaster

7 жыл бұрын

LOL, that shirt is only for youtube:) No one in the shop gives me crap for my speed, one because I am normally pretty fast, I am the shop foreman and get pulled off my jobs pretty often to help the other techs and still bill 50-60 hours and because they need me to help them:) I prefer a scope or scan tool any day of the week to Carb work, heck I no longer own a working timing light:)

Would you say starting off as entry diesel mechanic position for a rental/ leasing company for $22-$23 with 4 years experience(military) is a good hourly?

@flatratemaster

5 жыл бұрын

It is very hard for me to say, pay varies by regions, where i live pay is very dependent on what part of Atlanta you are working in Sorry

@MrChickenspit

3 жыл бұрын

how was you starting pay as a diesel mechanic go? you still in the industry?

I working for the state: pro they buy the tools, you don't own them but they supply all the tools. The con: they are not the best tools. You talk about back stabbing and butt kiss. It's worst at the state. I work for dealership many years I think the guys work better at the dealership than at the state. Been with the state for 28years at many shops they all the same. Pro: you make alot of overtime. Even though the pay is lower overtime is good. The hardest part of the state is figuring when to take off. Vacation is great we get 2 weeks the first year, 7 personal and 3weeks sick. If you like you can used your overtime as time off. Why people do it I don't know. I have seen guys take a month off every year. Not including the regular time off

Love the video, I agree with you. pm me and we can chat so you can make a second video. lol

@feeneysmechanical6215

7 жыл бұрын

when you do pm me and we can exchange phone numbers. enjoy the videos.

@feeneysmechanical6215

7 жыл бұрын

Frogboyattacks. No. I was regarding the content in his video. I work for a fleet/civil service job. sorry if your looking for a gay lover. because I am not it.

@feeneysmechanical6215

7 жыл бұрын

Frogboyattacks. His video is spot on.