If you want to make a living working on cars, the best place for anyone to start is to get a job as a lube technician. It really doesn’t matter if you start in a shop or dealership, the biggest push is just to get your foot in the door. The reason it’s so good is because even though you are hired to be a lube technician and all you are doing is changing oil, you get to see other technicians who have the experience that you want and in most cases you can learn a lot from them. That is exactly how I started.
Tip #1: Work as hard as you can!
The reason this tip is on the top of the list is because if you hustle and get stuff done, even if it’s just work around the shop, the main technicians will notice and will be more inclined to help you and keep you around to train you. I have been at a Mazda dealership and I am unofficially in charge of new lube technicians as far as training and my boss takes my opinions very seriously. If I say someone isn’t going to make it here, they will get fired because they trust me that much. So, if you want to make it in this industry, prepare yourself for flat rate by hustling and working as hard as you can because once you make it to flat rate, how much you make depends on how much you know and how hard you are willing to work.
Tip #2: Learn as much as you can!
When I first started as a lube technician, all I did was change oil, change tires and batteries. Eventually, I go to a point where I could do an oil change in 15 minutes and I had spare time to go talk with the main technicians and just see if they would explain what they were doing. The information they can provide you is priceless, and you should take every advantage to learn from them when you can. From doing that, now while I supervise the lube technicians they will pull me aside to do a recall, maybe something that is more advanced that even some main technicians have trouble with. So, learn as much as you can and if your job doesn’t let you do that, find another job because changing oil is easy enough anywhere you go.
Tip #3: Don’t spend a fortune on tools:
When you start out as a lube technician you won’t be making a lot of money. Lets face it, you can’t start out making a bunch of money, you have to work your way up. That being said, you don’t need a rear caliper depressor kit if you’re just changing oil. This is just an example of things I see new lube technicians buying from the tool trucks for hundreds of dollars when they won’t even get the opportunity to use them for a long time. Just buy the essentials, I have a good article on tools for new lube technicians you can check out by clicking here. Read that post and you’ll know exactly what you need. My biggest rule has always been if I have to borrow a tool 3 times, I should go ahead and buy it. That will save you a lot of money.
Tip #4: Don’t stay at a job that isn’t help you learn more
For a good example, I started training a kid that came from a quick stop lube shop. Yes, he had experience but he wasn’t trained properly on certain things and I’m currently still training him. The point is that he was gaining nothing at the quick lube shop he was at and now he is gaining a bunch of experience at the dealership we work at. I’m not saying that every quick lube shop won’t gain you some experience, but if you can’t communicate with other technicians that have experience, how are you suppose to get your own? Heck, I’d take a pay cut to go somewhere where I would gain more experience because in this industry, the more you know the more valuable you permanently become. So, don’t settle for a job just turning drain plugs unless you plan on doing that for the rest of your life.
