How is the autobody business??

67cudaResto89 said
I agree with you but that is why i went to honda in the first place because i was unhappy with my other job.
Flat rate doesnt bother me at all. I make decent money. It is stressful not knowing what your paycheck is going to be every week, i will say that. BUT this is my problem i am not 100% sure of what i want. Nothing is for certain i'm just trying to get an idea of what may be a better career for me. When i frst started at honda i enjoyed it but it has really made me think of whether i want to wrench for a living. Theres a lot of favoritism in my shop which sucks when your on the other end. and my last shop was the same exact way. From what i've heard most shops are like that so with that flat rate sucks because your writer controls your money.not only that but with warranty work its getting harder and harder to make money. I was surprised for hondas we have a hell of a lot of warranty work. Like i said i'm getting pros and cons. Theres negatives and positives to every job but i will never know if i never try, i'm going thursday night to speak to a representative from the school and see what he has to say. All i know is that when i see our shop dead and we are sitting around the body shop next to us ALWAYS has work i've NEVER seen that shop empty.:banghead: TO think i had all the answers a year ago and now i'm just so unsure...lol

Do they have a body shop where you work now? If they are that busy maybe you could pick up some hours at nights or on Saturdays to get your feet wet. If not there then maybe a local shop. Good help is hard to find.
I found that I could make extra hours doing work for the body shop or the used car dept & keep my flat rate hours up by doing the jobs from those depts that other techs didn't want because they didn't think it was gravy enough. It also was good if I needed to get something done & needed a favor. Like 1 time they let me paint my car in their booth on a Saturday afternoon when I needed to.
Keep in mind the same problems exist in body shop flat rate systems, favoritism, doing other guys comebacks etc. It sucks, but it's almost unavoidable. Also keep in mind collision work is a lot different from resoration & customizing. More pressure with deadlines, parts delays, damaged panels that are fubar, lousy times per job. I wish you luck my friend, but unfortunatley it ain an easy solution. I'm not trying to dampen your spirit or rain on your picnic, just trying to give you a little insight from experience. I wrestled with the same dilemma when I was about 19 or 20. I decided to stay the course & I personally feel, for me I made the right choice & did better financially. For me. You gotta figure out what's right for you.
Best of luck.