Life today in the car biz, and why GOOD mechanics hate it now: the real truth

[Dragline]

The argument that cars are getting more complicated doesn't wash. NAPA constantly trains employees. Whether it's office staff or on the counter, we all got training on the latest gadget or circuit added to new cars. We held training on A/C machines and recovery for our customers. We would feed them and reps would come in and hold classes. Counterpeople were not just asked to sit in, it was mandatory. If it ran 2 hours we were paid and fed. If it ran short, say 1/2 with Relevant info we did it on our own time and who attended was noted. When Quaker City Auto was purchased by NAPA inc everyone who worked at every store purchased was immediately out of date on training. Immediately... We started with how to reconcile your drawer, it was that comprehensive. It started like you were a first time employee, because you were. My boss had 55 years in the business at that point and even he had to go through it all. It didn't seem right, but right had nothing to do with it. It stresses us all out. It would take a man off the counter for an hour every day for everyone to go in the back and sit at that I fernal computer and train. Not easy stuff either. And ALL OF US were ASE certified. Every year we tested. Every year the rest was different. Every year it was tough. Nope, that doesn't wash.

[mikemodeler]

11 hours ago, Dragline said:

The argument that cars are getting more complicated doesn't wash. NAPA constantly trains employees. Whether it's office staff or on the counter, we all got training on the latest gadget or circuit added to new cars. We held training on A/C machines and recovery for our customers. We would feed them and reps would come in and hold classes. Counterpeople were not just asked to sit in, it was mandatory. If it ran 2 hours we were paid and fed. If it ran short, say 1/2 with Relevant info we did it on our own time and who attended was noted. When Quaker City Auto was purchased by NAPA inc everyone who worked at every store purchased was immediately out of date on training. Immediately... We started with how to reconcile your drawer, it was that comprehensive. It started like you were a first time employee, because you were. My boss had 55 years in the business at that point and even he had to go through it all. It didn't seem right, but right had nothing to do with it. It stresses us all out. It would take a man off the counter for an hour every day for everyone to go in the back and sit at that I fernal computer and train. Not easy stuff either. And ALL OF US were ASE certified. Every year we tested. Every year the rest was different. Every year it was tough. Nope, that doesn't wash.

The cars are more complicated and the management is more complacent. The turn over rate in the retail auto parts world is significant and most times a manager is happy to have a warm body behind the computer/counter so they don't have to work the extra days/hours. 

As you mentioned, NAPA is/was good about product training but if held during store hours it was difficult because of the demands of the business. Company owned stores tended to push the training more on all employees and whenever I held training classes off site I tended to get the top employees from stores because the managers wanted their best and brightest to continue learning. 

Maybe because of my background I see things different, but I tend to do my research before I walk into a parts store equipped with what I want. I will order online if it isn't in stock locally because I don't want to fart around with them ordering it and remembering to call me to say it arrived. And most times it will be shipped to my house faster than to a store.

 

[mikemodeler]

19 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

No sir.

I just expect parts countermen to know as much about the operation of IC-powered vehicles as I did at the end of the sixth grade.

I really don't think that's asking a lot.

 

The number of people who know and understand the operation of an IC-powered vehicle AND are willing to work retail hours/pay are small. With the demise of shop classes and focus on going to college, many kids today have little to learn from. I read Hot Rod magazine as a kid, built model cars and hung around the older kids in the neighborhood who worked on their cars to gain knowledge. Those opportunities aren't as common for kids today, outside of model building. 

From my experience, for every one employee in a parts store that has knowledge or passion for automobiles, there is an equal or greater number who view working there as a means to support themselves and would be just as happy at Best Buy selling TVs or Home Depot selling toilets, if it meant a paycheck. 

[tbill]

Ah, the joys of auto repair…., been doing it since 1987, GM dealerships, have seen a lot of crazy things/repairs/co workers and customers. I think my favorite part is the disconnect between people and their vehicle, the general public has no clue what is in their vehicle technology wise. Years ago, I could remember all the trouble codes and could track issues down rather quickly, today, there are as many trouble codes as there are nuts and bolts in a car, pure insanity really. Add in the era of instant gratification we now live in, people don’t understand why we can’t fix it in ten minutes, because our scanner tells us what’s wrong. Infotainment systems suck, not only do I need to understand how the cars system works, I gotta be a cell phone tech as well. I also find it funny that manufacturers put all these safety features in vehicles, but then strap a big screen tv to the dash so you can be distracted by that…..

 

ya, fun time to be a wrench😁

[johnyrotten]

31 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

The turn over rate in the retail auto parts world is significant and most times a manager is happy to have a warm body behind the computer/counter

My boss once asked me if someone was trainable. I said Keith, you can't train common sense into someone. It's taken over a month to get them proficient at weld prep. Not exactly rocket science. The warm body problem is everywhere. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

48 minutes ago, mikemodeler said:

The number of people who know and understand the operation of an IC-powered vehicle AND are willing to work retail hours/pay are small. With the demise of shop classes and focus on going to college, many kids today have little to learn from. I read Hot Rod magazine as a kid, built model cars and hung around the older kids in the neighborhood who worked on their cars to gain knowledge. Those opportunities aren't as common for kids today, outside of model building. 

From my experience, for every one employee in a parts store that has knowledge or passion for automobiles, there is an equal or greater number who view working there as a means to support themselves and would be just as happy at Best Buy selling TVs or Home Depot selling toilets, if it meant a paycheck. 

I was taught, in standard 6th grade science (NOT SHOP CLASS) in the public school system in Ocean County, NJ, the general operation of IC engines (4 stroke, 2-stroke, and diesel), steam engines, ram and turbo jets, shaft turbines in turboprops, rockets, electric motors, electric generation both AC and DC, the basics of electrical distribution over the grid, and a host of other things about how-the-world-works that was considered "common knowledge" at the time.

I would be surprised if there were more than a few college grads today, unless they're mechanical engineers, that have the same basic knowledge.

The dumbing-down of this country, the failure of the education system to impart basic "common knowledge" and any kind of critical thinking to go with it, is the real culprit here.

Problems in the car industry (and everywhere else incompetence is widespread) are only a symptom. Poor education is the disease...as is just not giving a damb because actual knowledge seems to have little value when the standard today is "just Google it".

 

Edited Sunday at 02:04 PM by Ace-Garageguy

[johnyrotten]

1 minute ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I would be surprised if there were\ more than a few college grads today, unless they're mechanical engineers, that have the same basic knowledge.

The dumbing-down of this country, the failure of the education system to impart basic "common knowledge" and any kind of critical thinking to go with it, is the real culprit here.

Here's some proof for you, Bill. There was NO standard mechanical education in my high school. Shop class was over at the end of middle school, bird houses, c02 cars and rockets, no explanation of the science behind them. Any further mechanical classes were reserved for a small group of us, half a year. Funny thing about all of this was the "technology" teacher was a "hot rodder" he had the knowledge to education us. There was more of a push towards computer literacy, that's a huge industry around here now, 20 something years later. I graduated in 2000

[stavanzer]

On 8/16/2025 at 6:47 PM, Dragline said:

Not easy stuff either. And ALL OF US were ASE certified. Every year we tested. Every year the rest was different. Every year it was tough. Nope, that doesn't wash.

Autozone and O'Reillys in California, Ain't NAPA.......

The Most important consideration now is if you can speak Punjabi or Spanish.

[Beans]

On 8/16/2025 at 4:38 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

But wait!! There's more!!!!!!

 

 

Having a daughter that is just reaching driving age I can tell you that these i-phone generation kids are more interested in the tech features than anything.  There was a time when people wanted cars that had some smart phone type features.  Now people want smart phones that they can also drive places.  

Very few kids grew up like most of us older folks.  Watching (and probably helping) dad fix the car, change the oil, or even do basic maintenance.  The idea of "I can make that" or "I can fix that" turned into, "there's an app for that".  

[Dragline]

11 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Autozone and O'Reillys in California, Ain't NAPA.......

The Most important consideration now is if you can speak Punjabi or Spanish.

Priorities. I speak Portuguese, and so my Spanish is good because they are similar. They have some major differences but my ear hears what they are saying far easier than an English only speaking person. It has helped in the past, but only marginally. And at NAPA Baltimore not at all. It seems the Spanish speaking set has yet to fully engulf B'more.

[tbill]

And the saga continues…, so I get to work this morning, and we do everything on computer, punch in/out, flag on and off jobs etc., so I fire up my pc, log in, punch in, get all my daily work tabs up and going, message comes up, corporate needs to update my machine, shutting down in three minutes, they got me 3 times today with this, uh, you had all weekend to do this, and you gotta get me first thing on a Monday?? Once that was done fooling around, the GM site needed updating, and then was lethargic….., happy Monday🙄

[stavanzer]

Bob, I speak rusty Parts Counter Spanish, but I have no Punjabi.

Here in Central California, the most common languages to hear are; 1. Spanish, 2. English, 3. Punjabi, 4. Chinese.

Much of the English is badly broken, and sometimes incomprehensible. I worked parts counters for about 5 years in the early 2000's, so I got pretty handy in Spanish.

Spanish is the De Facto Second Language in most of Southern California.

From going in to shop at most Auto Parts places now, things have changed, and not for the better. Short Staffing is very common, and many of the folk working there know literally nothing other than what the computer tells them. Can't really blame them. Scheduling is by computer, which "Builds" next weeks schedule from last weeks traffic patterns. So, 'Holiday Schedules' are supposed to recognize this but never seem to. So, they can never plan week-to-week in their lives because of change Days/Times. Its truly a lousy way to work.

Ace is mostly right, but things are only going to get worse. I see no way that things will improve, unless Corporate decides to spend the money to make it better. And that costs profits they're not going to lose.....so, the downhill spiral continues.

[tbill]

Our corporate thing is quite funny to me, the parent company owns a lot of car dealerships, like over 100 of them, almost all of them are in major metro areas, where as my place of employment is kind of in the sticks, ‘we’ know what works and what needs to be done, but have to follow the corporate structure, you can imagine the crazy things that happen due to that. 

[Tim W. SoCal]

59 minutes ago, tbill said:

Our corporate thing is quite funny to me, the parent company owns a lot of car dealerships, like over 100 of them, almost all of them are in major metro areas, where as my place of employment is kind of in the sticks, ‘we’ know what works and what needs to be done, but have to follow the corporate structure, you can imagine the crazy things that happen due to that. 

At the beginning of my career I worked at a Montgomery Ward Auto Center here in Southern California. ALL of the department parts inventory was structured and controlled by the corporate bosses in the Chicago headquarters. We were forced to carry a full line of exhaust system parts, headpipes, mufflers and tail pipes. We were always in trouble, as were all of the southwestern states stores, because we never sold enough of these the meet their quota. They never seemed to be able to figure out that where it doesn't snow exhaust systems tend to last pretty much forever...