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how to go from army wheeled vehicle mechanic to civilian auto mechanic?


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I am Edmond, I am new to this site. Currently I am a 91b in the Army aspiring to open up my own auto repair shop in my hometown. A wealthy town outside of Boston where very few work on their own vehicles. There is only one other auto repair shop in my town. My idea is to have a small repair shop as the people in my town love to support small business. I will have very competitive prices, preform quality work, and provide customers with a free rental.

To become ASE certified I need 2 years experience. Does it matter to the ASE that my experiance is with diesel trucks and not with gas engines? How much additional schooling is necessary to become certified auto master mechanic (A1-A8)? thank you! Any advice would help as I am in the beginning stages of planning.

Edited by EdmondChar
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I'm not sure but I think your military mechanical will work for your 2 years needed for ASE.

To pass the ASE tests you'll need to know a lot more than the basic stuff. You'll also have to learn to take the tests and be familiar with their method of asking the questions. Some of them (at leat 40%) are somewhat tricky.

 

There's a lot of places to get test help and study guides. I will tell you this though... every site that offers you example questions, test prep. and background knowledge have no clue what questions will be on the actual tests. Those questions are used and then are never used again. They are sometimes reworded but never exactly as they were in the previous tests.

 

Study, study, study... it's worth the effort. Gonzo

 

 

 

I am Edmond, I am new to this site. Currently I am a 91b in the Army aspiring to open up my own auto repair shop in my hometown. A wealthy town outside of Boston where very few work on their own vehicles. There is only one other auto repair shop in my town. My idea is to have a small repair shop as the people in my town love to support small business. I will have very competitive prices, preform quality work, and provide customers with a free rental.

To become ASE certified I need 2 years experience. Does it matter to the ASE that my experiance is with diesel trucks and not with gas engines? How much additional schooling is necessary to become certified auto master mechanic (A1-A8)? thank you! Any advice would help as I am in the beginning stages of planning.

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Welcome to the site, Edmond. In addition to being proficient in automotive, you will also need to be proficient in business. Even though you may opt to remain small, your business skills you help keep you alive. Many great techs, myself included, suffered financially because we built our businesses around our mechanical expertise. While I feel that it helped me early on, to sustain a business long term will require business skills. This site has a lot of great info from many, many shop owners around the country. In addition, find out what training companies in your area offer any business management courses.

 

Good luck, thank you for your service to our country and don't be a stranger on AutoShopOwner, We are all here to help and support you in you new venture!

Thanks! this site was exactly what I was looking for. Great information.

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  • 9 months later...

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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