New WOF rules

[Quint]

The main reason why I refuse to drop my wof price, Im thorough, but fair.

$&#$% oath. Don't mind the 6 monthly checks so long as they don't try to fail me on retarded shit. Things that you fail a wof on are generally fairly critical items.

is there a standard qualification that is worth asking about? or are there all sorts, with no standardisation?

I'd be pretty pissed if someone came into my work and asked to see my qualifications, haha.

I have one garage i go to, they're expensive, but the only guys i'd trust with a spanner. Thankfully, i havn't needed to take anything there in a good 5 years.

[iOnic]

A qualification doesn't necessarily guarantee that the person holding it has a clue in much the same way that no qualification doesn't necessarily mean the person is a bad mechanic. Some of the best mechanics I know have no formal training. Asking to see people's qualifications before they can do a simple WOF on your car is a good way to get told to $&#$% off - don't say you weren't told.

Besides, ethics can't be taught. You either have it or you don't and ethics are a bigger issue in our industry than technical knowledge (or lack thereof) IMO.

[sergei]

A qualification doesn't necessarily guarantee that the person holding it has a clue in much the same way that no qualification doesn't necessarily mean the person is a bad mechanic. Some of the best mechanics I know have no formal training. Asking to see people's qualifications before they can do a simple WOF on your car is a good way to get told to $&#$% off - don't say you weren't told.

Besides, ethics can't be taught. You either have it or you don't and ethics are a bigger issue in our industry than technical knowledge (or lack thereof) IMO.

Responsibility and accountability is the issue. MTA are bunch of wankers and sell their logo (basically MTA approved not equals good mechanic). You can always take a bad mechanic to court, but who got time to do that, and how would you know you were ripped off. We need tripadvisor for mechanics .

[diss7]

Good mechanics aren't cheap. Hence why cheap people can't find good mechanics.

[Grrrrrrr!]

But unfortunately expensive mechanics aren't necessarily good. If it was as simple as expensive = good, cheap = bad there would be no problem. Take the parts hauler to the cheap mechanic for oil/filter,timing & plugs, and take the good car to the expensive mechanic for everything.

[Quint]

Ha, if you can't sniff out a bad mechanic from a 10min conversation with him regarding your cars problems, you either need a boyfriend or you need to give up cars as a hobby :p

[sergei]

Ha, if you can't sniff out a bad mechanic from a 10min conversation with him regarding your cars problems, you either need a boyfriend or you need to give up cars as a hobby :p

Here is a problem: this good mechanic is knowledgeable but once you leave the workshop he hands off you car to a monkey. Or he can't be $&#$% doing the right thing... Or worse, some people are very good at parroting technical info without understanding it...

[Dell'Orto]

Must suck to live in your world dude

[iOnic]

If you cant find a mechanic that meets your high standards stop bitching and do it yourself then.

[Lurkin]

once you leave the workshop he hands off you car to a monkey.

Precisely. It seems I lack the automotive jedi mind trick to be able to tell exactly which monkey in the workshop is going to work on my car/ bust it/ attempt to bullshit me afterwards about it.

I'd be pretty pissed if someone came into my work and asked to see my qualifications, haha.

Asking to see people's qualifications before they can do a simple WOF on your car is a good way to get told to $&#$% off - don't say you weren't told.

...?

would you not want to know that your accountants chartered/ has some from of accounting qualification?

would you not want to know that your doctor has some form of degree before examining you?

would you hire a lawyer to represent you without qualifications?

and so forth? so why is it acceptable for mechanics to have that attitude? why don't mechanics act professionally?

what do you expect your (probably ignorant) customers to look at to know your superior mechanical skill versus the other mechanics down the road? the meaningless MTA logo outside?

Perhaps its just from coming from a different industry..but seriously, there's no way I'm going to refer a large piece of work/ ongoing work to anyone who cannot get the basics right... like a wof test/ electrical diagnosis / basic customer service.

I wonder if this represents a real opportunity for mechanics with the skills AND the ability to effectively advertise/ communicate why they command a higher price....

stop bitching and do it yourself then.

Want it done right, gotta do it yourself. Agreed.

btw - the question remains... for those that are NOT mechanics - how do you tell a decent one?

- I went to Brendan Motors on Taranaki Street for wofs in the end, based on discussions of a forum member on here working there. Excellent service, no mucking about, no porkies to drive up the price.
- Servicing/ electrical I did myself in the end, just took longer than I wanted it to.

[Dell'Orto]

Sadly (And this is no disrespect meant to mechanics here) there is an awful lot of ego in the automotive industry, and I'm not 100% sure why. Hence why asking to see qualifications would be seen as an insult.

[Bling]

I get questioned sometimes about how long i've been at the job. I guess I seem too young to be doing the job on my own perhaps. 9 years usually shuts them up.


As for mechanics, i've used the same company for the last 10+ years. One man band, so no need to worry about who is going to do the work.

[iOnic]

I don't mind people asking to see my qualifications, I worked my ass off for them and I'm proud of what I've achieved so I'm quite happy to show them off.

The older generation (generally the ones that own businesses) don't have that attitude though. They don't like being questioned/have the seen it all, done it all/who are you to question my ability type attitude. Mechanics in general are a strange bunch

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Sadly (And this is no disrespect meant to mechanics here) there is an awful lot of ego in the automotive industry, and I'm not 100% sure why. Hence why asking to see qualifications would be seen as an insult.

Im not quite sure what you mean by "a lot of ego in the automotive industry"

From my perspective I cant say Ive actually seen an automotive ego, I myself always try to talk to the customer as an equal. I can be arrogant on forums, but thats usually when someone thinks they know better. But I just need to remind myself its only the internetz and they can figure it out the hard way haha.

As for showing qualifications, if someone asked me for mine, i would probably be a bit stunned having never been asked for it before, but I don't see the problem with showing it to them, My WoF certificate and business WoF cert are both displayed on the wall for people to see as soon as they come in. Maybe I should hang my qualification up with it.

[rollaholic]

Mechanics in general are a strange bunch

this is true. sort of like the metal trades of old, all the lame and gimpy folk that cant work at a proper job like plowing fields or pillaging end up making horseshoes / overcharging for oil changes.

see a fair few young guys getting into it because they like cars and lack the intelligence / ability / motivation to get a job in any other industry, haha.

the gap between the quality of person versus the level of technology in vehicles is widening rapidly from my observations.

i think a lot of the older crowd working on cars are used to a time where there were only 3 gearbox options for every car ever made, and they could actually know everything about everything. saying i dont know is like taking a swift kick to the crotch or something.

if someone asked to see my qualification i would have to go home and spend a few hours rooting around in boxes, lol.

[DVSMOTORSPORT]

Mechanics in general are a strange bunch

Who isn't?

[Mr Revhead]

Mechanic, Technician.

It's changes over the years.
Plenty out there who can change brakes, do water pumps change cambelts etc.
But $&#$% if they can sort out why a car is running rough with an intermittent fault causes by a sensor issue etc.

Too many have become parts swappers rather than mechanics. But that's how the industry has changed.
You don't buy a kit for a water pump and rebuild it now. You don't reline shoes or a clutch. You don't fix things, you replace them.

So if your car has squeaky brakes, you can go anywhere. If it's running a bit funny, you need to make sure the person working on it has the right tools and training. Now days that pretty much means computers and diagnostic software.

[rollaholic]

i was having that same discussion with the foreman the other day. the new range rover has something like 135 seperate ECMs in it depending on options, on three different CAN networks (plus the MOST ring).

the valuable skill now is being able to work out which fraction of the whole is playing up, and deciding the best way to get it to behave.

[Dell'Orto]

Sadly (And this is no disrespect meant to mechanics here) there is an awful lot of ego in the automotive industry, and I'm not 100% sure why. Hence why asking to see qualifications would be seen as an insult.

Im not quite sure what you mean by "a lot of ego in the automotive industry"

Mechanics who think they're gods gift, they're never wrong, the parts are always faulty, the customer is always an idiot, the internet is 100% bullshit, if you dont work in a workshop you know nothing about cars. Been dealing with them for years now, seen it plenty. The worst are usually the older ones, often business owners.

As for showing qualifications, if someone asked me for mine, i would probably be a bit stunned having never been asked for it before, but I don't see the problem with showing it to them, My WoF certificate and business WoF cert are both displayed on the wall for people to see as soon as they come in. Maybe I should hang my qualification up with it.

Lots of workshops do that actually, its quite a good idea.

[Bling]

I have to carry around a card that shows my qualification level (gas). I've yet to have to show it to someone though. Is there anything like that for mechanics?