What do car mechanics at dealerships get paid in the USA, say at a ford or gm dealer?

Somewhere between $8.00/hr and $25.00/hr, depending on experience.

I heard 1000 week for experienced mechanics at dealerships, so $25/hour is about right.

it goes up past that. i work for a chevy dealer @ $32/book hour and theres 4 guys above me, i think the highest paid guy gets 40/hour

wow! that is much higher than here in Australia. i hear they get only around 600 week here, for 8 hr day/5 day week.

32/hour is double that

Well, I suppose it matters on the area of the country as well, but then you need to factor in cost of living too.

I live in rural America, so wages are fairly low. I'm a specialized technician making $8.00/hr. If I lived in a big city like Seattle, I could pull in at least $15.00/hr with my skills. But I would be making the same amount after cost of living is factored in.

$600.00/week is exactly double what I get for 40 hr work weeks, and I'm an Automotive Reconditioning Specialist.

Did not know that. Wow, thought they'd be paid more.

I lol when I read the average weekly wage is like 1,250 now. Give me some of that...

average wage thing factors in all the mega rich people. its not an accurate indicator of 'average' wage. the government releases such things on purpose.

Knowing a few master techs in the auto service industry, i can tell you that they make pretty good money. I myself work in the industry on the reconditioning side having to do with auto paint and exterior appearance for the last 12 years. I've talked with many mechanics over the last few years and have seen many getting shuffled around to different car lots or service centers. A disturbing trend that appears to be happening is new low paid techs are being brought in for ~80+% of the service work and the high skilled highly paid techs are beginning to starve by only getting the jobs that require a master tech to do, and sometimes even those jobs are being given to non-qualified techs.

There are still small used car lots trading ownership or shutting down all together in my area while the bigger ones seem to be picking up in sales and doing much better since the 2008 economy bomb dropped. I'd assume that all service departments would be very happy to keep their techs at min wage to under $15/billed hour. Remember that most techs are paid in billed hour format so you should, if you have enough skill, drive, and enough customers, to bill out ~20 hours per day.

It seems to be one of those professions that you can actually become overskilled and lose your job security so be weary and talk to techs at your place of business or prospective employer to see what the overall feeling of the place is. If you make more than all the rest, know that it's probably your head that's on the chopping block.

when we got married my husband didn't make much 6000 a year but he quit every year to go to a new dealership and finally asked for a raise and got up to 60,000 but you have to be a certifide master mechanic to make that kind of money and it' hard work...he's much happier now working at a place that basically just does oil changes,breaks,tires...you can work ot and make similar money...

Too much. We are the capital of ripping people off, for vehicle mechanical repairs.

Tell me about it. I do it out of necessity. I learn how from reading on the internet.

In the past week, I've done two wheel hub assemblies, one caliper, rotated my tires, replaced vacuum lines, fixed leaks, serpentine belt, fuel filter, and more...

It sucks doing that with a small floor jack and two jackstands.

Still have a 65mph vibration I'm trying to diagnose.

Most mechanics around here are sleezebags. Can't trust them.

your 65 mph vibration could be as simple as getting your wheels balanced, something that you unfortunately can't do at home. fortunately its cheap. a rotate and balance costs anywhere from 20-40 bucks at most tire shops. if its not the tires and its rear wheel drive, ive seen driveshafts be out of balance as well, take a peek at yours and make sure theres a few small peices of metal welded around the ends of it by the u-joints. if it looks like one has fallen off, or its dented, youll need to replace it.

I know they bill 100/hr where i live. They still have no idea what they are doing.

also keep in mind, that im ASE certified and have almost 15 years experience. ive also been an engine builder. heres a 383 stroker LS1 in an 02 camaro SS i built, its roughly 750 crank HP with a procharger boosted to 16 lbs.


Last Edited by Hip-Hop Anonymous on 02/26/2011 05:51 PM

I live in New Zealand.
I am factory trained and master technician in a few brands
I work on European cars which also is a factor on wage as we tend to get payed more. BMW,Mercedes,Audi,Alfa Romeo,Fiat,Citroen,Maserati and Ferrari
I'm also trained for a Korean brand as advanced technician.
And I pull home reasonable money but will max out around the $24-$26 mark.
Which really is not alot considering all the studying that I have done in the past five years, if I could do it over I wouldnt be a mechanic.

I have been with Toyota for 10yrs and am ASE and Toyota Master certified and am making 25/hr flat rate. I also have a trainee that I get paid $1/hr for every hr he turns.

You can't make a 383 out of an LS1...FAIL