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Mechanic Shortage? WSJ Shreds Ford CEO Complaints
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:14 am
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:14 am
Nice front page story yesterday on how mechanics get screwed while Ford CEO whines he can't get mechanics.
WSJ
WSJ
quote:
Ford can’t fill this $160,000 mechanic job. CEO Jim Farley has said there are 5,000 open mechanic jobs at Ford dealerships, despite high pay for senior workers. Yet mechanics say the path to six figures is long and costly....
The automotive industry has faced a shortage of mechanics for decades, and Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley put the issue back in focus in November. Speaking on a podcast, Farley said Ford dealerships have 5,000 open jobs.
“We are in trouble in our country,” Farley said. “A bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it.” Farley said the jobs can pay $120,000 a year, but they take five years to learn....
Only a small sliver of mechanics stick around long enough to get to that level of pay. The work is physically grueling. It is costly to start because mechanics need tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools. And the starting pay is closer to fast-food wages than to six figures. The 2024 median pay for a dealership mechanic or technician in the U.S. was $58,580, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It was these sorts of promises that helped lure Hummel into the profession. Hummel got a two-year degree focused on automotive technology that cost about $30,000.
“They always advertised back then, you could make six figures,” he said. “As I was doing it, it was like, ‘This isn’t happening.’ It took a long time.”
Hummel’s automotive trade school helped him land his first job at a muffler shop in 2007. He said he earned less than $10 an hour. After a stint at another shop, he joined the Ford dealership in 2012.
Hummel’s path to a six-figure paycheck with benefits required him to put up his own money.
Like most dealership mechanics, he had to buy his own equipment, frequenting “tool trucks” to finance thousands of dollars in gear on payment plans up to $200 a week. These days he owns his own tools, like specialized torque wrenches—required by Ford—that cost up to $800 apiece.
His pay increased when he achieved Ford’s highest certification in 2015, allowing him to command a higher rate for his work. He also started supervising apprentices, for which the dealership pays him extra—accounting for about a third of his earnings, he said.
In 2022, a decade after he started at the dealership, he finally crossed the $100,000 mark. He was 36 years old. “I think it was a great accomplishment,” he said. “It felt good.”...
One of the hardest parts of the job—and the reason it can be so lucrative for skilled operators like Hummel—is racing the clock.
The way pay works in most dealership service departments is essentially a piecework system called “flat rate.” Technicians are paid a fixed amount per job, regardless of how long the work actually takes. Making six figures requires working fast, so you can bill more hours than you actually work....
While the flat-rate system has made Hummel’s career, it has also ended many others.
Russell Wickham, a technician at a Chevrolet store in Indiana, worked for several dealerships across three states for about a decade. The most he grossed was about $89,000 in 2022, he said.
“There’s no guarantee,” he said. “If the customers aren’t coming in, they don’t have a problem letting you sit around because you’re not costing them anything.”
Rich Klaben, president of Klaben Auto Group, which owns Klaben Ford, said the flat-rate pay system is the best way to reward fast workers like Hummel. “We need productivity. If we get productivity, we can pay,” he said....
Consumers are paying, regardless. The costs of car maintenance and repairs have been rising faster than inflation—up 6.9% in November from a year earlier, according to data released in December. But wages aren’t keeping up. While car-repair costs rose 59% from 2014 to 2024, mechanic wages grew by 34% over the same period.
Ford said senior master technicians like Hummel average about $67,000 after five years on the job, while only those “at the pinnacle of the profession” earn $120,000 or more. The company said it is working to address the mechanic shortage....
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Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:19 am to prplhze2000
When you buy a new car, it should come with every unique tool required to work on it.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:20 am to prplhze2000
quote:LeArN tO cOdE
Nice front page story yesterday on how mechanics get screwed while Ford CEO whines he can't get mechanics.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:26 am to prplhze2000
Requiring entry level employees to supply their own expensive, specialized equipment is certainly a choice.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:28 am to prplhze2000
quote:
Nice front page story yesterday on how mechanics get screwed while Ford CEO whines he can't get mechanics.
did you read the article?
i mean i wouldnt call it getting screwed as you know all of that up front. if you dont want the job dont take it.
seems to me, after a decade at a dealership you will make 100k plus
and the other guy whining.....of course if there is no work, you arent going to last long.
its 2025 and people still dont understand basic business concepts.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:28 am to Joshjrn
Now do aircraft mechanics
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:29 am to prplhze2000
The whole pay and tools thing for mechanics is stupid. These manufacturers did this to themselves.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:30 am to prplhze2000
Just bought a used Ford for my kid.
Thank goodness I have a solid mechanic that is not associated with any dealer or national chain.
Just doing basic maintenance at home on this thing requires so many specialized tools compared to my Tacoma. Just changing a damn headlight, for example, on a Ford is a fricking chore and requires five different tools while removing the front frame......unless you want to crawl under the wheel well and feel your way through like a blind man in an orgy.
I could go on and on.
I'm never buying another Ford ever again.
Thank goodness I have a solid mechanic that is not associated with any dealer or national chain.
Just doing basic maintenance at home on this thing requires so many specialized tools compared to my Tacoma. Just changing a damn headlight, for example, on a Ford is a fricking chore and requires five different tools while removing the front frame......unless you want to crawl under the wheel well and feel your way through like a blind man in an orgy.
I could go on and on.
I'm never buying another Ford ever again.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:31 am to Joshjrn
quote:
Requiring entry level employees to supply their own expensive, specialized equipment is certainly a choice.
Yet it is normal in the industry.
I know diesel mechanics making well over $200k a year right now. A smart man who isn't lazy can do EXTREMELY well right now as a mechanic or millwright (basically the same thing).
If you have both mechanical and computer smarts and don't mind working OT you can make an absolute killing right now.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:32 am to lsu777
quote:
i mean i wouldnt call it getting screwed as you know all of that up front. if you dont want the job dont take it.
uh...I think that is the point of this thread. No one is taking them.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:32 am to Joshjrn
quote:Yep
Requiring entry level employees to supply their own expensive, specialized equipment is certainly a choice
Reads as if its indentured servitude. Like networking support having to provide their own LANs and WAN’s in order to get the job.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:34 am to prplhze2000
The having to buy your own tools thing sucks but going from $10/hour to $100,000/yr in 15 years doesn't seem that bad.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:34 am to awestruck
You can see why the work actually done is often slipshod, since the pay system puts a premium on speed.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:35 am to theunknownknight
quote:
uh...I think that is the point of this thread. No one is taking them.
of course they arent. all they have to do is go get food stamps, welfare, section 8 housing and its around 75k a year so why would they work for it?
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:36 am to prplhze2000
The fact that they have to buy their own tools is insane. Imagine if you were a chef at a restaurant and had to bring in your own gloves, cooking utensils, pots, pans, etc. just to do your job. Asinine.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:36 am to prplhze2000
quote:
Making six figures requires working fast, so you can bill more hours than you actually work....
Ahhhhhh......So this is why the lug nuts were only hand-tight, and my wheel almost fell off driving down Airline the last time I had service done at the Stealership.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:42 am to TheePalmetto
quote:
The fact that they have to buy their own tools is insane.
They usually finance them. Some companies offer things like tool stipens after a year of service and stuff like that.
Like I said, it's an ancient normal in the industry that really needs to change. The problem is that for a large corporation it's difficult to stomach buying the best stuff for your guys and having to re-buy it when they break or lose it. Inevitably you will have to deal with people stealing stuff, shite like that.
It's all stuff that you just deal with but within the calculus of P&L's of a large company, it's a tough sell. The accountants don't see the difference between a good mechanic and a retard who tears up more shite than he fixes. As long as all his hours are billable, they don't care.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:47 am to SludgeFactory
You should have got an older classic Truck that was in great shape. Let your son pick it out.
Posted on 1/8/26 at 7:49 am to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:
The accountants don't see the difference between a good mechanic and a retard who tears up more shite than he fixes. As long as all his hours are billable, they don't care.
fricking this
Posted on 1/8/26 at 8:00 am to lsu777
quote:
seems to me, after a decade at a dealership you will make 100k plus and the other guy whining.....of course if there is no work, you arent going to last long. its 2025 and people still dont understand basic business concepts.
Now use the context that this article is a response the the ford ceos comments and not out of thin air
I think the pushback on the country being a mess because he can’t fill these jobs that he’s playing very fast and loose describing is overall fair
This post was edited on 1/8/26 at 9:53 am
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