Hi everyone, i'm new to British expat and just wanted to ask a few questions on work in Ontario as a auto technician in and around the gta.
Firstly a bit of info on me, i'm a 26 year old UK trained technician who recently left my job at a Citroen dealer in the uk to make a move out here to Toronto to see if i could make it work out here as a technician.
I understand that most dealers out here have a flat rate pay system whereby you only get paid for the hours sold on each job you do regardless of how long it may take you to do that job. Because of this i have a few questions on what its like working under this pay structure.

1) What are the book times generally like for jobs? (especially electrical diagnosis)
2) Do other technicians lend you a hand when lifting out gearboxes, pushing cars in and out, checking feeds at connectors etc? Or as a result of the pay structure do they tend to shy away from helping others.
3) Is there a lot of warranty work and are the book times realistic?
4) What is the flow of work like, slow or busy?
5) Can you realistically earn a good living on working as a tech out here? I was earning between £33k - £35k per year including bonus back home, is that kind of wage attainable out here as a tech?
6) What manufacturers are the best to work for?

I would really appreciate anyones answers to my questions, especially any UK techs who are doing the job out here, i am taking the red seal exam for the tech licence soon aswell and any advice on this would also be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Hi Richyv26

Hopefully this answers a few of your questions.

1. Like the UK, the book times can be tight for some things and generous for others, diag work in my place is usually a case of getting authorization from the customer if its going to take longer than an hour, if you were on flat rate I would imagine your diag work would be paid to you as straight time providing customer has authorized the time. I was lucky enough to secure a job at a dealer on straight time with a bonus as a lot of my time is spent diagnosing electrical faults, but these opportunities are few and far between, I was offered 3 jobs during our reccy trip and the other 2 were flat rate with a 3 month familiarization period where you would be paid straight time.

2. I moved to a Toyota place on nightshift, this was flat rate, I was only there for a few weeks but found the other guys very helpful, they worked in teams and shared their flat rate hours so it was in their own interest to help each other out, although I dare say everywhere is different. Remember everyone needs a hand from time to time !

3. Where I work there is lots of warranty work, the book times are generally less than customer pay.

4. Our shop is busy all year round due to the make of car I work on but other places do go through highs and lows, tire season at the end of fall is very busy with customers wanting their winter tires on, then at the beginning of spring where they take them off again.

5. Most of the guys I know earn between $50 & $60 K which combined with the cost of living probably gives you a slightly more than you earn in the UK. Some earn more, I've heard of techs making up to $80 K but you'd need to be working in a busy shop to make that kind of money.

6. All manufacturers have their pro's and cons, I have a friend that does well working with Toyota but its all maintainence work which I find a bit tedious. I would say the more popular cars are Toyota, Honda, Hyundi, Ford, Dodge, Chev although the american manufacturers have taken a bigger hit with the ressession, Toyota have went through a bad patch with the gas pedal recalls but seem to be bouncing back okay.

With regards to the Red Seal, I sat the test during our reccy trip and I was lucky enough to pass first time, however I did put a lot of work into it before coming over, I made contact with a training officer from the Ministry of Training and Apprenticeships of Ontario via e-mail, this link may help you find a contact - http://www.red-seal.ca/[email protected]?tid=23 , I had to prove to him I had worked over 9500 hours (approx.) as a licensed tech in the Uk which meant going round getting references from previous employers to state the hours I had worked there, I had 17 years in the trade, City & Guilds, NVQ Level 3, etc, all this is irrelevant in Canada but it will help you get permission to write the test, I arranged an appointment with the officer during my reccy and sat the test later that day. I read somewhere you're not allowed to do this any more, you have to be working in the trade now but you would need to check for sure. I used an american text book to get the terminology, I can't remember the name but I'll get back to you on it. I also found the site - http://trades.exambank.com/index.html great for getting used to the layout of the test and the kind of questions you will be asked.

Anyway hope this helps, any more questions let me know, good luck

Hi Dogman,

Thanks for your response, your answers have really given me a more clearer picture of what its like working as a tech out here.
The reason why i asked about the warranty work is because i got talking to a ex Canadian technician out here and he said that you get paid half book time and its a flat rate pay system, do you know if the hours you earn on jobs are banked on the flat rate system? i.e you make 12 hours one day and only 2 the next, are any hours you lost taken off what you already earned the previous day? Might sound like a silly question but the bonus hours back home were not banked.

With regard to the red seal exam i have already met with a training consultant who assessed my logged hours, training papers, gnvq level 1,2,3 etc. He said that i can write the exam which i'm due to sit on the 21st of this month, i've been doing a lot of revising from a book by Martin W. Stockel called Auto Fundamentals which i got from a library out here. Having said that any tips you can offer about the exam would be great, i've had a look at the link you posted which looks really helpful aswel so thank you for that.
Oh and one really important thing i need to ask is did you ship your tools over here once you got your job offer or before the offer? My tools are still back home as i was planning on shipping them over once i secured a job offer so any advice on shipping them over would be great.

Thanks again and i hope i'm not being too much of a pest!

I can answer from a wifes point of view and from what OH tells me, we've been her 5 years and OH seems no more or no less happy doing his job here, there are the same frustrations as well as different ones. The level of help you receive from other techs will depend on the place you work.

The type of work can be different too. OH moved from a UK Ford Dealership to a Canadian one. Generally the vehicles are bigger and heavier. There are techs that specialise in front end only, alignments only, etc, Very few at OH's place will touch trim, leaks etc and if they are forced to do it they don't have a clue.

There are quieter times in OH's shop where he will only get in 8 hours but the norm is between 12-18, there is no way he would be able to make the kind of money he makes here in the UK, we are much better off financially, but then OH will do whatever work is given to him unless the crap job has been refused by another tech.

As in the UK no one likes to do warranty as it doesn't pay as well but it does need to be done.

Hi piff poff

Thanks for the response, to be honest providing i'm not going in to work everyday and being miserable then i think i'll be happy but i guess that really depends on the place where i work.
Doing lots of warranty work wasn't really an issue for me back home it was really hit and miss as i could make lots of hours on say a defective manual/auto gearbox or i could lose abit on a water leak, being that i worked for Citroen we had lots of warranty... hahaha! The reason why i mentioned warranty work was because a tech out here told me you only get half book time.
It does seem strange to me that technicians would refuse a job out here, at my old dealer you got what you were given so i'm very used to working on anything from a trim rattle or water leak to say full on engine diagnosis or electrical dianosis. The posts that i have read on here from Brit techs seem to indicate that most of us will gladly work on any vehicle system.

Oh I don't think the turning down of work is the norm, I think that's just something that happens at OH's place - he of course does whatever, which is why his pay is decent.

Warranty is no worse here than in the UK pay wise I think, well OH doesn't grumble too much about it unless it's a crappy job

OH bought a trade in truck for $75 the other week, they quoted some horrendous price for replacing the timing belt - because no one knows how to do them. It's gonna be great for the teen