How would you save Dodge?
That is already the case now!!! How many true mechanics do you know? Someone who will actually fix something or some part that is broken. I think its rare to find a mechanic who will give more life to some broken part. Most are spring loaded to sell you new parts to replace the crap that is broken. They are all just parts changers in my opinion. The troubleshooting is being handed over to the computers.
As someone who stood at that computer it takes a technician to be able to read and understand the data, pinpoint the problem, and not just throw parts at it. The computer can only tell you so much. The real guy nowadays is one who can translate the data and repair the problem, not throw parts at it. And the real ones are the ones who write the TSBs. I've written a few in my career, both on the body side and the tech side. The
parts replacers in today's lexicon are called
mechanics, the
guys who know how to use the scanner, successfully, are
technicians. And, yes, I also have the real world experience to be able to rebuild a fuel pump, a master cylinder, even wheel cylinders, old vacuum wiper motors, alternators, generators, calipers, proportioning valves, starters, and the list goes on. When parts are available. Go into a parts store and see how many rebuild kits there are for a speed density sensor since we're talking Chrysler.
That being said, I've also noticed the argument going on with union and non-union. My own experience in this comes into play on my reply. As someone who's been in the dealerships making a lot less money per hour than the UAW on flat rate time, taking care of recalls, tracing down pinched wires in a car that has more harness than the original moon mission, tightening loose bolts, fixing welds that weren't welded to anything, and that list goes on and on, too.
Personally, if I had one knock on working at the dealerships was the fact that I got a third of the money per hour, on flat rate time, with less bennies, fixing f***-ups that should have never have taken place by someone on the line who didn't think "quality was job one," just a damned good paycheck! But I guess it was fixing the shoddy workmanship that made
my paycheck.