Hello All,

I am a freshman college student this year in Austin at UT and am interested in applying to work at the Austin Land Rover Dealership. I have had my Discovery II for the past two years and have become very interested in the vehicles. I would really enjoy getting to work around the cars. Does anyone know if they would hire an 18 year old to help out around the dealership?

 

You would probably do the dirty work like lubing up the customer so the service writer can give them a proper pounding. Then you would have to clean up the mess, comfort the customer (complementary LR coffee (or coke, pain pills whatever keeps 'em coming back), complementary salve for the backside etc), while at the same time fluffing the service writer so he is ready for the next victim 'er customer. On the other side I would assume your job would also include taking the high rollers on test drives and catering to their every whim and fantasy (rich people are pervs and like their drugs so good luck). Now I've never worked at a LR dealership so I could be wrong but I bet I'm close.

 

Not every dealer is bad. Most are, but not all of them. (Exception being Ford. They suck!)

You could check your local LR website and see if they are hiring. Or just go in and ask them.

Eric

 

Charles --

I'll suggest a slightly different idea. There are loads of Land Rovers/Discoveries in Austin, but from my experience no good/honest places to get them serviced at a reasonable price. LR Austin is pretty good I think, but very expensive.

So, seeing how you've owned a Discovery for 2 years and I'm assuming you've done Mike's 60K, why not offer your mechanic services as a Discovery-only Austin specialist? You could do the driveshaft inspection/swap, 60K service, check common failure areas, etc.?

I always try to talk to Discover owners in parking lots, etc. whenever I see them, and the majority of them have no idea about driveshaft problems, etc. And, all of them complain about the high cost of service.

You'd make a lot more money (you keep 100% of the profit), and you'd be running a real business as opposed to getting minimum wage changing oil at the dealership. What a great complement to your UT degree!!

Good luck!
RedAustinIX (Ed)

 

Wow, that a great idea. Get a few tranny kits, good u joints and center ball kits (just a couple), a turkey baster and ps fluid, 11 mm wrench, and syn brake fluid. Your on your way. I look at craigslist every day. Advertise there. Maybe even a Amigo kit.

 

Yes, there's a guy advertising the shuttle valve fix on the kijiji.ca/toronto site (canadain version of craigslist, actual craigslist hasn't caught on well here). If their were any other rovers in my area I'd offer it too! The rest I already do in my shop too other makes

 

if you can't do at least thirty hours a week on a regular basis you won't get hired. The best you can get is a car washer with irregular hours. We need full time employees to finish the work they start not half *** and get all the gravy and leave the crap for the regular guys. Trust me you aint getting anything but an apprenticeship that pays six bucks an hour if that.

 

Something is fishy, they lost both a master and a regular technician. Either they left on their own or the business isn't the best place to work for.


although some parts prices looks pretty good. not too excessive.

 

Dealer tech is flat rate work. You'll starve yourself out if you're not proficient. A dealer will hire you on some times as an hourly tech but it will be for very very little. Most guys at my shop make 26-33/hour flat rate but the young fresh out of school guys only make 10-15 hourly and some are made to make that at a flat rate. There's always room to learn but a dealership is not a place for new techs unless they're paid little and given little responsibility. That's how it's been in every dealership I've worked in. There are times that the right person has the right attitude and intelligence and manages to stay on and become a full fledged top paid tech but slim to non.