Advice on working as car mechanic in Alberta

MechanicCanada

Hi, I am pretty sure they are looking for car mechanics in Ireland to work in Canada. So someone might find my advice helpful. Or I hope so.

I was working in Ireland in few different dealer garages and also had a self-employment so I had my own customers working at home after hours. I was doing mostly well (for car mechanic) but scares of economy doom made me to take job offer from canadian company. So now I am and my wife and two kids in Northern Alberta.

It is not bad here, all right, about the same in general as it was for us in Ireland, but it is way too far from all the promises of the bright future I heard when they offered me this job. So be warned before you go.

First of all YOU ARE NOT GETTING SALARY here as such. Most of the automotive technicians are paid by "flat rate". Say, for certain job, like replacing brake pads and disks garage will pay you like for 1.5 hours (multiply by your hourly wage). It does not matter how much time you had to spend to do the job - you only will be paid for 1.5 hour, thats it. Well, that was simple, and you most likely will do it faster. But another day there will be a cylinder head gasket job and you might spend a day or more doing it but you will be only paid for... 3.5 hours! Call it ridiculous, but they will tell you "that is what warranty pays for this job".

No offence to Irish lads, but most of them are used not to be too rushed doing jobs. If you keep it this way here it'll be VERY difficult for you to make 40 hours per week and get paid for these 40 hours. Remember when you worked hardest in Ireland? Here it would be even harder just to make your 160 hours per month.

If garage hires too many mechanics (and this is why they want YOU!) there will be just not enough jobs coming through the doors for all of the lads. So you'll have to stay at work but YOU WON'T GET PAID at all. Because you are not doing jobs, not making hours and because you are on flat rate. Unlike Irish companies, here they are not losing money when there is not enough customers - because they don't have to pay you for just being at work! Is not that a brilliant idea?! So, very important, make sure and SIGN A CONTRACT were minimum 40 hours per week would be guaranteed. Otherwise you'll be just starving! By the way your work permit also says that you shall be paid guaranteed hours, so make sure your employer sticks to the law.

Some jobs are better then others. Local folks love doing PDIs. These pay for four hours and more and would generally take less then two hours to do (once you get used). Sure they did not tell me that straight away, so other lads in workshop were making quick bucks while I was sweating over all the complex, dirty, big and difficult jobs.

Management would like you to do a lot of tasks that are not paid but will take a lot of your time at work. You will even have to quote (from AllData software) labour times for all the jobs you found needs to be done for certain vehicle you working on (something you used to think service manager should do). They also might tell you that you have to inspect for free that vehicle looking for all things that needs attention. Because "it will make your future profit". Got this? Work for free now, so then will give you more work to do (may be) and you'll get paid for that work then. Again, it is profitable for garage, because you are doing the job inspecting vehicles, making up-sell possibilities and they don't have to pay you at all :mad:

Vehicles are bigger and heavier here. A lot of pickup trucks, and those pickups are way bigger then ones we used to have in Ireland. For you it would mean a LOT of very heavy wheels and big, heavy, bulky parts to deal with. This is nothing like working with Fiestas or Peugeots. The biggest pickups, vans or jeeps we had in Ireland are considered to be "medium size" here.

Cost of living and salary (this is only regarding North Alberta, don't know about the rest). Here is quite simple: whatever you'll get paid divide by two. Getting paid 30 canadian per hour it is like 15 euro/hour in Ireland. Because most of the prices are twice as high comparing to Ireland. Rent an apartment - 1500/month (in the city of similar size in Ireland I would have paid 750 euro/month for similarly sized semi-detached house). Car insurance, childcare, food, phones and internet, clothes - all the daily expenses are about double comparing to Ireland. Used cars are expensive too, again about twice as much. Sure you can get yourself some piece of junk for 500 bucks and drive that if you don't care. There is no NCT here, so no need to worry .

Petrol is cheap, less than dollar now, but cars are drinking it a lot, especially if you get yourself some 4.0 liter V6. Nevertheless you'll pay less of your income for fuel. I've got myself a small car, kinda the same as Fiesta so it feels like I have free fuel for it . Modern diesel cars are hard to get, rare (mostly VW Jettas) and expensive.

Electronics and computers are about the same here in dollars as they were in euro in Ireland. Heating is very cheap so no need to worry about cold winters. Workshops are much, much warmer then in Ireland, by the way.

Tools are quite cheap too, about the same in dollars as in euro in Ireland, but you have to find the right places to buy them. Look for Princess Auto and Napa stores. Snap-On and Mac Tools are as expensive as Snap-On in Ireland.

Generally cold does not sting here as bad as it might seem. Minus twenty five degree is not half as bad as it would feel in Ireland, it is pretty much OK weather actually. When it gets below minus 35, then it is starting to feel uncomfortable .

Get yourself international driving permit in Ireland before you go - it'll make your life much easier in your first year here.

When you come you'll have to register with training and apprenticeship board and in 6 month after arrival you'll have to sit an exam to confirm your qualification. Take it seriously, exam was not as easy as I expected. There are training modules (books) available from the board (expensive, over 400 bucks), buy and read them, it is helped me a lot.

Would be glad to answer any questions from colleagues. Sorry I don't know much about jobs for builders, welders, electricians, engineers etc.

jonathan13

hey, thanks for the information shared. I'm just curious with the minimum requirements employers prefer to work there as car mechanic, thanks!

jiminho

Sorry mate but i have to disagree with one or two points. Certain things are more expensive but certainly nothing is twice the amount. I'm renting a 2 bed 2 bath for 1300 cad (approx. €1000) which would cost much more in Dublin. Lets no forget your take home pay is substantially higher than in Ireland.

Anyway just my two cents