r/Salary • u/Fishstery • 16h ago
š° - salary sharing 27F AutoBody Paint tech-finally hit my goal of 6 figures!
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u/blaster4552 14h ago
Awesome!! Congratulations!! Great for you !! Keep setting goals and hitting them!!
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u/jus_allen 12h ago
Damn that's nice. I do the same small collision repair and paint but I don't pull in that much. I also work for a dealership. A fortune 500 co. Got any tips on how I can get paid for more?
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u/Fishstery 12h ago
Get on flat rate if you arent already. Stay motivated and hungry and be mindful of your time management. Use places as stepping stones. Learn as much as you can and never turn down work when you are fresh. This will get you enough experience. Then apply for somewhere else. I hate to say it but these days it pays to shop hop, at least in my region. Everywhere is desperate for techs so there is always someone willing to poach you off for an extra dollar or two an hour if you have enough experience.
I started at my shop at 18/hr flat rate and almost 4 years later I'm at 23. Simply by getting job offers at places I didn't really want to work at, then taking that offer to my management and telling them I'm considering another offer and giving them an opportunity to match it. Hell, twice I was even bluffing but they need me so they didn't want to call it. They are desperate to keep me, these days solid techs that can produce high numbers are hard to come by. It's just me and my lead painter splitting 50/50, and we average about 400-500 hours every 2 weeks. It's hard work for just 2 of us but the money is well worth it.
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u/jus_allen 10h ago
I'm assuming you work for a privately owned dealership? Maybe that's what I have to do. Are you doing metal work with pulleys etc? I was thinking that's what I should go learn next.Ā
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u/Fishstery 10h ago
It used to be a small single location dealer. Over the last 10 years they have exploded and are buying new shops and dealers in the tristate area multiple times a year. I can't remember how many body shop locations they have now but it's more than 5. That being said our sales are usually 400-500k a month. I've worked at shops that did a million a month.
And no, I am only a paint tech. I do not do any kind of body work. My main job is prepping/buffing, but I also have 5 years of solid painting experience and paint when my lead painter is off, so my rate is painter level. I get paid far more than most preppers in my area due to my paint experience.
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u/FullPresentation5710 9h ago
Interesting. Good on you. Where in the country you located? You doing all your own prep work and buffing or do you have a prepper? Spraying water or solvent? DRP shop? Flat rate is fun to crush and the longer you go, the better you will get! This is only the beginning, but donāt advertise to earning potential or there may be people to actually backfill us when we retireš
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u/Fishstery 8h ago
East coast, I'm the only prepper/buffer but my rate is high because I'm also the backup painter, water borne, and we have 3 DRPs but we are one of the higher volume shops within the dealer umbrella so we take a lot of overflow work from the smaller collision centers in the family when they have too much to chew. And then we usually get transport damage or used vehicle recon from the dealership as filler jobs.
We avg 400-500 hours every 2 weeks, just me and the lead painter 50/50 time split. When one of us is off it's 100% but then I have to do all the work by myself.
Lucky for us our salaries are just going to continue to rise as the senior guys start to retire. My shop is an odd one though, this is the only shop I've been that has so many young people. Only one of our techs is older than 35. Oh and no one smokes cigarettes which blew my mind when I first started.
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u/FullPresentation5710 8h ago
Our āseniorā guy retired last year and it officially makes me the old guy at 42. Our body techs are young with only 1 out of the 6 being over 38. I envy your hustle since I didnāt earn 6 figures until I was 30 in our industry. Gonna clear a quarter this year and itās always going up. Know your value, master your craft, and donāt be a pretentious ass. Those are the three things that Iāve built a fairly remarkable career out of.
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u/Fishstery 8h ago
I pride myself on being the least cocky painter I know š seems to be a common thing I've encountered at least. I did votech and landed my first shop job at 17 as a prepper. I've never done anything other than paint work so it's been about 11 years in the field now which is why I make so much even though I'm young. I don't want to mislead anyone on this sub, I've been screamed at, straight up bullied, worked nights and weekends and 18 hour days to get where I'm at. Not to mention the countless injuries. Anyone can make it far in autobody with enough drive and resolve. But the hard labor and downright toxic culture isn't for everyone.
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u/FullPresentation5710 8h ago
Toxic culture is an understatement. The burnout rate for the kids coming into this industry is remarkable. Starting pay is trash and itās HARD work. Then you have the stereotypical old school āshop talkā and the atmosphere it goes along with. You have to be motivated, willing to work, and have THICK skin. At least thatās the way it is here in the upper Midwest.
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u/FullPresentation5710 8h ago
But the arrogant and stubborn painter is easily the most common personality youāll find. Thatās why itās so much easier to make huge steps and gains if youāre just as talented but easy to work with. The blowhard painters Iāve worked with are still where they were and arenāt making anymore advances in their careers. That alone speaks volume.
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u/Fishstery 8h ago
I've learned it's best not to get involved with shop politics. I don't gossip or care what other people do. I just worry about my job and what I'm doing. I don't make friends anymore either. I've noticed everyone in the industry is incredibly two faced with each other and I don't vibe with that. So I just talk when it's necessary and only about work. It doesn't win me any popularity contests but it gets me left alone and I like it that way.
It's funny as a teenage girl coming in I always thought it would be low drama as it's mainly just a bunch of middle aged men. Boy was I wrong! I'm fully convinced body shops are worse than mean girls in high school.
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u/FullPresentation5710 8h ago
Thatās the way. Air pods in and get to work. Many years ago I had friends at work but as I age in this industry itās simply easier to keep work and social separate. Iām polite enough, friendly enough, and engaged enough to let my coworkers know Iām invested in their lives as wellā¦. But outside of work I never see any of them. It seriously simplifies the entire work/life balance. Shop politics have always been exhausting but experience will keep you out of it. Iāve had three female apprentices/preppers in my career and all three have moved on to become straight up savages behind the gun. It wasnāt without me being front seat to the shit they had to deal with though. I donāt envy what youāve likely dealt with, but if youāve already made it this farā¦. You are a badass. Keep grindingš¤š¤
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u/TheBlackGuyAtThads 16h ago
Yeah I definitely donāt get paid enough as a software engineer.
But then again I maybe work like 10 hours a week and typically in my underwear so I canāt complain.
Congrats man !
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u/JoseRiveraaa 15h ago
Do you work for a large company?