Thoughts on car repair as a career

[I D Shukhov]

I'm a little too old to think about retooling for car repair, but that might be a viable profession.  I've been doing some reading recently about future cars and most people agree that the future will be some form of electric or hybrid.   Gas is going to be too expensive because of the increased cost of extracting oil (the easy-to-get-at reserves are being depleted) and rising demand by the middle classes in other countries.   

So, what if one specialized in repairing the Prius and/or other hybrids?

I'm a big fan of shops that specialize in a particular make of car.  We have 2 Mazdas in the family and I haven't been able to locate a shop yet that specializes in Mazdas -- although I'm looking.  When I find one, I'll definitely try them out.  One could combine the repair business with an online customer maintenance education community.   And since it's the Prius, it may be able to draw in people who are concerned about saving the environment, as well as saving money on gas.

In one of the books (about electric cars)  it was suggested that the car could be parked in a carport or garage with solar panels on the roof.  It was stated that the average person drives about 40 miles/day and that the amount of electricity generated by the solar panels would about handle that.     http://www.ecomagination.com/showcase/ev-solar-carports-help-electric-vehicles-run-on-sun

[DG9]

There was a time when you had to go to the Mazda dealer for certain things, but now all of the generic shops in our area can handle anything I've run into.  Probably no market for a "Mazda" shop, maybe for wankel engine work?  You could niche up and become "Mr. Wankel Engine", an expert, source for parts, engine rebuilts, RX restores.  May be like specializing in PDP-11s or could be something good??? 

Mustangs, Mopar, Muscle cars in general are all other places a "little too old" guy could retool for and have age work in their favor.  Hell, buy and sell parts for these cars.  Buy, restore or wholesale, sell.  Buy junk cars for parts and operate a legal chop operation. 

Maybe focus on the safety and haz mat aspectics of eletric vehicles.  Become "the expert" to help train first responders, a cool and useful consulting job if that is where your heart is.  Just some thoughts.

[I D Shukhov]

Maybe focus on the safety and haz mat aspectics of eletric vehicles.  Become "the expert" to help train first responders, a cool and useful consulting job if that is where your heart is.  Just some thoughts.

That may be a good idea for a niche.  Electric and hybrid cars has to be a growing market because of  gas/oil cost problems.   First responders are going to need safety training.  I guess that would apply to professional and DIY mechanics as well.   

Another example of a specialty training niche:

I signed up for a leadership training course at work, where the grand finale was a Saturday seminar on decision making.  The guy that taught it was a 60-something who flew around the country to give these management training seminars.  His system, which he branded with his own name, was a pretty simple weighted factor approach.  His only cost was a handout.

Not to let a Saturday go by without blowing a few hours surfing the web, I looked the instructor up.  He passed away in 2002.  His last days were apparently sad, caring for his invalid wife.  He had many more credentials than he let on about.  The only thing he told us was that he had been a Marine.  He kind of looked the part too -- in fact, I can't distinguish how he looked now from the guy on the "Mail Call" TV show.   The main takeaway was that consensus doesn't work.   There has to be a "decision maker" who is democratically empowered to make the decision after following the the open and fair analysis process that he recommended.

http://www.incose.org/sfbac/1990sevents/tutorials/961102-risk.txt

[David Randolph]

The main takeaway was that consensus doesn't work.   There has to be a "decision maker" who is democratically empowered to make the decision after following the the open and fair analysis process that he recommended.

That is, if you want an organization that is functional and quickly moving. When a group tries to work with consensus, the problem is that many people don't actually make a decision and any loud, opinionated person can derail the decision process. There are many examples out there of organizations that are trying to work with consensus and they do not make decisions quickly or well.