automotive technician

automotive mechanic

lube technician

automotive service manager

car wash attendant

Conrads Tire Express and Total Car Care

PLEASE RESEARCH JOB BEFORE APPLYING. THIS COMPANY IS KNOWN FOR MISLEADING POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES!  I started off as a tire manager, and after a year and a half of begging for a raise or promotion I didn’t get a raise but got moved to a different store further away from home. Their explanation was that, we can’t give you a raise because the current store you are at is a “negative” store. The store we are moving you too is a “positive” store so you will have the chance for a bonus. Key word.. CHANCE. After all that hard work, solving everyday problems, carrying a store by myself, working as a tire technician during crunch time to make it through each day, doing other peoples jobs, all while being underpaid. All they could offer me to was a “chance at a bonus”. It really shows the true colors of the company. I would not recommend this job to anyone. They laugh at you from their corporate offices while you struggle trying to make it to the end of the day.. every day. It’s a brutal job. The only positive part about the job are the other employees there. They all are in the same boat being treated poorly by upper management. Because of that, it does create a “family bond” between the employees at the store which honestly kept me coming back to work each day for the past 1.5 years. But enough was enough, how you get treated, the lack of money, the poor upper management, the long hours ( minimum 50 a week), the poor work order flow, I can keep going on and on but I’ve given this company enough of my time. As we all know “Time is money”. God bless and Good Luck with Job Searching! 

Conrads is all about the money. You will be paid a low salary and expected to work 55-60 hours a week, 11-12 hours a day with no lunch breaks. Expected to work every Saturday even on your allowed vacation time. If another employee is on vacation you don’t even get day off that week and no extra pay, sometimes making weeks equal minimum wage or less in a long week, but they are quick to reduce your pay if you take a day off. Also quick to deduct money from your pay if there is an issue, like a road hazard tire they don’t agree with. Any customer complaints will automatically side with them regardless of how ridiculous and the company will take $50 from your pay every time there is a complaint at all about your location even if it is not about you, if they said “I won’t come here because I don’t like the blue shirts you wear” -$50. You will be encouraged to rip off customers by selling them services they don’t need and by overcharging on parts, some parts are marked up over 300%. If you do have a good sale it will be nitpicked and you will be told if they spent that much they would have spent more. Upper management does staffing for locations and will greatly understaff you and expect you to beat unrealistic sales goals that are even high if you had a full staff, unless you’re one of the company favorites which is who the bonus structure is tailored too.

Good place to start if you literally have no experience and tell them you're eager to learn. They literally hire anyone regardless of experience.  And you will get your basic experience with oil changes, tire mounting, balancing, rotation, alignments. That's about where the positives stop.

I came in knowing basic stuff. I picked it all up pretty quick. They draw you in with their TCS. In 2 years I still don't know what it stands for nor how it works. But it's basically a production commission. It's not like flat rate. Each job pays different, based on the cost and times of the job. Oil changes, tire rotations and alignments do not get you TCS unless you work yourself to the bone and do no insepection.

In two years, I was transferred to over a dozen different Conrad's locations. I know people who started when I did at the same location who are still at the same location. Some people, they just shuffle around constantly. 

The master techs are hit or miss depending which location you go. They mostly hit and exceed their TCS every month. Some can be friendly and show you how to do things. Most are grumpy and unhelpful, even though 90% of the work they do comes from your diagnosis during the oil change

Anyway tldr, if your looking to get a head start into mechanics and don't want to work in a quick lube, this is a good start. But not worth the mental stress in the long term

Terrible company to work for. Always has major staffing issues and puts the blame on you when the location can’t perform at plan when shop is half staffed. Long hours, expect 52-60 hour weeks. No breaks allowed at all during the day. Management will find any reason to take money from you. Favoritism is really bad throughly the company, you learn fast who the favorites are and bonus structures are catered towards favoring them, they also get all the support they could need and more while leaving everyone else to struggle. Lots of untrustworthy backstabbing employees, bonuses and major compensation differences between locations make for a very hostile environment that makes many employees only look out for themselves and will throw anyone under the bus for personal gain. Pressure form district leaders force you to sell to every customer that comes in lots of customers get ripped off from employees trying to met goals. Expect to get no training or support when you start and get thrown into the fire. Will force you to sign a non compete which prevents you from searching for employment elsewhere once you realize how terrible the company is.

● Work-life balance
If you need a day off, they do what they can to work it in for you.

● Pay & benefits
The pay is terrible. It's one of the lowest pays I've worked. They do have a nice 401k and a bonus incentive, but it's not keeping employees interested.

● Job security and advancement
Job security seems to be pretty easy. Since Conrad's can't keep anybody, they've rehired people who recently walked out without notice.

● Management
Upper management doesn't seem to know much of anything about how bad the company is on lower levels. They appear to know nothing about warehousing or inventory. Our delivery trucks are so badly maintained even though they are regularly sent to Conrad's shops to be repaired.

● Overall
The communications between management and locations is there, but might as well not be. You're either not told at all or you find out at the last minute, leaving you little to no time to prepare for success. Often bad actions are chalked off like it didn't happen to avoid losing another employee. They are so desperate for people that they'll literally hire anybody, including rehiring those who have already previously burned their bridges with the company. It's a toxic environment.

I start work at 8pm and i'm always there till at least 6:30 or more, i interact with guest, service write work orders, cash management, scheduling appointments, sell automotive products and services (oil changes, fluid exchanges, brakes, suspension, alignments, exhaust..etc). Fast pace environment most days (phones ringing, door bell ringing, customer service, making quotes and sales. Management is profit driven which creates a dog eat dog mentality (the more your gross profit items you sell, the better your bonus, everyone for your self mentality), hardest part of the job is being the bearer of bad news and dealing with disgruntled guest (no one likes to speed money on a broken vehicle), hearing a yes after a day of hearing no is the most enjoyable part of the job. I learned more about  automotive during my time at Conrads.
Workplace Culture is fast paced.
Disgruntled guest are the hardest part of the job.
Helping guests in need is a good feeling.
Management is all for self (they don't cultivate talent).

I have been with the company going on 3 years with no intention of leaving. I have actually turned down jobs that pay more but I truly enjoy coming to work. I started in the industry with conrads so my automotive knowledge was minimal. Conrads is very thorough with training and keeping up to date with changes in the industry. Yes you work long hours but compared to most shops it’s drastically less. Work has become a second family to me and I’m grateful for the amazing people I work with. Between the fun atmosphere (can definitely get stressful at times), the multiple monthly bonuses, and all the benefits I would recommend this job to anyone that is looking for a job in the industry with opportunities for continuous growth.

I went from having terrible salesman managers, and making no bonuses for the first 6 months. Then they got new managers and i made up to $30 an hour some days with huge monthly commission bonuses. Then the last few months i was there they switched managers again and i couldnt barely produce $12 an hour again.

I was always worried about something going wrong on one of the cars i had worked on. And customers would go home, do their own oil change a few months later, and when they did it wrong, they could come and blame it on us to get free work done, which resulted in a technician getting 25/50 points and possibly losing your job from it. I went to work every day worried that id lose my job for something i didnt even do.

Also was made to work 7:30 - 6+pm every day 5 days a week. Averaged 95-100 hours and wore me out.

If you value your time, dignity, and mental health, you shouldn't work here. It's an incredibly toxic environment, doesn't provide you with any widely applicable skills (i.e. custom built archaic software that isn't used anywhere else), and doesn't provide you any support. The company is entirely focused on profit and sees all employees as "just numbers on a screen" that are easily disposable. If you step out of the box they put you in, you will absolutely regret it. The turnover is absolutely bonkers, I've literally never seen such a revolving door of employees. They pay the laborers, who are the ones keeping this company running, abysmal wages and wonder why everyone leaves. The executives line their pockets with the blood, sweat, and tears of their exploited workers. Save yourself the pain, but if you decide to work here, make sure you have a really good therapist.

The store manager at the location I worked was probably the best on the company with decades of industry experience. If there was a problem with a car or a customer, he'd have it handled without causing a scene.(I've heard horror stories from some other locations though, they're all a little different)
Lots of great guys in the shop, since Conrad's pays their techs by the hour it's not a problem to get someone else to lend a hand on a job, unlike flat rate shops where it's a constant race against book time every job.  That said, company also has a decent bonus system in place to motivate its techs to keep the work moving, can easily be taking home and extra $500 or more per month when it's busy. 

Only real complaints would be with the people they allow into management positions with zero experience on automotive or sales.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Automotive technician 42 salaries reported	$22.27 per hour
Automotive mechanic 9 salaries reported	$32.50 per hour
Lube technician 70 salaries reported	$14.54 per hour
Automotive service manager 676 salaries reported	$57,500 per year
Car wash attendant 190 salaries reported	$42,166 per year

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