Who Knows How to Become a Ferrari Mechanic

At the risk of sounding like a smart a$$, buy one!! You'll have to learn how to work on it or go broke...

You can find an unloved GT4 or Mondial coupe for the same money as a nice Civic or Accord and start getting your feet wet...

 

Good for you on the United Technical Institute program.

I'd say that your best chance of working on Ferraris is to work at a high-end independent shop. And the best way to do that is to take ALL MSAT classes at UTI. I'd take at least the BMW STEP, Jaguar PACE, Mercedes ELITE and the Porsche PTAP, even if it means spending more time at school or borrowing some more money.

You'll probably only be able to work on a Ferrari once in a blue moon, but you'll still get to work on 'em. Learn absolutely everything you can about them, so that you're the specialist in the shop.

I'd also select a good geographic location, and stick with it and build a personal reputation for being a knowledgeable and fair mechanic. And keep an eye out for help wanted ads in Ferrari newsletters.

Good luck!

--Matt

 

I don't know anything about United Tech, but most of the stronger automotive training schools offer Associate Degrees which are usually 3 year programs.

If you want to be a Ferrari Tech, you will need to apprentice for awhile. I would suggest contacting every dealer you can find and making them aware of your desire. Make sure they understand you are seeking "entry level" wages. Be flexible to relocate.

Also contact any independents in your area with the same offer.

You can also contact Ferrari North America and make inquiries there.

Make sure you are completely comfortable with scan tool diagnosis, and having the L1 certification is becoming vital. before you graduate you NEED to be an ASE Master Technician.

There is good money to be made in the auto repair business, but experience is usually the deciding factor in salary and desirability for hiring. The business is full of wide-eyed tech school graduates that never become more than parts replacers. The difference between top notch technicians and the average technician is the willingness to spend the time doing the job right the first time, and the willingness to stay current in the new technology.

European import experience translates better to Ferrari's. You might consider BMW, Audi, or Mercedes as a first job out of school. I would suggest attending as many manufacturer training classes as your boss will send you to. If your first job is with BMW and the dealership also sells Audi, ask to attend Audi training also. Education is key to maintaining an advantage over all the other techs in your shop. If you aspire to be a Ferrari tech, you should aspire to be the top tech everywhere you work.

.02 from a guy thats fought in the auto repair war for a long time.

 

I have a friend that was a Ferrari mechanic. He stated he started with BMW and MB since the schools were readily availible. He worked there for about 3 years when he asked a shop that carried both Lambos and Ferrari, with allot of trade in BMW and MB. He started working with the trade-in and was an apprentice with the Ferrari/Lambo lines when he wasn't busy. When they saw his drive, he was sent to school to become certified (he told me once where it was, but it slipps me at the moment).

 

I do! I am a Ferrari tech. Congratulatons on starting school. I went to what is now called Wyoming Tech in Fremont, CA. I had the option of going through a BMW step program, but it was a lot of hype and not much tech, at the time. Anyway. Get a job at a reputable shop that does it all. You will learn everything. Porsche BMW Mercedes, all the cars you can imagine. What you need is experience. I had 4 years, and was an ASE Master before I worked on my first Ferrari. I used to make my boss take in porsches and old muscle cars, and I hot rodded a few cars professionally. You have to know everything possible about any part of a car. I bought and read as many books as I could. When I was in school, I was so hungry to learn, I would ask as many questions as I could until I understood how something worked. You need to do the same. Make the most of your shop time. Pick the instructors' brains. Ask about their experiences in their old shops. The point is, you need to LEARN! You can't apply for a Ferrari tech job and not comprehend what valve overlap or exhaust scavenging is. You have to be SERIOUSLY mechanically inclined to even be a mechanic. If you don't have the knack for it, your gonna have a bad time. It's in my blood, so it's kind of natural for me and a few other people.

 

Congrats on starting towards you new career. I went to Universal Technical Institute and went throught the PTAP (Porsche) graduate program. I would recomend studying your butt off so you can get into a program like the one I went through.....it will get you to Ferrari faster if that's where you decide you really want to be after your done with school. If your grades aren't good you will NOT get into a good program. You need to graduate with a 4.0. No excuses. You need to be the BEST and prove to your future employers you are serious. If I were you and wanted to get into a Ferrari dealership one day I would concentrate on getting into Audi or Porsche. VW would work also but Audi looks better on your resume. The reason being is that there are a lot of Ferrari/Maserati dealers. Well Maserati uses alot of Audi/VW technology. So you can see where I'm going with this. Also Porsche's new line-up is almost completely using Audi/VW parts now. It's almost annoying to call them an independent company let alone Porsche anymore.....and the poor bastards who buy Cayennes. Ok enough of my *****ing about Porsche's poor choice in opting to use poor quality parts in thier so called superior vehicles. So get a year or two under your belt at Audi or Porsche and you will be on your way to working on Maserati and most likely Ferrari also.

 

I went into a broadly-diverse profession (architecture), with many subspecialties. I did the academic thing and worked all the way through it at directly related jobs, ending up with the sheepskin as well as immediately employable and production-capable. I then hung out for a year and a half and worked at a couple of real jobs that gave me work experience credentials and some good experience. Then, when an opening appeared through a friend at a firm that did very well what I wanted to do (unique, expensive one-off custom homes), I jumped on it and was as enthusiastic as a 6 week old puppy. To make it short, I went on from there and had a good career doing what I originally set out to do and made a very good living at it.

Different occupations, similar strategy. You probably are getting broad based training in auto tech school; I would make it your personal business to also learn as much about Ferrari, from Vintage on, as you can absorb, and hang around good independent Ferrari shops until they give you even a couple of days a week cleaning parts. That crap phase won't last long if you're sharp, sincere, and enthusiastic.

The important point is to get your foot in the door and some real Ferrari experience and work record while in school or immediately thereafter, and probably the best place to do this is independent shops--like the small architectural firms I worked for. I suspect this is the type of environment that you will be happiest in for the long run. If it is, you have to be prepared to do without the most of the benefits and the big salaries that the corporate dealerships offer, but I guarantee you, if you take the corporate route for security reasons only, you will probably not be happy.

I'm a retired architect now pursuing independent studies as a vintage Ferrari mechanic. (currently, looking at home car lifts)

 

What a great thread. I've been looking for something like this.

 

Step 1:
By a Ferrari

Step 2:
Buy a Ferrari shop manual

Step: 3
Buy some tools

Step 4:
Put a tool in your hand and fix it yourself

Step 5:
When you get stuck go to the tech section on Fchat and ask questions

Step 6:
Finish fixxing it

 

You can even find old 400i's for a little more than $10,000.

 

What UTI campus are you attending at?? One thing you might want to look at is check the local Exotic dealership and apply as a lot attendant. This is one great way to get your foot in the door.

Rob

 

thread of the month ...

 

drive your Ferrari until it breaks alongside the road, pull out your tool kit & Voila , you magically become a Ferrari mechanic LOL

 

I wanted to attend UTI but I am not an American citizen, and they would not offer financial assistance, so they wanted ~$50,000.00 up front. To cover tuition, tools, books, housing, bla bla bla...

 

You might want to check with them again if you are still interested as i have heard that they have secured there own private finacial assistance funding outside of the US Govt finacial Aid.

 

Hey guys, i just found this site by searching for info on the Porsche ptap program, but ne way, i`m about six months from finishing up @ UTI, and i`m applying for either the PTAP program, or the Mercedes Benz elite program, but i wanted your input on the program since you have been through it allready, thanks for ne input