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Level 3 Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Apprenticeship

Level 3 Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Apprenticeship
with and without a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Where can this take you other than an Auto-Electrician if I had these qualifications?
And what would the salary be?

Any info would help.
Reply 1


I don't know anything about the qualification in the title, I'm afraid. But as you've mentioned a mech eng degree, that can take you lots of places.
Reply 3
Original post by Smack
I don't know anything about the qualification in the title, I'm afraid. But as you've mentioned a mech eng degree, that can take you lots of places.


Yeah, may do a degree then. I have other degree options too such as Automotive, Electrical/Electronics, Manufacturing Engineering and more.
Original post by King_786
Yeah, may do a degree then. I have other degree options too such as Automotive, Electrical/Electronics, Manufacturing Engineering and more.


I'm not saying it's a bad or worthless qualification, just that I don't know anything about it. It could well be very worthwhile and set you on the path to a good career.
Reply 5
Original post by Smack
I'm not saying it's a bad or worthless qualification, just that I don't know anything about it. It could well be very worthwhile and set you on the path to a good career.


Yeah I'm still gonna do the Level 3 qualification but I'm saying I may do the degree after at Uni.
Reply 6
Original post by King_786
Level 3 Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Apprenticeship
with and without a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Where can this take you other than an Auto-Electrician if I had these qualifications?
And what would the salary be?

Any info would help.


You would need to check that the Level 3 course meets the entry requirements for a MechEng degree. Different universities may take different views of this. And some may also require A-level Maths.
Reply 7
I have that qualification, all I got from it was a royal pain in the Arse. Working as a car mechanic is only worthwhile when you get to be master technician level. Which is many years of busting your balls, working for peanuts and taking ****.
It's not worthwhile, I regret the 4.5 years I wasted as a mechanic in training and then in industry.
My advice? Go to college, get what you need to get into university for the degree and get that. Part time job while at college will get you as much as an apprentice wage would aswell.
The course is basic in its realist sense. I passed every section of it with a distinction, n that's not even trying. It will not advance your mathematical ability at all, which is what the college and uni courses will mostly require and look actively for
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Dav1dJG
I have that qualification, all I got from it was a royal pain in the Arse. Working as a car mechanic is only worthwhile when you get to be master technician level. Which is many years of busting your balls, working for peanuts and taking ****.
It's not worthwhile, I regret the 4.5 years I wasted as a mechanic in training and then in industry.
My advice? Go to college, get what you need to get into university for the degree and get that. Part time job while at college will get you as much as an apprentice wage would aswell.
The course is basic in its realist sense. I passed every section of it with a distinction, n that's not even trying. It will not advance your mathematical ability at all, which is what the college and uni courses will mostly require and look actively for


Ok, but this course alone can get me into the Auto-Electrician job. I want this job in JLR.
Reply 9
Original post by King_786
Ok, but this course alone can get me into the Auto-Electrician job. I want this job in JLR.


Out of all of the mainstream manufacturers, JLR are the people to work for. Their master technicians get north of 40k a year.
Really think about it is all i'll say, cos for me personally it was worst decision I've made.

Sorry like, I just feel really strongly about it! Theres another guy in my class in exact same situation as me, he feels exactly the way I do lol

Each to their own though of course 😉
Reply 10
Original post by Dav1dJG
Out of all of the mainstream manufacturers, JLR are the people to work for. Their master technicians get north of 40k a year.
Really think about it is all i'll say, cos for me personally it was worst decision I've made.

Sorry like, I just feel really strongly about it! Theres another guy in my class in exact same situation as me, he feels exactly the way I do lol

Each to their own though of course 😉


What do you work as now? Yeah JLR is definitely where I want to work. £40k a year would be amazing.. Auto-Electricians get around £35k yearly. Whats so bad about it I dont get it? Was it just too easy, or was it boring? Didn't it help you in your career?
Original post by King_786
What do you work as now? Yeah JLR is definitely where I want to work. £40k a year would be amazing.. Auto-Electricians get around £35k yearly. Whats so bad about it I dont get it? Was it just too easy, or was it boring? Didn't it help you in your career?


i'm doing the mechanical engineering BEng pal, being a car mechanic wasn't for me anymore.
it's fine when you get further up, then you get the cushy jobs where you get to walk out each evening with clean fingernails (sounds stupid but it gets really ****in annoying when the swarfega doesn't even get your hands clean properly). then you get to push off the jobs to the guy that's gonna have the most trouble with them. That happens, it's such a *****y profession.
the apprenticeship is ok as long as you can handle the "bullying" lol cos you're shielded from all the **** that goes on above you with service advisors and customers and managers.
the SVQ is too easy. apart from the mechanical stuff (changing shocks, steering racks, anti-roll bars etc) you're not prepared for being back at work. electrical issues come in off the street and you're only as good as the manufacturer software on tthe computers. you end up chasing your tail half the time. i once spent 2 days trying to find an issue which turned out to be some water that had got into a connection between control modules in the engine bay. Volvo's prescribed fix for this problem (which affected what felt like 100% of the cars) was to change the entire engine bay wiring harness and control module. nightmare trust me.

you need to pray you get a journeyman thats good with fault-finding electrical stuff or you're fiddling about in the dark
Reply 12
Original post by Dav1dJG
i'm doing the mechanical engineering BEng pal, being a car mechanic wasn't for me anymore.
it's fine when you get further up, then you get the cushy jobs where you get to walk out each evening with clean fingernails (sounds stupid but it gets really ****in annoying when the swarfega doesn't even get your hands clean properly). then you get to push off the jobs to the guy that's gonna have the most trouble with them. That happens, it's such a *****y profession.
the apprenticeship is ok as long as you can handle the "bullying" lol cos you're shielded from all the **** that goes on above you with service advisors and customers and managers.
the SVQ is too easy. apart from the mechanical stuff (changing shocks, steering racks, anti-roll bars etc) you're not prepared for being back at work. electrical issues come in off the street and you're only as good as the manufacturer software on tthe computers. you end up chasing your tail half the time. i once spent 2 days trying to find an issue which turned out to be some water that had got into a connection between control modules in the engine bay. Volvo's prescribed fix for this problem (which affected what felt like 100% of the cars) was to change the entire engine bay wiring harness and control module. nightmare trust me.

you need to pray you get a journeyman thats good with fault-finding electrical stuff or you're fiddling about in the dark


The plan for me was that I'd do this course then apply for the Auto-Electrician job at JLR and then if I got in thats great if not then I'd go Uni and do the Mechanical Engineering BEng which is what you're doing. So basically we both are going for the same type of career choice i think? What do you wanna do when u leave Uni? And what happens if you get something wrong at the place and which college did you study the course at (level 3 one) ?
Original post by King_786
The plan for me was that I'd do this course then apply for the Auto-Electrician job at JLR and then if I got in thats great if not then I'd go Uni and do the Mechanical Engineering BEng which is what you're doing. So basically we both are going for the same type of career choice i think? What do you wanna do when u leave Uni? And what happens if you get something wrong at the place and which college did you study the course at (level 3 one) ?


I'm in Aberdeen. When I leave here I'm hopefully going back into the oil game. I was there before I started this course. Maybe get a postgraduate in Decommissioning. That's gonna be a big deal up here and worldwide. That'll keep me going till retirement lol
I did my apprenticeship with Arnold Clark, they have their own accredited college in Glasgow. If you get a bit wrong or miss something or other, you'll get another go at it. You'll never fail badly enough to get told to go away lol
Reply 14
Original post by Dav1dJG
I'm in Aberdeen. When I leave here I'm hopefully going back into the oil game. I was there before I started this course. Maybe get a postgraduate in Decommissioning. That's gonna be a big deal up here and worldwide. That'll keep me going till retirement lol
I did my apprenticeship with Arnold Clark, they have their own accredited college in Glasgow. If you get a bit wrong or miss something or other, you'll get another go at it. You'll never fail badly enough to get told to go away lol


I'm still gonna do this course as it will help me in what I want to do.. Then we'll see what goes on from there. Good luck to you pal. :smile:

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