Dave - Daryl did have a decent idea. Anyway you slice it the Car Biz sucks but going over to a role as a writer, dispatcher, or ASM for a while and work towards being a shop manager might be at minimum a good career change to at least hold you over until devine intervention kicks in. If you have questions on the back end of that business, I may be able to answer them for you as I did that for 7-8 years.
IF you were to do that, go to an all Jap shop, pref Toy, Honda, Nissan (in that order) as a lot of the work is gravy work with a mild reduction in headache -v- domestic. This is not an endorsement for the Japanese cars but an observation that they need regular maintenance more than many domestics so there is more balance in the work load. VW is also good in that space.
Money is not what a Class A tech doing 60-80 flat rate is going to make, not even what an A Tech is making @ 40 but it is less stressful on the body short term and long term. You won't need to yell "Put a %&$@# hose on it
" but you will need to tell the line to fill out the RO, verify it if REALLY needs brakes, and get bitched at when you don't get the upsell, Oh, and you will need to worry about CSI. I think every tech should spend a month as a writer to learn about CSI
.
Other options, especially where you are a tranny guy, is to get a job as an estimator for one of the underwiting/warrwanty companies. Yes, kindof a crap job but there is some flexibility, you use the knowledge you already have, and you would probably be good at it. You are Master, right?