Opinion: Certified Techs: An Endangered Species

This Opinion piece appears in the May 14 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

By Jay Safford
Automotive Instructor/Master Certified Technician
Palm Beach Community College

I have been an ASE master-certified automotive/truck technician for more than 25 years, and the insights I’m sharing with you are from my personal experiences as a technician, manager and teacher — as well as a soldier-mechanic in the U.S. Army.

The automotive industry has experienced many changes in the past 20 to 30 years, both in the number of vehicles on the road and in the vastly improved technologies that have changed them.

Technicians in the field working on both trucks and automobiles know how hard it is to keep up with the technologies the manufacturers have put into the vehicles.

For those of you unfamiliar with these technologies, here is a taste: Computer systems now consist of multiple modules for several systems linked together on a single network. The modules can be programmed to provide different functions for the vehicle controls from steering and suspension to engine and climate controls and beyond.

Technicians who work on trucks can look forward to even more complications as the low-emission technology required by the Environmental Protection Agency for diesel engines has been phased in with changes every few years as new government-mandated phases kick in. Ten years ago, most technicians had never heard of “selective catalytic reduction,” much less worked on a diesel engine outfitted with SCR to reduce polluting emissions.

Technicians today have a tough time keeping up with the technologies of new-age vehicles. Some cannot handle the changes, simply give up and leave the profession. The main reason they leave is that employers have very few training options for their technicians. In addition, many technicians suffer from a lack of new-model training.

I am lucky to have had manufacturer training, but most independent repair shop owners are not afforded this luxury. Dealers have the manufacturer training advantage but tend to lose technicians because of lower pay scales.

Independent shops take advantage of this situation and offer more money to their technicians, although with fewer benefits. Technicians typically choose to be employed by the independent shop owners, but by doing so, they lose the opportunity for updated training and improved skills.

The automotive industry as a whole has started examining the problem and is beginning to offer increased pay and further training, but more needs to be done. The demand to recruit more technicians increases, while the shortage continues to spread, affecting all automotive and trucking fields.

Local and state governments and schools need to get more involved and help make more programs available to independent and dealer technicians alike. The current shortage exceeds 50,000 to 100,000 technicians and is growing worse every day. The vehicle technologies that are currently available need well-trained, certified technicians to repair them, as will future technologies. It is absolutely necessary to make training available to all.

The pay scale for technicians also will have to change. A technician today has a more in-depth job than the mechanic of past years, a contrast even more pronounced with trucks than with automobiles. Years ago in an independent shop, the mechanic got paid 50% and the owner got 50%. Today, the technician more typically gets 20%, and the shop owner, 80%. Someone is getting the short end of the stick.

It’s no wonder technicians don’t stay in one place very long or even stay in the field. If employers want to attract and hold onto technicians, they have to give up more of the green. They have to realize that a good, certified technician will make or save them a lot of money as long as he or she is paid well and has a fair boss to work for. If they treat their technicians poorly, they won’t have them for long. The flat rate system needs to be scrutinized to reveal how the technician is being taken advantage of.

Technicians today face another problem: tools. To work on vehicles today, a variety of tools is needed to complete jobs effectively and efficiently. Yet, it seems as though every day you work on a vehicle, you find there is a new tool you do not have and most likely you will have to purchase.

Few people realize that most master technicians have purchased $20,000 to $100,000 worth of tools, and it doesn’t stop there. For every new vehicle that is made, there is at least one new tool that will need to be purchased in order to accurately service that vehicle. A technician new to the field will need $5,000 to $10,000 in tools just to get a job.

Technicians have a great responsibility — making vehicles safe and reliable to drive. But the industry has a responsibility to look after its technicians. If you look at the pay scale for technicians back in the 1980s and compare it to the present, you will find that, in terms of dollars today, technicians make less money, require more expensive tools and have a higher cost of living than 20 years ago.

To ensure that technicians receive the training they need, governments, schools and employers need to become more actively involved. And that will lead to more ASE-certified technicians.

Jay Safford teaches automotive technology at Palm Beach Community College, Fla., and contributes to Thomson Delmar Learning’s ASE preparation materials.