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Down and dirty where the money is

Pay is good, but few want to do this dirty, difficult work, creating a dilemma for car dealers.

By TOM ZUCCO
Published March 12, 2006

From beneath the hood of a chronically ill 1995 Dodge Dakota pickup, Jeramy Watembach turned and held out his bluish gray hands. "This," he says, "is the reason nobody wants to do this anymore."

There were eight people in the auto tech program at the Pinellas Technical Education Centers (PTEC) campus in St. Petersburg when he started class last March.

Today, there are three. The rest, he says, dropped out. New technology and a distaste for a little grease and a bit of hard work apparently scared them off.

That seems to be the pattern.

America is facing a growing shortage of people who want to repair cars and trucks for a living, a condition that analysts say began to show up several years ago and may get worse before it gets better.

Automotive Retailing Today, a coalition of major automobile manufacturers and dealers, estimates the United States needs 35,000 new auto technicians every year between now and 2010. Some industry analysts put the number closer to 60,000.

Put another way, for every 10 technicians who retire or change careers each year, two or three technicians enter the work force.

The problem, say auto industry officials and educators, is twofold: there are not enough young people who want to enter the trade and replace those leaving or local school districts don't have the money to hire more instructors, buy sophisticated classroom equipment and promote their programs.

Pinellas County provides a perfect example of the dilemma. While there are openings in the auto tech program at PTEC's St. Petersburg campus, there is a waiting list at the Clearwater campus because there aren't enough instructors.

Either way, qualified technicians, a vital part of the auto industry, are not entering the system fast enough.

The work is there. More than one car repair is done annually for every licensed driver in the United States, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

And it's important. Auto dealers acknowledge that much of their sales is driven by how well their service departments perform.

"The service business is a large contributor to a dealership's profitability," said Jim Myers, chief operating officer of Crown Auto, which employs about 120 technicians in its eight Tampa Bay area dealerships. "But it's a struggle to find technicians."

Entry-level technicians earn about $25,000 a year, according to industry data, and experienced technicians earn about $40,000. Earnings usually depend on the amount of work available and completed, and salaries tend to climb along with skill levels and the value of the cars repaired. A very good and very fast Porsche, BMW or Mercedes-Benz master technician can make as much as $120,000.

Such a high salary is certainly the exception. When the wages of the lowest and highest-skilled technicians and shop workers are computed, the average median weekly earnings for auto repair workers is 7.5 percent below the national average, according to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association.

In addition, nearly 25 percent of the nation's nearly 1-million auto technicians receive no fringe benefits, and about half are not covered by a medical plan, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But among the biggest hurdles employers and educators face in recruiting students is the perception of what a technician does.

"It's really a high-tech job," Myers said. "It comes down to computerized systems on many vehicles as well as diagnostic computers as opposed to taking apart an engine."

Even the term mechanic is passe.

They are now referred to as automotive technicians.

Classes in auto repair are held in every county in the state, usually through a high school or a technical program such as PTEC.

Some of the programs participate in Automotive Youth Education Service (AYES), which has about 500 participating schools and more than 4,000 participating dealers. Automakers conduct apprenticeship and other programs to allow technicians to learn new advancements and upgrade their certifications.

Still, Myers described the shortage of technicians as "nearing the critical stage".

"The problem," he said, "is funding. In Florida, funding for technical education has taken a back seat to community college and university funding. It's actually gone backward since 1999.

"The point is that there are lots of great jobs for kids who don't want to go to college."

And there are lots of those kids. In Florida, for every 100 ninth-grade students, 14 will graduate with an associate's degree within three years or a bachelor's degree within six years, Myers said, citing statistics from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. "Many of the ones who didn't go to college," he said, "could get plugged right in right away and be working."

But first, they need basic training.

Students at PTEC pay about $6,000 for the 1,800-hour program and put in about 25 hours a week. They often spend their afternoons and early evenings working at a dealership or repair shop to reinforce what they've learned.

"There is a need," said George McGough , an instructor at the St. Petersburg campus. "And we have no trouble placing our people as long as they're willing to work.

"I even had a nurse, a single mom, who came through the program, and last I heard, she was managing a Jiffy Lube."

As cars become more like rolling computers, McGough said, the people who repair them have to keep pace. The days of figuring out what's wrong with a car simply by listening to the engine and guessing what to fix are ending.

Even simple jobs like oil changes can be difficult on newer models.

But some things haven't changed.

With his grandfather's red Snap-On tool chest close by, Watembach, 28, continued to work on the dysfunctional Dodge inside PTEC's training classroom. His father and grandfather were auto mechanics, and although he works evenings as a cook, Watembach is ready for a career change.

It took him a while to find the program, he said. But when he gets out this fall, he expects to find work easily.

"You have to be self-motivated," he said, "and not be intimidated by computers and electricity.

"Your girlfriend might not like it too much," he said, looking at his hands. "But to me, it's really exciting.

"It makes me feel like I'm part of something."

[Last modified March 12, 2006, 23:51:43]