Shortly after the economy began to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, automotive dealerships acted on an unsettled problem: a shortage of technicians. With full support from their manufacturers, dealerships began courting young men and women, which has made independent repair shops vulnerable.
The auto care industry needs to produce sustainable solutions to recruit and retain capable technicians to operate independent garages. Without creative intervention, the installers’ livelihood faces endangerment, and ultimately the customers’ choice of repair outlets will be limited.
While finding talented help is not a new issue for the auto repair segment, the dealerships awoke to another trend: fixing vehicles requires tech-savvy individuals who can diagnosis serpentine computerized line-codes. However, many high school vocational programs that meet that need have disappeared, making the labor shortage even more urgent.
Automakers like FiatChrysler and BMW anticipated the negative consequences of a short-staffed service facility, including repair delays and vehicle comebacks. Consequently, they took matters into their own hands by introducing comprehensive outreach campaigns for young people that offer a viable career path in the automotive trades.
In one instance, reported in The New York Times, FiatChrysler formed an alliance with N.J.-based Lincoln Technical Institute that specializes in a range of vehicle instruction while emphasizing soft-skill interpersonal communication with customers. BMW launched its own 16-week course that prepared the top students for the dealerships’ service and maintenance departments. Sixty percent of Lincoln’s graduates chose name-brand car dealers, while the remaining 40 percent landed opportunities with either Midas or Pep Boys.
To draw young people into these programs, the automakers relied on incentives, including salary. For instance, The New York Times noted that with five more years of experience, a master installer can make $100,000 a year. According to W. Scott Wheeler, director of Automotive Consulting Group, who advises the auto repair shops, Honda will cover tuition expenses for such programs and subsidize the cost of the repair tools.
Another enticement for prospective employees is a pleasant work environment. Wheeler pointed out that dealerships provide comfortable indoor working conditions, where mechanics can turn wrenches in a climate-controlled service stall during the cold winter season and blistering summer months. The reality, he conceded, is that too few independent shop owners can match the attractive incentives that dealers — including Ford, GM, Honda, and many others — are offering.
What steps can the auto care industry take to engage new technicians to pursue a career with an independent garage? When the Auto Care Association meets in San Francisco on Sept. 6, 2017 for its leadership conference, they could dedicate one day to brainstorming. That session, which should include the 400-plus members who represent the full spectrum of businesses, should focus on producing a set of concrete initiatives that goes beyond proposing a solid living wage and the security of health insurance. Specifically, that conversation should explore two fundamentals: what perspective mechanics value and what shops have done to distinguish their businesses.
Program groups like Bumper-To-Bumper, NAPA, Federated and PRONTO can help identify what kinds of competitive pressures the affiliated car care centers encounter in their marketplaces. These groups might also engage technical schools to generate partnerships to promote the upside of running a shop. As it happens, Lincoln Institute’s president, Robert Paganini, is up to the challenge to help installers find qualified technicians. Paganini commented that the school’s clients “prefer to work with us because of our commitment to providing quality entry-level technicians to the automotive field.”
Incorporating new tools into independent shops may be another way to attract and retain young people into becoming technical entrepreneurs. For instance, the issue of managing labor shortages led Carolyn Coquillette, a former mechanic, to create a unique software solution called Shop-Ware. Shop-Ware’s platform reduces service writing, parts ordering and inventory oversight, and thus enables mechanics to fix vehicles on time. The platform also enhances the customers’ experience because technicians can display the service work all bundled neatly on one screen.
So far, too few industry players have been strongly committed to move ahead compared with the progressive actions that automakers have delivered to their dealer networks. However, by assembling a cross section at the leadership conference with people like Shop-Ware managers and similar-minded manufacturers, suppliers, program groups, and retailers, the Auto Care Association can prove to disadvantaged shop owners that they are the voice of the industry.
As Coquette explains in response to the dearth of technicians, “We need to learn from the industries that are investing more in people and doing what it takes to attract and retain premium talent.” The September conference could be our opportunity to demonstrate that independence drives us and do just that.
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