Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics

Overview

Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics has a national median salary of $50,620 per year, with +5% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a postsecondary certificate as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles.

Work Values

• Support
• Independence
• Relationships

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Follow checklists to ensure all important parts are examined, including belts, hoses, steering systems, spark plugs, brake and fuel systems, wheel bearings, and other potentially troublesome areas.
• Test and adjust repaired systems to meet manufacturers' performance specifications.
• Perform routine and scheduled maintenance services, such as oil changes, lubrications, and tune-ups.
• Inspect vehicles for damage and record findings so that necessary repairs can be made.
• Align wheels, axles, frames, torsion bars, and steering mechanisms of automobiles, using special alignment equipment and wheel-balancing machines.

Work Activities

• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
• Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
• Getting Information
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Detailed Work Activities

• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Servicing, repairing, adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a postsecondary certificate as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a postsecondary certificate.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics:

Video Resources