It’s hard to jam all the cars into the lot at Weber Road Auto Service on a busy day.
And they’re basically all busy days.
The local auto shop has been serving Columbus’ North Linden neighborhood for 23 years. With four technicians, including shop owner Eric Easley, and four service bays, the automotive technicians fix between 15 and 25 cars a day.
“We do just about everything, bumper to bumper. We do engine work. We do some transmission work,” Easley said.
He’s been in the industry for about 40 years, and in that time, he’s seen a lot of transitions. The latest is a turn toward EVs.
“The normal mechanical part of the vehicle hasn't changed much, but the electronics parts, the electric vehicles and the batteries, and the electric motors and things like that has changed an awful lot,” Easley said.
But Easley doesn’t service electric vehicles. Right now, he doesn’t have the specialized equipment to work on electric vehicles. Plus, techs that can work on those cars are hard to come by.
A national shortage
Last year, consumer intelligence company JD Power reported that U.S. car dealerships had about 56,000 unfilled service technician positions nationwide.
40,000 new service techs graduate every year, but almost twice that many retire during the same time period, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.
There’s also the problem of the enrollment cliff in secondary education.
“There are fewer students coming through high schools which results in fewer graduate, which means there's a shrinking pool of available or potential students in college,” said John Croft, a dean of the college of applied technology at University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima.
Croft oversees UNOH’s popular automotive technology program that offers students hands-on training. He thinks that, in addition to there simply being fewer students period, some would-be auto technicians find the new, advanced technology off-putting.
“When you deal with electricity, there is the fear of electrocution,” Croft said.
Croft believes those factors contribute to a shortage of specialized technicians who can work on hybrid and electric vehicles.
“There are many shops in the area that have to share a technician because students or potential employees aren’t coming into the job force or into the workforce with that specific training,” Croft said.
There are also barriers to getting started in the auto industry. Entry pay is low, and oftentimes techs have to buy their own tools to the tune of thousands of dollars.
Additionally, Croft said the way some shops use flat rate pay to compensate their technicians, which doesn’t help techs who are still learning or aren’t as fast as others.
“So, if a repair calls for three hours and if you get paid flat rate, well, you're only going to get paid three hours for that job no matter how long it takes you,” Croft explained.
Plus, there’s constant continuing education. Easley, even with decades of experience, still does about 80 hours of training every year.
A rewarding field
With the right training and certifications, though, an auto tech can make a triple digit salary in a year, Croft said.
And Easley believes working on cars teaches lifelong skills. He encourages young people to consider it as a career.
“All of its really, really rewarding and it’s a good field to enter,” Easley said.
Easley’s youngest tech, Chase Beckert, has been working at Weber Road Auto Service for about a year. He grew up fixing cars with his dad said and got interested in auto repair because he likes racing. Easley also happened to be his neighbor.
Beckert said he can see fixing cars as a long-term career.
“The way I'm working here, there's always work. It's always busy,” Beckert said.
Easley said he always “keeps the door open” for new hires. He hopes to expand his space to include new bays, and one day he’d like to have the people and tools to work on electric cars.
Meanwhile, back at the University of Northwestern, professors are enticing students to the school’s automotive programs with drag racing and drifting clubs.
Croft said some employers are helping new hires get needed training by putting them through college or continuing education programs, sometimes through the use of a state tax credit program that helps reimburse tuition.
Croft and Easley both say more young women are taking an interest in auto repair, and Easley thinks the advances in technology will ultimately draw more young people.
“Kids like computers. They like electronics. That's what today's industry is really all about. You can work on cars nowadays and not even get dirty,” Easley said.