Median hourly earnings of automotive body and related repairers, including incentive pay, were $15.71 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.64 and $20.94 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $8.70, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $27.10 an hour. In 2002, median hourly earnings of automotive body and related repairers were $16.96 in automobile dealers and $15.45 in automotive repair and maintenance.
Median hourly earnings of automotive glass installers and repairers, including incentive pay, were $12.93 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $9.90 and $16.58 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $7.91, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $20.24 an hour. Median hourly earnings in 2002 in automotive repair and maintenance shops, the industry employing the largest number of automotive glass installers and repairers, were $12.86.
The majority of body repairers employed by automotive dealers and repair shops are paid on an incentive basis. Under this method, body repairers are paid a predetermined amount for various tasks, and earnings depend on the amount of work assigned to the repairer and how fast it is completed. Employers frequently guarantee workers a minimum weekly salary. Body repairers who work for trucking companies, buslines, and other organizations that maintain their own vehicles usually receive an hourly wage.
Helpers and trainees typically earn from 30 percent to 60 percent of the earnings of skilled workers. Helpers and trainees usually receive an hourly rate, until they are skilled enough to be paid on an incentive basis.
Thousands of motor vehicles are damaged in traffic accidents every day. Although some of these vehicles are beyond repair, others can be made to look and drive like new. Automotive body repairers straighten bent bodies, remove dents, and replace crumpled parts that cannot be fixed. They repair all types of vehicles, but work mostly on cars and small trucks, although some work on large trucks, buses, or tractor-trailers.
Automotive body repairers use special equipment to restore damaged metal frames and body sections. Repairers chain or clamp frames and sections to alignment machines that use hydraulic pressure to align damaged components. “Unibody” vehicles—designs built without frames—must be restored to precise factory specifications for the vehicle to operate correctly. To do so, repairers use benchmark systems to make accurate measurements of how much each section is out of alignment and hydraulic machinery to return the vehicle to its original shape.
Body repairers remove badly damaged sections of body panels with a pneumatic metal-cutting gun or by other means and weld in replacement sections. Repairers pull out less serious dents with a hydraulic jack or hand prying bar or knock them out with handtools or pneumatic hammers. They smooth out small dents and creases in the metal by holding a small anvil against one side of the damaged area while hammering the opposite side. Repairers also remove very small pits and dimples with pick hammers and punches in a process called metal finishing.
Body repairers also repair or replace the plastic body parts that are increasingly being used on new-model vehicles. They remove damaged panels and identify the type and properties of the plastic used on the vehicle. With most types of plastic, repairers can apply heat from a hot-air welding gun or by immersion in hot water and press the softened panel back into its original shape by hand. They replace plastic parts that are badly damaged or very difficult to repair.
Body repairers use plastic or solder to fill small dents that cannot be worked out of the plastic or metal panel. On metal panels, they file or grind the hardened filler to the original shape and clean the surface with a media blaster before painting. In many shops, automotive painters do the painting. (These workers are discussed in the Handbook statement on painting and coating workers, except construction and maintenance.) In small shops, workers often do both body repairing and painting. A few body repairers specialize in repairing fiberglass car bodies.
The advent of assembly-line repairs in large shops enables the establishment to move away from the one-vehicle, one-repairer method to a team approach and allows body repairers to specialize in one type of repair, such as straightening frames or repairing doors and fenders. Some body repairers specialize in installing and repairing glass in automobiles and other vehicles. Automotive glass installers and repairers remove broken, cracked, or pitted windshields and window glass. Glass installers apply a moisture-proofing compound along the edges of the glass, place the glass in the vehicle, and install rubber strips around the sides of the windshield or window to make it secure and weatherproof.
Body repair work has variety and challenges: each damaged vehicle presents a different problem. Using their broad knowledge of automotive construction and repair techniques, repairers must develop appropriate methods for each job. They usually work alone, with only general directions from supervisors. In some shops, helpers or apprentices assist experienced repairers.
Employment of automotive body repairers is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2012. The need to replace experienced repairers who transfer to other occupations or who retire or stop working for other reasons will account for the majority of job openings. Opportunities should be best for persons with formal training in automotive body repair and mechanics.
Demand for qualified body repairers will increase as the number of motor vehicles in operation continues to grow in line with the Nation’s population. With each rise in the number of motor vehicles in use, the number of vehicles damaged in accidents also will grow. New automobile designs increasingly have body parts made of steel alloys, aluminum, and plastics—materials that are more difficult to work with than are traditional steel body parts. In addition, new automotive designs of lighter weight are prone to greater collision damage than are older, heavier designs and, consequently, more time is consumed in repair.
However, increasing demand due to growth in the number of vehicles in operation will be somewhat tempered by improvements in the quality of vehicles and technological innovations that enhance safety and reduce the likelihood of accidents. Employment growth also will be limited by changes in body shop management that will increase productivity, reduce overhead expenses, and improve standardization. Larger shops will employ a team approach to repairs to decrease repair time and expand their volume of work. Insurers are increasingly looking to shop networks for repair services. In addition, demand for repair services will grow slowly as more vehicles are declared a total loss after accidents. In many such cases, the vehicles are not repaired because of the high cost of fixing the extensive damage that results when airbags deploy and of replacing the increasingly complex parts and electronic components of new vehicles.
Employment growth will continue to be concentrated in automotive repair and maintenance shops and automobile dealers. The automotive repair business is not very sensitive to changes in economic conditions, and experienced body repairers are rarely laid off. However, although major body damage must be repaired if a vehicle is to be restored to safe operating condition, repair of minor dents and crumpled fenders often can be deferred during an economic slowdown. In times of economic contractions, most employers will hire few new workers, some unprofitable body shops may go out of business, and some dealers might consolidate body shops.
Most employers prefer to hire persons who have completed formal training programs in automotive body repair, but these programs supply only a portion of employers’ needs. Therefore, most new repairers receive primarily on-the-job training, supplemented, when available, with short-term training sessions given by vehicle, parts, and equipment manufacturers. Some degree of training is necessary because advances in technology have greatly changed the structure, components, and materials used in automobiles. As a result, proficiency in new repair techniques is necessary. For example, bodies of many newer automobiles are a combination of materials—traditional steel, aluminum, and a growing variety of metal alloys and plastics. Each of these materials or composites requires the use of somewhat different techniques to reshape parts and smooth out dents and small pits. Many high schools, vocational schools, private trade schools, and community colleges offer automotive body repair training as part of their automotive service programs.
A fully skilled automotive body repairer must have good reading ability and basic mathematics and computer skills. Restoring unibody automobiles to their original form requires body repairers to follow instructions and diagrams in technical manuals in order to make precise three-dimensional measurements of the position of one body section relative to another.
A new repairer begins by assisting experienced body repairers in tasks such as removing damaged parts, sanding body panels, and installing repaired parts. Novices learn to remove small dents and to make other minor repairs. They then progress to more difficult tasks, such as straightening body parts and returning them to their correct alignment. Generally, to become skilled in all aspects of body repair requires 3 to 4 years of on-the-job training.
Certification by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), although voluntary, is the recognized standard of achievement for automotive body repairers. ASE offers a series of four exams for collision repair professionals twice a year. Repairers may take from one to four ASE Master Collision Repair and Refinish Exams. Repairers who pass at least one exam and have 2 years of hands-on work experience earn ASE certification. The completion of a postsecondary program in automotive body repair may be substituted for 1 year of work experience. Those who pass all four exams become ASE Master Collision Repair and Refinish Technicians. Automotive body repairers must retake the examination at least every 5 years to retain their certification.
Continuing education is required throughout a career in automotive body repair. Automotive parts, body materials, and electronics continue to change and to become more complex and technologically advanced. To keep up with the technological advances, repairers must continue to gain new skills, read technical manuals, and attend seminars and classes.
As beginners increase their skills, learn new techniques, and complete work more rapidly, their pay increases. An experienced automotive body repairer with supervisory ability may advance to shop supervisor. Some workers open their own body repair shops. Others become automobile damage appraisers for insurance companies.
Repairing damaged motor vehicles often involves working on mechanical components, as well as vehicle bodies. Automotive body repairers often work closely with individuals in several related occupations, including automotive service technicians and mechanics, diesel service technicians and mechanics, auto damage insurance appraisers, and painting and coating workers, except construction and maintenance.
Additional details about work opportunities may be obtained from automotive body repair shops, automobile dealers, locals of the unions previously mentioned, or local offices of your State employment service. State employment services also are a source of information about training programs.
For general information about automotive body repairer careers, write to any of the following sources:
For information on how to become a certified automotive body repairer, write to:
For a directory of certified automotive body repairer programs, contact:
For a directory of accredited private trade and technical schools that offer training programs in automotive body repair, contact:
For a list of public automotive body repair training programs, contact:
Reading, mathematic, and basic computer skills are necessary to be able to follow the manuals, print or digital, which provide repairers with instructions and diagrams. Auto Body Repair Career Overview Traffic accidents result in thousands of damaged automobiles each day. An automotive body worker will remove fixable dents, replace parts damaged beyond correction, and straighten out bent bodies. These repairers work on a variety of different vehicles, mostly cars and small trucks, but sometimes will be asked to work on buses, large trucks or even tractor-trailers. Portions of the body panels that are extremely damaged will be extracted by body repairers with a pneumatic metal-cutting gun and then new sections must be welded in to replace the old section.
Summary of: http://www.careeroverview.com/auto-body-repair-careers.html
New members are always welcome. The York Marriott Hotel Saturday 25th June 2004. It is the lead organisation for the vehicle body building, commercial vehicle repair, tail lift repair and car body repair industry. It is a member driven organisation with no external or conflicting commercial interests. The VBRA is perfectly structured and dedicated to represent and assist all those in the industry.
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Repairers need good reading ability and basic mathematics and computer skills in order to follow instructions and diagrams in print and computer-based technical manuals. Automotive body repairers straighten bent bodies, remove dents, and replace crumpled parts that cannot be fixed. With most types of plastic, repairers can apply heat from a hot-air welding gun or by immersion in hot water and press the softened panel back into its original shape by hand. In many shops, automotive painters do the painting. They usually work alone, with only general directions from supervisors.
Summary of: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos180.htm
The first part of this page includes links to educational institutions in Nebraska that offer training and certification in the art of collision repair technology. The second part of this page has an overview of the type of work performed by automotive body repair technicians. Automotive body repairers straighten bent bodies, remove dents, and replace crumpled parts that are beyond repair. Automotive body repairers use special machines to restore damaged metal frames and body sections to their original shape and location. They remove the damaged panels and determine the type of plastic from which they are made.
Summary of: http://www.nebraskaautobody.com/occupatn.html
Every reputable auto body repair shop, new car dealership and custom refinishing business employs skilled collision repair technicians. Experienced Auto Body Repairers may be paid an hourly wage, commissions on the work they do, or a combination of both. Highly experienced technicians could earn more, while non-union repairers usually earned less per hour. In larger shops, Auto Body Repairers may be promoted to estimator or body shop supervisor. How much schooling, training, or skill development.
Summary of: http://www.lcc.edu/transportation/collision_repair/careers/
Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools. Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others. LICENSURE, REGISTRATION, OR CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS Generally this is not required for Automotive Body Repairers positions in state government.
Summary of: http://jobs.state.va.us/careerguides/AutomobileBodyRepairer.htm
7322 Motor Vehicle Body Repairers Motor vehicle body repairers repair and restore damaged motor vehicle body parts and interior finishing. This unit group also includes metal repairers who repair defective automobile body parts and damage to the bodies of newly assembled cars. Employment requirements Motor vehicle body repairers Completion of secondary school is usually required. Trade certification for motor vehicle body repair (metal and paint) is compulsory in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia and available, but voluntary, in all other provinces and territories. Automotive painters Completion of secondary school is usually required.
Summary of: http://www23.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/2001/e/groups/7322.shtml
Although some of these vehicles are sold for salvage or scrapped, most can be repaired to look and drive like new. Automotive body repairers straighten bent bodies, remove dents, and replace crumpled parts that are beyond repair. They repair all types of vehicles but mostly work on cars and small trucks, although some work on large trucks, buses, or tractor-trailers. When a damaged vehicle is brought into the shop, body repairers generally receive instructions from a supervisor who determines which parts to restore or replace and how much time the job should take. In many shops, automotive painters do the painting.
Summary of: http://www.umsl.edu/services/govdocs/ooh20002001/114.htm
This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem. For example, a drywall installer might benefit from experience installing drywall, but an inexperienced person could still learn to be an installer with little difficulty. Job Training Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. SE, Suite 101, Leesburg, VA 20175.
Summary of: http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/49-3021.00