What s maybe not quite as well-known is that some of the industry s current techs are suffering, too. According to the I-CAR Education Foundation, the collision repair industry currently employs about 210,000 technicians and, of those 210,000, about 20,000 of them left the industry in the last 12 months. Although it s a staggering figure, it wouldn t be so bad if other qualified techs were tripping over each other to get hired in. Unfortunately, it appears they re only tripping over each other to get out. Less to pay.
New guys try to please their masters.
Sometimes they re forced to, they say, but they don t like it. And then there are others who refuse to hire anyone if they can t hire an experienced tech. Because of the technician shortage, some say it s never been a better time to be a trained tech or for young people to choose collision repair as a career. Because if you re skilled, you won t have a problem finding a job or making good money. You can t find them.