Trainees generally accumulate tools as they gain experience, and many workers have thousands of dollars invested in tools. Continuing education throughout a career in automotive body repair is becoming increasingly important. Automotive parts, body materials, and electronics continue to change and become more complex and technologically advanced. Gaining new skills, reading technical manuals, and attending seminars and classes is important for keeping up with these technological advances. 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. Job Outlook Employment of automotive body repairers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005. Opportunities should be best for persons with formal training in automotive body repair and mechanics. Requirements for body repairers will increase because as the number of motor vehicles in operation grows with the Nation's population, the number damaged in accidents will increase as well. New automobile designs increasingly have body parts made of steel alloys, aluminum, and plastics materials that are more difficult to work with than the traditional steel body parts.