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 required. 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 about as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2006. Opportunities should be best for persons with formal training in automotive body repair and mechanics. Demand for qualified body repairers will increase because, as the number of motor vehicles in operation grows with the Nation's population, the number of vehicles damaged in accidents is expected to increase as well. Also, new, lighter weight automotive designs are prone to greater collision damage than older, heavier designs and, consequently, more time is consumed in repair.