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Where Have All The Technicians Gone?

19-06-2015
Industry news

There is a massive skills shortage in the motor trade at the moment and this is more evident in the service department. Technicians are currently at a premium with franchise trained and experienced technicians not being as readily available as they have been in the past.

Why is this? One reason relevant in an area that we cover, (the Midlands), is the massive investment being made by JLR into their products in the local area. Vince Cable warned that the ‘scarcity of trained engineers is a critical issue’. As a manufacturer, they are able to pay considerably more than local Main Dealers or Independent Garages and this has seen massive numbers of technicians moving out of dealerships into the manufacturer on short-term contracts.

Another reason that we are experiencing such a skills shortage in the industry at the moment is due to the lack of apprenticeships that have been offered over the past few years. As the recession affected the motor industry in 2008 onwards, apprenticeships stopped.

If you think about a scenario where if only half of the main dealers in the UK, between 2008 and 2012, took on one less apprentice there would be approximately 1600 fewer technicians available now than there could have been. Add to this the number of technicians who actually left the trade during this period as well as technicians that have been promoted away from the tools or have retired and you're looking at a significantly higher number of technicians that are no longer in this role.

We are now paying for that with the current lack of skilled technicians working in the dealer network.

Luckily companies like the RAC, backed by the IMI, are trying to rectify the situation by offering flexible apprenticeships that will serve to offer Dealerships, Independent Garages and other motor trade businesses more technicians for the future.

Another factor, raised by the IMI CEO Steve Nash, is that just 9% of parents would encourage their children to work in the motor industry. Why is this the case? My colleague James Gilchrist has recently written about the success of growing our own within the motor trade and taking on people from outside the industry.

With great opportunities available to those in the motor industry why are we not attracting new talent to the industry?