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A number of industries are known for hiring a large number of illegal aliens in order to save money, and one of them, unfortunately, is the auto repair industry.

Auto techs must decide for themselves which job requirements are acceptable. There are many ranking factors, including auto tech wages.

American wages have stagnated, and many people do not work at all. Adjusted for inflation, many workers make far less than their counterparts in the 1970s and 1980s.

How busy is your shop during the holidays? How much bargaining do you and your coworkers have to do in order to take holiday time off in December?

The recent Chicago Auto Mechanics’ Strike illustrated some of the things at stake in the push and pull between techs and dealers as well as the benefits of collective bargaining power.

How would a new overtime pay ruling from the Department of Labor affect your auto repair shop?

As more and more auto repair shops have gone to a paperless operations process, their managers have discovered the many advantages of running their shops using digital files only.

Is one reason for the tech shortage in today’s auto repair industry the new epidemic of drug use by Americans?

Many auto techs argue that there are many qualified and hardworking techs in the field, the problem is that owners do not want to compensate them fairly for their time and skill.

In the dialogue between auto repair shop managers and workers, one frustrated complaint comes up over and over again from the management side: auto techs are too unreliable.

Today’s auto technicians have to be comfortable with learning and change, and they have to be willing to spend more time in the classroom in order to keep doing their jobs.

In examining the pros and cons of working at independent auto repair shops vs. dealerships, one issue that arises for auto techs is benefits.

Auto shop managers need to take into account the incentives, disincentives, and pressures requiring a tech to have an expensive set of tools places on him. What kind of tool policy does your shop have, and how does it affect the talent you are able to attract?

Auto repair shops need to address the shortage in order to stay in business. What is yours doing to ensure that it will be staffed in ten years? Five years? Next year?

If you deal with employees who are late to work or do not use their time wisely or complete their work in a timely fashion, are there any actions you can take as a manager to address these problems?

A manager can’t fall prey to the temptation to micromanage employees. It’s crucial that every manager control what’s going on without being controlling.

Continuous education is very important in the auto repair industry, whether that means customer service training, service advisor training, auto tech training, or other certification.

What strategies do successful shops use to manage their businesses and ensure profitability? One of the most critical is implementing systems, procedures, and policies and making sure your employees follow them.

We recently ran a survey asking for input in what quality employees really want, asking managers to survey their own valued employees and choose from a list ten things that were most important about a job.

Recently in a survey we asked our users to check all that applied to this question: Other than when performing the actual repair or service, during which of the following are the techs at your shop normally punched (clocked) onto the vehicle?