Shop Licensing Survey – Looking for your opinion

[29ster]

Much More, We are professionals and should be licensed and registered accordingly.

[cwright]

much more

[Larry Moore]

Much more but it must be Mandatory Professional Certification and Licensure.  Not just registration or licensing, all that does it add money to government coffers with no real benefit for the industry.

[Tom]

Much less.

Government in general adds to costs and causes very little improvement in the areas that people tend to think they will.

Just imagine the auto industry regulated by the same folks who run the VA.

[deanhock612]

Much more in Texas, all you need is tools and a place to work to call yourself a professional.

[hoauto]

Not sure at this point. If it is to help ensure competence of the technician, we already have ASE.

What would be the advantage to us as a service provider? I am not sure that I want bureaucrats deciding guidelines for how we do our jobs. They have some of their own challenges in that area.

I would be open to more discussion on this topic. I have not followed too closely the recent approval of automotive technician licensing in other  parts of the country.

Andy

[mtweedman]

MUCH MORE

As unpopular as licensing is with many shop owners, I firmly believe it is time we purge the unqualified from our profession.

Todd

[Tom]

Andy:

We have had licensing for both techs and shops in Michigan for quite some time, often said to be the most stringent overall, if not very close to it. 

Hack shops and techs still abound.

You have dozens of unlicensed techs and shop to chose from as soon as you bring up Craigslist.

The biggest difference is that I have spent well over $20K out of pocket in licensing fees. The big winner here is the state. It does next to nothing for consumers, techs or shops.

People easily forget how government typically works and what their primary goal often is – self sustenance – once it is in place, it will be there forever. 

[easauto]

I agree with Tom, the last thing we need is big brother in our business anymore than they are now. All I have to think of is USPS, Amtrak and of course Obamascare. With the social media and internet these day’s it is easier than ever for the consumer to find qualified shops and ones that delver quality work with sufficient warranty’s.

[tomking]

I agree with Tom also, we all would be fooling ourselves if we thought for a minute that the government would be able help our industry by regulating it.

[Patrick McElroy]

As a shop owner, I have given the State of Michigan $7+grand for license fees over the past 15 years. That does’nt include another thousand for personal mechanical license fees over the last thirty years. I have nothing to show for that money invested. Virtually all of the licensing monies have been diverted to the general fund to fill holes in deficit spending. Our “repair act” is on of the stringest in the country. Problem is, it’s outdated, not enforced, and a joke. You will have better luck steering the Titanic than to get legislators and regulators to “fix” this industry. OSHA and the EPA are the only government oversite that may be necessary. The civil courts can handle the “hacks” of our industry if a customer needs them.

[Tom]

As time goes on more people realize that looking to the government to solve your problems is generally a bad idea as it rarely works. Government does a few things well…overseeing auto repair is not one of them. 

Most shops really don’t want the “customers” that go to the Craigslisters anyway. Think of these backyard “shops” as doing you a favor by keeping the losers out of your shop, wasting your valuable time that could be better spent on your first class quality customers…those who wouldn’t go to a backyard shop for any reason…ever.

Your best route to being successful is you….not some government licensing program.

[John Schupp]

Bad idea for all the reasons already mentioned.

[chcinc]

I think shop licensing is very different from state to state.

The idea of getting rid of bad apples seems like a good one. If you were an ASE master tech, nice guy, who did alot of charity and hard work to help your customers in need, and one day a state office gets a bug about a complaint due to a employee tech who promised up and down he road tested it and torqued this and that to spec – well it does not matter – the license is you and they could shut you down even though you did nothing nefarious. So be careful, there should be rules for reparations, insurances, basic training, but some licensing regs in some states can end up putting the innocent out of business.

I think techs need licensing and ethical standards – along with a Hypocratic oath. I would rather be a licensed tech and own a shop. As a licensed tech I would have high standards, its my name on the line not my shops. That would weed out the bad apples and elevate our image. It would be an honorable profession, 

Similar to an engineers license, architect, or land surveyor. Those professionals will only do their work by the book. Quality is an absolute. Thats where we need to go. We could make it easy by using ASE as the basis for certification on systems and perhaps add an ethics and legal regulatory exam. It does not have to be overly complex.

[snakebite]

Not sure at this point. If it is to help ensure competence of the technician, we already have ASE.

What would be the advantage to us as a service provider? I am not sure that I want bureaucrats deciding guidelines for how we do our jobs. They have some of their own challenges in that area.

I would be open to more discussion on this topic. I have not followed too closely the recent approval of automotive technician licensing in other  parts of the country.

Andy