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Hire and Retain the Best Talent for Your Auto Repair Shop

The article titled "Hire and Retain the Best Talent for Your Auto Repair Shop" from Tekmetric emphasizes strategies for attracting and keeping skilled employees in automotive repair businesses, supported by industry insights and success stories such as Metro Motor's growth in average repair orders across multiple shops.

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Join 1,000+ industry leaders at Tektonic 2027. Early bird pricing is now open.

See how Metro Motor grew their average repair order to $800 across 19 shops with Tekmetric

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Hire and Retain the Best Talent for Your Auto Repair Shop

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Reading the ARO Gaps Among Your Shops

How to Deliver a Consistent Auto Repair Customer Experience Across Every Location

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https://www.tekmetric.com/post/hire-and-retain-talent-auto-repair-shop

Every element of your team is critical, from the technicians who complete the repairs to the service writers who assist customers and keep repair orders flowing through your shop management system.

They’re the people who are responsible for directly communicating with guests or working on vehicles. They're the core of your everyday operations, ensuring cars are brought in, estimates move along, and repairs are completed on time.

It is absolutely critical for great shops to start with great talent!

With the power of cloud-based shop management systems, auto repair shops can build the best team possible with the right mindset, culture, and approach to hiring and retaining the best talent.

But Isn't There a Technician Shortage?

We know that there has been some discussion across the industry regarding a technician shortage -- whatever it is, shops feel like it's harder than it's been in the past to find the best talent possible to help them make their great shop even better.

What's interesting though, is that when we look at the numbers, there seems to be a bit of a different story.

For example, according to the 2024 Auto Care Association Fact Sheet, automotive technician employment increased by 3.5% in 2022 alone. Meaning, that there are now 915,000 men and women working at general repair shops, vehicle dealerships, and gasoline service stations.

The reality is, there are even more technicians! And the beauty is, there's no sign of slowing down within the aftermarket auto repair industry, just as we saw in our latest Auto Repair Industry Index.

1. Maximize Employee Compensation

Shops should structure their team and payroll operations to, of course, maximize labor profit margins. But it's also critical that shop owners ensure employees are paid adequately for their work.

Now, shops have the ability to pay different roles in different ways. When we dug into Tekmetric-specific data, we saw shops around the country utilizing different pay structures:

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But more importantly, what we really noticed was how Tekmetric makes it possible for shops to find and retain the best talent. In fact, we found that on average, Tekmetric shops can pay their technicians almost $5 higher than the national average from 2022.

The best way to show your team how much you value their hard work is to compensate them well for the work they do. And of course, owners need to ensure the lights can stay on while running a business. That's why a cloud-based shop management system is so critical in maximizing the value of the work you already do.

1. Create an Open-Door Policy

You don’t want to create a situation where your team members feel like it’s required for them to keep you in the loop and ask for your permission before doing anything on their own; they still need to maintain a level of independence, so that they can complete their work, and you can tackle high-level business operations.

But an open-door policy is a great way to balance your team’s need for independence with your need for input.

When your auto repair team members know they can ask you or other members of the management team for help when they need it, they are more likely to speak up when they run into challenges.

By doing so, problems will be less likely to spiral out of control because you and your employees can work together to find solutions.

2. Hold Regular Team Meetings

By holding regular meetings, you can bring your technicians, service advisors, and the rest of your auto shop team together to share ideas and make improvements.

When your auto shop team members start discussing various processes and happenings at your shop, they’ll be able to brainstorm creative, effective solutions—solutions that they might not have come up with on their own.

Before Sunil Patel launched Tekmetric, he was a med-student-turned-shop-owner. At his shop, Motorwërks, Sunil would bring his together for daily rounds, much like doctors do with their team of nurses and surgeons:

“In the morning, when I used to go through residency, we would have breakfast in a room of 25 students, and we would discuss cases… It was like a puzzle. One person would discuss a patient, and everybody has to figure out the problem that patient had.

I did the same thing at Motorwërks. I would have breakfast provided, and we would sit in a room and discuss a car that would have a noise or leak and figure out what was wrong.”

What Sunil found was that the practice of daily meetings instilled confidence and camaraderie in his team.

By holding daily or weekly meetings with your entire auto shop team, you can quickly identify and solve problems while strengthening your team.

Use Tekmetric to Hire and Retain the Best Talent

With Tekmetric, your service advisors and technicians can work alongside each other as one unit.

Scaling your business and bringing in even more revenue for your shop doesn't have to rely on finding new customers.

Rather, shops can utilize the features of cloud-based shop management systems to help them maximize profit margins on the work they already do.

With a modern platform like Tekmetic, shops can not only get the most value out of the work they do, but hire the best talent to provide the best service possible.

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

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A Note from Sunil: Why We Built Tektonic 2026

Over the years, I’ve had thousands of conversations with shop owners, advisors, and technicians across the country. No matter the size of the shop or how long you’ve been using Tekmetric, I keep hearing the same two things:

You want a place to learn from each other.

And you want deeper, hands-on Tekmetric training.

That’s exactly why we built Tektonic 2026.

If you’ve already found this page, you probably know the basics: three days in Houston, April 9-11, built for owners, advisors, and technicians from every kind of shop and every kind of system. Tektonic is about one thing — helping you get better results, faster, with practical education, shop-tested playbooks, and product training you can actually use.

Here’s a sneak peek at what we have in store, at what that really means for you and your team.

For Owners: Stop Profit from Slipping Through the Cracks

You already work hard. The question is whether every hour and every RO is actually paying you back.

Breakout: Unlock Hidden Profits Without Blowing Up What Already Works — Alex Saladna, CEO, WickedFile

‍ Even well-run shops leak profit in the back office: unclaimed credits, fees that never get billed, vendor mistakes that never get caught. This session is about tightening all of that up without burning everything down and starting over.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Simple audits you can run regularly to spot hidden losses
  • A clear view of where profit usually disappears — and how to plug those holes
  • Ways to automate repetitive tasks so more dollars stay in the business

If you’ve ever felt like your top line looks good but the bottom line doesn’t match the grind, this one’s worth circling.

Breakout: ADAS & Required Calibrations: Protect Your Shop and Your Customers — Joel Adcock, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Revv

‍ Late-model vehicles roll in, ADAS is everywhere, and the liability is real. Missed calibrations aren’t just a line item you forgot to bill — they’re a safety issue and a trust issue.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Clarity on when calibrations are required and how to identify them
  • How to bake calibrations into your SOPs and ROs so they don’t get missed
  • Practical ways to educate your team and your customers on why this matters

The goal: fix vehicles right the first time, protect your reputation, and make sure you’re charging appropriately for the work you’re already responsible for.

Breakout: Scale on Purpose, Not by Accident — Jesse Jackson & Brian Walden, Mango Automotive

‍ If you’ve ever wondered how some shops jump to eight figures while you’re fighting for steady month-over-month growth, Jesse and Brian are going to walk you through the playbook they actually used.

For managers: Master the Maelstrom — Aaron Blair, Director of Operations, Alloy Automotive Partners

In the fast lane of auto service, chaos is inevitable—but profit isn’t. Aaron Blair, systems architect behind Blair and Alloy Automotive, shows how to turn daily disorder into precision workflow with tactical frameworks to control every moving part, from dispatching ROs to winning buy-in from techs and advisors.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Use systems to get ahead: Build smarter workflows with dispatch boards, SOPs, and tech scoreboards to spot bottlenecks early.
  • Maximize your day: Treat your calendar as a tool with time blocks for RO triage, tech coaching, and margin reviews.
  • Create team consistency: Rely on huddles, checklists, and incentives so every team member stays aligned and executes to standard.

Also in the owner-focused track at Tektonic:

  • Reporting Deep Dive: Making Sense of Tekmetric’s Dashboards
  • From Invoice to Insights: Using Tekmetric to Master Shop Financials
  • Love the Shop Again: Mindset Shifts to Lead, Inspire, and Grow
  • Build It and They Will Come: How to Open a Shop That Stands Out, Attracts Talent, and Builds Loyalty Fast
  • Powering Growth with Tekmetric Payments: From Faster Cash Flow to Customer Financing
  • Running MSOs: Tools and Best Practices

For Service Advisors: Turn Conversations into Trust and Revenue

Advisors are the heartbeat of the shop. When they’re trained, supported, and set up well in the system, everything feels smoother…for you and your customers.

Breakout: Is Your Advisor Making You 100K or Losing You 100K? — Greg Bunch, Chief Officer, Transformers Institute

‍ Owners and advisors will both get a lot out of this one. Greg walks through how a single advisor can swing six figures either way — and what to do about it.

You’ll walk away with:

  • A ready-to-use hiring funnel with a job ad, screening script, and one-hour audition plan
  • A 90-day onboarding and training plan with daily drills and talk tracks
  • A simple scorecard to track call conversion, ARO, and appointment close ratio

If you’ve ever hired an advisor on “gut feel” and hoped for the best, this session will give you a better way.

Breakout: High Impact Sales: The Words That Build Long-Term Customers — Sabrina Wilkerson, Business Performance Analyst, Elite Worldwide

‍ Advisors, this one is built for you. Customers don’t just buy the work — they buy the way you explain it. Sabrina breaks down what to say, how to say it, and how to stay ethical and honest while still driving approvals.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Practical ways to generate higher profits through better conversations at the counter
  • Tools to build long-term trust so people come back and send their friends
  • Confidence to show up as the credible expert instead of “just another shop”

These are skills you can practice in the room and use on your very next phone call.

Breakout Bundle: Tekmetric Tools That Make Every Day at the Counter Less Chaotic

‍ On top of the coaching and hiring sessions, we’re going deep on the actual tools advisors live in all day. The focus is simple: fewer dropped balls, clearer priorities, better follow-up, and a system that supports your advisors instead of slowing them down.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Cleaner workflows from first call to follow-up
  • Better visibility into which jobs to prioritize and when
  • Fewer “I thought you had it” moments between the front counter and the bay

Advisor-focused Tekmetric sessions include:

  • Tekmetric Service Workflow Deep Dive
  • Advisor Dashboard Training: Prioritizing the Right Jobs, Every Time
  • Advisor Toolkit Jam: Quotes, Smart Jobs, Templates & Follow-Up
  • Shaping the Future of Service Advisor Tools in Tekmetric

For Technicians: Build Skills, Confidence, and a Real Path Forward

Great techs want two things: the right tools and a future.

Breakout: How to Run Monster Hours — Ryan Blair, CEO and Co-Founder, Alloy Automotive Partners

As a dealer technician turned one man band shop owner, Ryan Blair averaged 500 hours a month in production. In this session, you will get a breakdown of the mindset, systems, tips, and tricks to increase your production no matter what kind of shop you are working in.

Takeaways:

  • How to play the game: maximizing the relationship with the front of house
  • The surprising math behind the things you didn't realize are holding your production back
  • Master the mindsets and beliefs to become the number one producer in your shop

Owners: this is a great session to send your high-potential techs to if you want them thinking bigger.

Breakout: Profit in the Bay: How Techs Win with DVIs and Efficiency Tracking

‍ Being a great technician isn’t just about fixing cars. It’s about seeing the payoff from the work you do. In this Tekmetric training session, we’ll connect the dots between the work in the bay and the numbers on the screen.

You’ll walk away with:

  • How solid DVIs drive higher approval rates
  • How photos, notes, and videos make it easy for customers to say “yes”
  • How efficiency tracking shows your impact — on the shop and on your paycheck

The goal is to give techs a clear line of sight from “I turned this wrench” to “I made this much difference.”

Breakout: ON-TRACK with DIN Diagrams + VCDS 101 — Travis Ruiz, Technical Support Consultant, German Car Support

‍ If VW/Audi work feels like it takes twice as long as it should, these sessions are for you.

You’ll walk away with:

  • Practice finding the correct wiring diagrams and navigating service info
  • A walkthrough of the VCDS interface: scans, fault codes, live data, and basic functions
  • Real-world tips for using VCDS to diagnose and fix problems faster

For techs who want to sharpen their skills on European cars, this is time well spent.

For techs who want even more time in the tools:

  • Tekmetric Mobile App Deep Dive: Workflow at Your Fingertips
  • DVI + Mobile App End-to-End Training: Photos, Video, Notes & Approvals
  • Unlocking Smarter Repairs in Tekmetric

Big-Room Moments That Shift How You Lead

On top of 50+ breakout sessions, Tektonic’s general sessions are built to stretch how you think about your business and your role in it:

  • Keynote: From Mainstreet to Millionaire — Codie Sanchez, Contrarian Thinking Why “boring” businesses like auto repair can be the foundation of serious wealth if you build them right — and what that means for how you think about profit, risk, and opportunity in your own shop.
  • Keynote: Entrepreneurship Simplified — Mike Michalowicz, Profit First Practical, straight-talking frameworks for building a healthier business: profit baked in from the start, cleaner cash flow, and systems that don’t fall apart every time you step away from the shop .
  • Keynote: Effort Matters, Character Counts — General Robert Neller, USMC (Ret.) What effort and character look like on high-trust teams — and how those same principles apply when you’re leading a crew through nonstop cars, parts delays, and the pressure to deliver every day.
  • Coaching Power Hour Panel: The Great Shop Coaching Showdown Leaders from top coaching groups tackling real shop challenges, side by side, so you can hear different approaches in one fast-paced session.
  • Shop Owner Panel: What It Really Takes to Win From hiring and training to navigating daily chaos, this panel pulls back the curtain on what different types of high-performing shops are doing to scale, stay profitable, and keep both teams and customers thriving. You’ll hear real talk and real strategies from leaders who are living it every day, not just talking theory from a stage.

Three days in those rooms can change how you lead for the rest of the year.

Bring Your Whole Shop to Houston

Tektonic is built for your whole team:

  • Owners getting clear on growth, profit, and where the business is really headed
  • Advisors sharpening the conversations that build trust and drive revenue
  • Technicians building skills, confidence, and a real path forward in their careers

It’s every shop, every role, under one roof, with zero gatekeeping. Wherever your shop is today — overwhelmed, growing, rebuilding, thriving — Tektonic delivers clarity, community, and practical tools to get to your next result.

Learn more about Tektonic 2026 and register your team HERE .

Tekmetric Community

Inside Tektonic 2026: Breakout and General Session Sneak Peek

December 3, 2025

Read time: 9 min

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Auto repair shops generally calculate the cost of their repairs with numerous factors that contribute to the entire process.

This includes the cost of parts and any necessary upcharges for the shop to generate a profit, as well as the cost of labor.

In this guide, we will help your independent auto repair shop learn how to maximize your profit margin specifically on your shop's labor rate.

Want to learn more? Check out our latest Auto Repair Industry Index! We cover everything from overall industry health to unique shop settings for Tekmetric users to get the most value out of the work they already do!

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Maximize Your Auto Repair Shop's Labor Profit Margin

January 15, 2024

Read time: 1 min

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As the auto repair industry continues to evolve, adaptability to changing customer needs is crucial to delivering a top-notch customer experience. When it comes to choosing an auto repair shop, customers are more likely to prefer a shop that is easy to do business with over the nearest shop. For the modern customer – an increasingly digital generation sometimes called Generation CX – the customer experience is paramount. One of the ways to curate an invaluable customer experience is to leverage the trends of today’s customers. Using these trends alongside the knowledge gained from your shop’s data, you can create an experience that is transparent, convenient and efficient.

Tekmetric’s Industry Index Report, pinpoints key trends around customer needs and expectations. In a recent webinar with Ratchet and Wrench, we discussed how you can use these trends to propel your business. By leveraging the trends within the report in conjunction with your shop’s performance metrics, you can tailor your approach to enhance your customer experience, drive revenue and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Efficient operations drive revenue

Efficient shops create more revenue opportunities by completing repairs quickly and effectively. When you streamline your processes, you enable your team to accomplish more in less time, without sacrificing quality. Efficiency creates smoother customer interactions and reduced wait times. This translates to a seamless customer experience – a key driver of satisfaction and repeat business that drives profits and increases your bottom line.

Several tools are available that can improve your efficiency, thereby helping you repair more vehicles in less time. For instance, Tekmetric’s Smart Jobs feature allows service writers to create jobs in just one click depending on the customer’s vehicle type by automatically pulling the correct labor time, sourcing the parts and applying relevant matrices based on the job selected. By reducing the number of clicks, your service advisors save time on creating repair orders (ROs). Instead, they can focus on answering customer questions and delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Convenient communication increases customer trust

Today, there are over 250 million vehicles on the road that are more than 12 years old and will inevitably need repairs. On average, shops see customers twice a year – and the majority will seek a shop they trust. Transparency and communication build strong levels of trust, resulting in a significant impact on the shop’s overall performance. Clear and convenient communication with the customer about repairs can streamline the approval process in the short term, as well as increase your average repair order (ARO) in the long term.

Customers expect clear communication and visibility in the repair process. One tool that supports these expectations is a digital vehicle inspection (DVI). DVIs allow your shop to send visual reports of inspection findings directly to your customers, keeping them informed and engaged throughout the repair process. DVIs can be shared via email or text, so your customer can conveniently access them and approve the work even when they are not physically at your shop. Through DVIs, a shop can share data in the form of photos and videos, encouraging customers to make informed, data-driven decisions. This digital tool goes a long way in building trust as vehicle owners can gain a deeper understanding of the repairs you recommend. Vehicle owners can prioritize the immediate repairs while also having a record of additional work, like a tire rotation, that needs to be done in three months.

Another way to build trust through clear communication is through two-way texting. This feature facilitates instant communication, enabling your customers to authorize repairs, ask questions or provide feedback in real time. For example, shops using Tekmetric can communicate directly with vehicle owners through two-way texts, even creating a repair order or appointment based solely on a text – no calls necessary! Customers know they can reach your shop anytime, from anywhere, and their needs will be met.

Together, two-way convenient communication and DVIs significantly increase the likelihood of customers accepting your shop’s recommended repairs, increasing your ARO and ultimately driving revenue growth.

Personalized customer experiences promote loyalty

Personalized customer experiences are another revenue driver. By adding a personal touch to the customer’s experience, you can go beyond the standard service offerings to create tailored experiences that bring customers back time and time again.

One key aspect of personalized experiences is the integration of digital payment options, such as “ buy now, pay later” or text-to-pay. According to the Tekmetric’s Industry Index, only 16% of shops have tapped into the potential of text-to-pay options – but these options have tremendous potential in building customer relationships. Tekmetric’s solution enables your shop to offer customers the convenience of digital payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or text-to-pay. This not only streamlines the payment process but also caters to modern consumer preferences, making transactions faster and more convenient.

Additionally, “buy now, pay later” options powered by Affirm or Klarna allow your customers to get the repairs they need and pay over time, supporting their financial needs without negatively impacting your shop’s revenue. By alleviating some of the financial burden of repairs with “buy now, pay later,” you can better empower the vehicle owner to make an informed decision on repairs without breaking their bank. Tekmetric has witnessed the power of digital payment solutions: in the past year, 60% of customers at our partner shops were approved for financing, with 62% of them utilizing this option. The average transaction amount is $567 for card payments and $1,883 for "buy now, pay later" purchases on our platform.

Tying it all together to transform your customer experience

Efficiency, personalization and convenience are all traits that you can prioritize to maximize profit and create a noteworthy customer experience. Technology can do so much for businesses at its foundation, but taking it to the next level within the customer experience makes a significant difference. By leveraging technology to create a strong experience, you can set your shop up for success far into the future and measure up, by every measure.

For more information, check out our recent webinar with Ratchet + Wrench, or reach out to our team to talk to a shop advisor.

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Serving Generation CX: Leveraging Industry Trends to Transform Your Customer Experience

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