Car service waiting lists blow out

Australian new car sales are rebounding but waiting times for service and repairs are also blowing out.

That’s because the Australia’s automotive industry is suffering a severe skills shortage being exacerbated by the current COVID-19 border closures, stakeholders say.

The shortfall is estimated at up to 30,000 skilled mechanics, smash repairers and the like.

A survey of its members by the Australian Automotive Dealers association (AADA) found that 97 per cent were suffering from a shortage of technicians and it was having a direct impact on the public.

“With a lack of technicians in workshops, a significant number of dealers have to postpone bookings potentially resulting in customers not having their cars safely maintained and serviced,” the AADA reported.

“Some dealers are also forced to reduce the number of bookings they can take and have to be selective about the type of work they can accept.”

Dealers contacted by carsales said a lack of technicians was blowing out service wait times from less than a week to as much as a month.

The AADA and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) have joined forces in the last two weeks to lobby government to recognise the automotive industry as a sector of priority in terms of skills shortage.

Other bodies such as the MTAA and FCAI will also be approached to become involved in the lobbying campaign.

“It’s a massive problem,” said AAAA CEO Stuart Charity. “The issue has been bubbling away for a number of years and it’s been getting progressively worse, but the COVID issue has brought it to a head.

“Businesses have the capacity to scale up their businesses from a [sales] volume perspective, but there are just not enough technicians out there.

“The estimates are the shortfall is something like 30,000 technicians. There are something like 10,000 ads being run for automotive technicians around the country right now.”

The shirt-term fix for the issue in the past has been importing skilled migrants under the 457 visa system, but the border closures due to the pandemic have choked that off. The AADA survey found 55 per cent of dealers currently employ overseas technicians.

AAAA and AADA hope their lobbying will ensure automotive is at the forefront for places when the skilled migrant scheme reboots.

Longer term, they also want structural issues addressed that limit the influx of new recruits into the automotive industry.

“We are getting 50 per cent of apprentices not completing their apprenticeships and that’s do with the apprenticeships themselves and rates of pay,” said Charity.

“I think there is probably an outdated perception on what a career as an automotive technical actually involves. Career advisers and parents are perhaps not pushing automotive as a career choice.”

The focus on skills shortage comes as the legislation to make manufacturer service and repair information more widely available to independent repairers passed federal parliament this week.

“It’s not much good having access to the information if you haven’t got the technicians to do the work,” said Charity.