Mechanics — formally automotive service technicians — inspect, maintain and repair cars and light trucks.
Their work runs from identifying problems, often with computerized diagnostic equipment, through basic maintenance such as oil changes and tire rotation to repairing or replacing worn parts.
Repairs are held to manufacturer and customer specifications, documented with the parts used and hours worked, and explained to the customer.
What tasks does an automotive technician do on every job?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the occupation simply: automotive service technicians and mechanics, often called service techs, inspect, maintain and repair cars and light trucks.
BLS's published duty list runs the whole loop: identify problems, often with computerized diagnostic equipment, and test parts and systems to confirm the cause.
It continues through basic maintenance such as oil changes, fluids and tire rotation, then repairing or replacing worn parts like brake pads, wheel bearings and sensors, carried out to manufacturer and customer specifications.
The list closes with two duties that define the job's place in the shop: document the repairs, including parts used, hours worked and vehicle condition, and explain the problems and repairs to the client.
O*NET rates two core tasks highest for the occupation, both at importance 87.
One is following checklists to ensure all important parts are examined, including belts, hoses, steering systems, spark plugs, brake and fuel systems and wheel bearings.
The other is testing and adjusting repaired systems to meet manufacturers' performance specifications.
The job also runs under fixed rules.
BLS notes technicians must follow safety procedures and environmental regulations, for example when dealing with high-voltage electric vehicle systems or disposing of oil and other hazardous materials.
- Identify problems, often with computerized diagnostic equipment
- Test parts and systems to confirm the cause
- Perform basic maintenance: oil changes, fluids, tire rotation
- Repair or replace worn parts — brake pads, wheel bearings, sensors
- Repair to manufacturer and customer specifications
- Document parts used, hours worked and vehicle condition
- Explain problems and repairs to the client
Those seven duties are the occupation's spine — the rest of this page walks through how they arrive in the bay, how they split into maintenance, repair and diagnostics, and how they change as a tech moves up.
How does a repair order move through the tech's bay?
O*NET lists reviewing work orders and discussing the work with supervisors among the occupation's core tasks.
The paperwork opens the job, and the steps below follow it through the tech's bay.
Review the work order
O*NET lists reviewing work orders and discussing work with supervisors as core tasks, alongside conferring with customers to obtain descriptions of vehicle problems and to discuss the work to be performed.Diagnose
BLS's duty list opens with identifying problems, often with computerized diagnostic equipment, and testing parts and systems to confirm the cause.Repair to specification
Worn parts come out — brake pads, wheel bearings and sensors are BLS's examples — and the repair is carried out to manufacturer and customer specifications.Verify the fix
One of O*NET's two top-rated tasks is testing and adjusting repaired systems to meet manufacturers' performance specifications, and its task list includes test-driving vehicles.Document and close
BLS lists documenting the repairs — parts used, hours worked, vehicle condition — and O*NET includes maintaining the cleanliness of the work area.
The customer-facing half of that paper trail can sit with a separate role.
Jiffy Lube, for one, splits Customer Service Advisors, who educate customers on the services recommended for their vehicle, from the Service Center Technicians who perform the oil changes, preventive maintenance and repairs.
Advising is its own track — see the service advisor career guide for how that side of the counter works.
What maintenance, repair and diagnostic work do techs perform?
This page splits the same duty list into three buckets: maintenance, repair and diagnostics.
The first bucket is maintenance: BLS lists oil changes, fluids and tire rotation as basic maintenance, and O*NET's core tasks add lubrication and tune-ups.
The inspection habit lives in this bucket too — one of O*NET's two top-rated tasks is following checklists so all the important parts get examined, including belts, hoses, steering systems, spark plugs, brake and fuel systems and wheel bearings.
Repair work replaces what inspection or diagnosis finds worn: brake pads, wheel bearings and sensors are BLS's examples.
O*NET's task list adds wheel alignment, brake repair, fuel injector repair, and A/C, heating, cooling and electrical repair.
Diagnostics is the third bucket, and BLS's duty list puts it first: identifying problems, often with computerized diagnostic equipment.
O*NET lists troubleshooting fuel, ignition and emissions systems with electronic test equipment, and testing electronic computer components, among the occupation's core tasks.
Diagnostics is also a named specialty: BLS lists diagnostic technicians among the occupation's example specialties.
BLS describes them as using extensive knowledge of engine management and fuel, electrical, ignition and emissions systems, often with the onboard diagnostic system and electronic test equipment such as scan tools and multimeters, to find what keeps engines from performing efficiently.
In practice the lines blur: a single brake job can run from diagnosis through repair to a road test.
What systems do mechanics work on (brakes, engine, electrical, HVAC, steering)?
BLS's definition is the whole vehicle — cars and light trucks.
Within the occupation, BLS names five example specialties: automotive air-conditioning technicians, brake technicians, diagnostic technicians, front-end technicians, and transmission technicians and rebuilders.
Brakes.
Brake technicians diagnose brake problems, adjust brakes and replace rotors and pads, and some also take on front-end work.
Steering and front end.
Front-end technicians diagnose ride, handling and tire-wear problems using alignment equipment and wheel-balancing machines.
Wheel alignment sits on O*NET's task list as well, and steering systems are among the parts O*NET's checklist task covers.
Engine and fuel.
This work runs from the checklist basics — spark plugs, belts, hoses, fuel systems — to fuel injector repair and the fuel, ignition and emissions systems that diagnostics troubleshoot with electronic test equipment.
Electrical.
BLS notes technicians must be familiar with the electronic systems and sensors used for braking, transmission and accident avoidance, in addition to traditional mechanical systems, and O*NET lists testing electronic computer components among core tasks.
HVAC.
A/C, heating and cooling repair is on O*NET's list, and BLS names automotive air-conditioning technicians among the example specialties.
One federal rule attaches to this system: the Clean Air Act requires anyone who repairs or services a motor vehicle's air-conditioning system for payment or bartering to be trained and certified by an EPA-approved Section 609 program.
Transmission.
Transmission technicians and rebuilders work on gear trains, couplings, hydraulic pumps and other transmission parts, and need extensive knowledge of computer controls plus the ability to diagnose electrical and hydraulic problems.
That work has its own track — see the transmission technician career guide.
Electric vehicles.
BLS says technicians who work on EVs perform routine maintenance and identify issues related to battery performance, regenerative braking systems and electric motor efficiency.
The same source carries the caution that technicians must follow safety procedures when dealing with high-voltage electric vehicle systems.
EV work is its own specialty — see the EV technician career guide.
System rules come from the agencies that write them
What paperwork and computer work does a tech do?
The wrench work gets the attention, but documentation and computer work are on the duty lists too.
Documentation is a listed duty, not a courtesy: BLS has technicians documenting the repairs and maintenance performed, including parts used, hours worked and vehicle condition.
O*NET pairs it with reviewing work orders and discussing the work with supervisors — the paperwork side of the bay.
The computer work on those lists is diagnostic.
BLS's duty list opens with identifying problems often with computerized diagnostic equipment, and O*NET adds troubleshooting fuel, ignition and emissions systems with electronic test equipment and testing electronic computer components.
Diagnostic technicians are the occupation's diagnostics specialists, and BLS says they often use the onboard diagnostic system and electronic test equipment such as scan tools and multimeters to find the malfunction.
Under the screens sits system knowledge: BLS expects technicians to be familiar with the electronic systems and sensors used for braking, transmission and accident avoidance.
Some computer work is gated.
Technicians doing OEM security work — key codes, PINs, immobilizer functions — must hold their own NASTF Vehicle Security Professional credentials: NASTF issues them to the individual technician rather than the business, runs the required background check and does not allow sharing.
Even housekeeping is on the task list — O*NET includes maintaining cleanliness of the work area among the occupation's core tasks.
How do duties change from lube tech to master tech?
Employers publish their own ladders.
Valvoline Instant Oil Change's service-center ladder, for example, runs Entry-Level Lube Technician, Certified Technician, Senior Technician, Assistant Service Center Manager and Service Center Manager.
Our research found no federal or industry-wide definition of technician levels.
BLS counts mechanic and technician as one occupation under a single code, SOC 49-3023, and publishes no separate code for master technician, so a shop's rung means what the employer using it says it means.
What actually changes as a tech moves up is the work.
At the entry end, a worker without a training program usually needs longer on-the-job training, per BLS, and may start as a trainee technician, a technician's helper or a lubrication worker, learning gradually from experienced technicians.
The starting titles point at the maintenance bucket: O*NET's routine-maintenance tasks are oil changes, lubrication and tune-ups, and the checklist inspections are among its top-rated tasks.
The lube technician career guide follows that first rung in detail.
The repair list is the next band of the same duties: replacing worn parts — brake pads, wheel bearings and sensors are BLS's examples — and carrying each repair to manufacturer and customer specifications.
Deepen instead and the occupation's named specialties come into view — brakes and front end, transmissions, diagnostics, air conditioning.
The master-technician title is the deep end of that map, and it can mean more than one thing.
As a shop title, it means what that shop says it means.
ASE's version is defined: technicians certified in tests A1 through A8 are recognized as ASE-Certified Master Automobile Technicians.
The master technician career guide covers that rung.
Certification shows up on the employer side of this ladder: BLS notes employers may require or prefer that technicians become certified, and that some pay for it.
The specialty areas BLS names include automatic transmission/transaxle, brakes and electrical/electronic systems, and technicians typically need previous experience and must pass an exam to become certified.
O*NET lists ASE, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, under the accreditations and certifications it tracks for the occupation, and ASE's A Series tests cover technicians on cars, SUVs and light-duty trucks up to Class 3.
For how the titles, pay steps and work settings fit together around these duties, see the automotive technician career guide.
Career information, not licensing, legal, tax, insurance or safety advice. Certification and employer expectations change — confirm current requirements with the employer, the certifying body or the agency named.