Here’s what you need to know:
- More technicians than ever say they wouldn't recommend their job to a friend.
- Pay and schedules remain hot-button issues for America's techs.
- Diesel techs are somewhat more happy with their jobs than their automotive counterparts but there's still plenty of room to improve.
WrenchWay and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) report a divide is widening among technicians and the industries they serve, including managers, based on responses from thousands of technicians to ASE’s 2026 Voice of the Technician survey.
Data shows while technicians are increasingly viewing themselves as professionals — and demanding appropriate compensation and culture — the environments in which they work are lagging behind.
David Johnson, ASE president and CEO, says for those who have been in the industry a long time, it can be hard to see the trends.
“We’re working on rolling robots,” Johnson says. “The industry is professionalizing on us, whether we realize it or not. Are we keeping up with that in how we pay? In what we view as work?”
No is the overwhelming answer from the technicians.
Who responded to the survey?
More than 5,500 technicians, students, instructors and managers responded to the survey, conducted Nov. 10-Dec. 22. The majority of respondents said they were technicians, followed by instructors (20%) and students (4%). Around 13% of the technicians worked in the diesel industry and respondents spanned the U.S., with 80% having more than 10 years in the industry. Around half of respondents worked in a dealership, with the other 50% or so in independent shops, with fleets, working for franchises or chains, in mobile service or at quick-change shops. About three quarters of technicians held at least one active ASE certification.
What technicians say about pay
Far and away the most urgent issue the automotive and heavy-duty sectors face is providing higher pay, technicians say. Nearly all the respondents, 84%, cite higher pay and 71% want a better pay structure. Slightly more than half of respondents said their shop provides fair compensation, down 2% from last year. When narrowed to just diesel technicians, that percentage jumps to 67%, a 5% improvement year over year. Across shop types, fleets get the highest satisfaction with pay (70% report their shop pays fair compensation), followed by independent shops (67%), dealerships (51%) and franchises and chains (45%).
[RELATED: New rule to allow diesel techs to do inspection, brake work more quickly]
WrenchWay and the ASE say these numbers show that progress made on pay will likely have the biggest impact on addressing a technician shortage. Without that piece, businesses won’t have much luck, even if they fix all the other pieces.
So, what are the other pieces?
In line with an increasing professionalism among technicians, respondents say they need better workforce conditions and long-term stability, with benefits offered to other professions, including paid vacation, paid training, retirement, proper equipment and a well-documented career path ranking high on the list of what technicians want.
“Don’t look at the nice-to-haves as ‘I don’t really need to do that,’” says Mark Wilson, co-founder and CEO of WrenchWay. “The must-haves are the bare minimum.”
Ranking the must-haves:
- Proper equipment in the shop, 87%.
- Paid vacation, 87%.
- Retirement fund, 73%.
- Paid training, 66%.
- No weekend work, 50%.
- A well-documented career path, 46%.
- Temperature-controlled building, 43%.
- Thorough and consistent performance reviews, 31.3%.
- Adequate tool allowance or reimbursement, 12%.
Talking about pay schedules
Respondents overwhelmingly are moving away from the traditional flat-rate model and toward structures that provide income stability while still finding ways to reward productivity. The survey suggests shop owners look at hourly or salary pay with productivity bonuses or flat rate with a guarantee.
More diesel technicians preferred hourly or salary pay with a production bonus than last year, up 11% to 34% preferring that model, but most of them wanted straight hourly or salaried pay. That reflects the “more consistent workloads and operational structures common in diesel and fleet environments,” ASE and WrenchWay said.
The preference for hourly or salaried pay or a guaranteed flat rate, again, reflects the professionalization of technicians.
“You’re an adult, you’re professionals, you’re showing up to work,” Wilson says. Furthermore, if pay is the motivator to get more done, that points to a management issue. “It’s disrespectful to say if you take away the variable component, people in our industry will just do nothing.”
Would technicians recommend their profession?
Over the last three years, fewer and fewer technicians say they would recommend their profession to a friend. That’s shown in the survey’s Net Promoter score.
The Net Promoter score is calculated by asking respondents to rate how likely they would be to recommend their career to a friend on a scale of 1-10. Respondents who rated their likelihood as a 9 or a 10 are categorized as promoters. Those who rated it 6 or lower are detractors. The score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. Any score below zero indicates detractors outnumber promoters.
This year, it’s hit a new low: -60.
“We’re not making progress. (Technicians) don’t see that vision, that light at the end of the tunnel,” says Jay Goninen, co-founder and president of WrenchWay. “We need to take that seriously.”
Wilson says he sees shops and dealers making progress.
“A lot of people … are doing the right things,” he says. “It’s not a good trend. We have to do better.”
Johnson says it’s important to remember that expectations aren’t stagnant. The industry is pushing toward professionalism and, as it does, expectations are getting higher.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but we can do it,” he says. “We just have to keep plugging away at it."
