10 Most Important Auto Mechanic Skills

Becoming a car mechanic is incredibly lucrative, regardless if you’re looking for employment in a car shop or have an aspiration of running your own shop one day. However, in order to become a car mechanic, there are a lot of skills that you’ll have to develop first. In order to help you get started, here are the top 10 most important auto mechanic skills that you should hone. Here, we’ll list everything from strictly mechanical skills all the way down to generalized skills that you should hone as a mechanic.

1.     Tending to car batteries

Jumpstarting a battery isn’t even an auto mechanic skill, it’s a skill that every car owner should have up their sleeve. You also want to learn a thing or two about cleaning batteries. You would be surprised at just how many car owners need their car battery cleaned. Namely, if you were to start a business of cleaning car batteries, alone, you would probably make a decent living.

2.     Changing the oil and tending to the lubrication

This is something that you’ll have to do during virtually every service. Therefore, it’s one of the first skills you’ll have to develop. In general, you want to get good with lubricating things. Lubrication of non-essential car parts like hinges, pedals, and locks is quite important. However, it’s also a skill that a lot of mechanics tend to underestimate.

3.     Tending to tires

There’s more to tires than just knowing how to replace them. You also need to take note of how old they are and when was the last time they were rotated. Also, you never know when you’ll need to replace a tire and you don’t want to depend on anyone else for this. Most importantly, you’re going to replace so many tires over the course of your career that you also need to work on your expediency. The faster you get, the less time you’ll lose here.

4.     Develop a work ethic

According to the expert mechanic from Nerang, you won’t be swamped with work every day but it’s how you use this “day off” that determines whether you’ll remain on schedule. Even when there’s nothing to do, there’s usually something to do, ranging from doing your research, all the way down to educating yourself. Taking a day to reorganize your toolbox and clean your shop can make a great difference in your subsequent productivity.

5.     Communication with clients

It’s not just about having great mechanical skills, it’s also about being able to communicate to your clients about what needs to be done and why you need to charge as much. People are naturally weary of mechanics who try to confuse them by bombarding them with a plethora of technical terms. So, practice explaining things to people like they were five. This way, you’ll also develop trust much quicker.

6.     Problem-solving

The next thing you should focus on is your problem-solving abilities. While this sounds like too broad of a topic, you need to understand that it’s not just about the repair. It’s also about finding a way to save the money of your clients by going for used parts or salvaging their own damaged parts whenever you can. Finding a way to do something quicker can also work out to everyone’s benefit.

7.     Keeping schedule

As an auto mechanic, you need to learn how to keep an efficient schedule and this sometimes comes with experience. While you may know how long a repair usually last, you probably have no idea about all the things that can go wrong during the repair, thus prolonging the process itself. One of the techniques you can use in order to facilitate this process is the three-point estimation technique. Here, you get the optimistic estimate, the pessimistic estimate, and the most likely estimate.

8.     Adaptability

You need to be ready to adapt to new technologies in the automotive industry unless you want to be left behind. The truth is that this advancement is taking place at an unprecedented pace, which is why you need to be as flexible as possible. You need to keep up with the automotive industry and even learn a thing or two about gadgets that are getting more and more popular by the hour.

9.     Pricing and accounting

As a mechanic, you need to learn how to set the right price for the services that you provide. Keep in mind, that this can be harder than you expect. This requires a combination of accounting skills and mechanical skills. You see, your ability to fix and salvage damaged parts will allow you to drastically reduce the cost for the client while keeping your margin of profit intact. However, you need to look at long-term solutions, as well.

10. Managing your work-life balance

There’s always more work to do when you run your own shop and, chances are, that you’ll never be able to complete it all in a single day. Just remember that tomorrow’s a new day and that overworking yourself benefits no one. Also, don’t neglect your own health. Get enough sleep, improve your eating schedule, and go see a chiropractor when you need one.

In conclusion

In the end, in order to be a good auto mechanic, you need to master both mechanical and people skills. You need to be a great negotiator, a great manager, and a great mechanic at the same time. While this is far from being easy, it’s also an explanation of why great mechanics are so hard to find. Success was never meant for everyone and there’s a reason why so many small businesses fail while some thrive and prosper.