Shop Owners Discuss AI Tools, Recruitment Strategies at Automotive Training Expo Seattle

The effectiveness of artificial intelligence and the current state of the industry's talent pool were key topics in a Shop Owner Roundtable on March 28. The session was part of the recent Automotive Training Expo in Seattle, Washington, hosted March 27 to 29 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport.

Led by Leon Martin and Micah Strom of the Northwest Auto Care Alliance, the roundtable brought together auto shops of the Pacific Northwest to voice their experiences—good and bad—with recruitment and implementing new tools.

Artificial Intelligence: Weighing its Place in the Industry

A major topic for most was the presence of AI. Shop owners have already seen success from using AI to streamline certain processes, including HR documents, estimates, tech descriptions, customer explanations, and DVIs—however, a couple of shops shared their experiences with AI feeding their team inaccurate data, or altering info on repair order notes.

“You’re supposed to plug it in, and it'll fix it...it changes it. It just straight up changes the story,” shared Barbara Daniel of Bob’s Lil Car Hospital in Kelso, Washington. “They tried to use it for a little bit, and I'm like, ‘No, you're wasting time, because now you're putting in AI, and then you're having to almost change it back.’”

Many are confident AI’s abilities on that front will improve. Cecil Bullard of the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence believes that AI is coming whether anyone likes it or not, and urged shops to move forward with it. 

Most shop owners are interested in how it will streamline work operations, while maintaining that any content provided by AI will need to be double-checked regardless. With AI-generated text having been shown to not improve SEO, it’s also a good idea to keep AI-generated content on your website to a minimum, or to at least give it a thorough edit to align with your brand’s voice.

Recruitment, Technicians, and Outreach

When gears shifted to discussing the state of the workforce, Bullard added that he doesn’t see a technician shortage, but rather believes the industry is seeing a lack of productivity, rooted in faulty systems and processes that shops have in place. Bullard also cites a decline in automotive apprenticeship and high school programs as a reason for a shrinking pool of A-level technicians, which are sorely needed.

“The dealers used to do it for us. Because when you came into a dealer as a tech, you're going to be an A-tech, and within five years, that was their plan for you,” explained Bullard. “And they made a change probably 20 years ago, where they said we could save money if we had one A-tech and 10 C-techs. And they quit training our techs, and we did not take over as an industry.”

Additionally, the automotive industry isn’t as involved with high schools as it was a couple of decades ago, said Bullard, leaving a gap that’s been filled by industries other than automotive repair.

Martin interjects to state that when the industry refers to a “technician shortage,” it doesn’t mean the talent is necessarily nonexistent; it’s that the industry is struggling to identify where it is, as well as convert that talent into a lasting career in this industry. 

Apprenticeship programs were highlighted as a way to expand outreach to potential automotive technicians, especially high school training programs, which can also help expose parents to what the benefits of a modern-day career in auto repair could be. 

In that same vein, shops should be aiming to offer their techs the best possible benefits and pay in order to retain the best possible talent.

“If you want a unicorn in your shop, make unicorn noises and attract them,” added Mark Seawell of The Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. “Have air conditioning in your shop, or have a four-day work week, or whatever it is that you're finding technicians want and where they want to work.”

To wrap up the session, Martin reminded everyone to not let all the info from the weekend go in one ear and out the other. It’s easy to leave a conference with ideas that you forget to act on; so, he encouraged attendees to commit to taking a specific action. Whether it’s through having an accountability partner to share goals and dates with, or setting a firm deadline on your calendar, measures like this help nudge people to follow through with a goal.

“If you actually tell someone, I’m going to do this by so‑and‑so, and you can call me on that day and check if I did it, then what happens? Peer accountability,” said Martin.