How to become a Automotive Body and Related Repairer 2024

Automotive Body and Related Repairer Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle frames.

Automotive Body and Related Repairer is Also Know as

In different settings, Automotive Body and Related Repairer is titled as

Auto Body Man
Auto Body Repair Technician (Auto Body Repair Tech)
Auto Body Repairman
Automotive Body Technician (Auto Body Tech)
Body Man
Body Technician (Body Tech)
Collision Repair Technician (Collision Repair Tech)
Collision Technician (Collision Tech)
Frame Man
Refinish Technician (Refinish Tech)

Education and Training of Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Automotive Body and Related Repairer is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Automotive Body and Related Repairer

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Training Required for Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Automotive Body and Related Repairer in different industries are

What Do Automotive Body and Related Repairer do?

File, grind, sand, and smooth filled or repaired surfaces, using power tools and hand tools.
Sand body areas to be painted and cover bumpers, windows, and trim with masking tape or paper to protect them from the paint.
Follow supervisors' instructions as to which parts to restore or replace and how much time the job should take.
Remove damaged sections of vehicles using metal-cutting guns, air grinders and wrenches, and install replacement parts using wrenches or welding equipment.
Cut and tape plastic separating film to outside repair areas to avoid damaging surrounding surfaces during repair procedure and remove tape and wash surfaces after repairs are complete.
Prime and paint repaired surfaces, using paint sprayguns and motorized sanders.
Mix polyester resins and hardeners to be used in restoring damaged areas.
Chain or clamp frames and sections to alignment machines that use hydraulic pressure to align damaged components.
Fill small dents that cannot be worked out with plastic or solder.
Fit and weld replacement parts into place, using wrenches and welding equipment, and grind down welds to smooth them, using power grinders and other tools.
Position dolly blocks against surfaces of dented areas and beat opposite surfaces to remove dents, using hammers.
Remove damaged panels, and identify the family and properties of the plastic used on a vehicle.
Review damage reports, prepare or review repair cost estimates, and plan work to be performed.
Remove small pits and dimples in body metal, using pick hammers and punches.
Remove upholstery, accessories, electrical window-and-seat-operating equipment, and trim to gain access to vehicle bodies and fenders.
Clean work areas, using air hoses, to remove damaged material and discarded fiberglass strips used in repair procedures.
Adjust or align headlights, wheels, and brake systems.
Apply heat to plastic panels, using hot-air welding guns or immersion in hot water, and press the softened panels back into shape by hand.
Soak fiberglass matting in resin mixtures and apply layers of matting over repair areas to specified thicknesses.
Cut openings in vehicle bodies for the installation of customized windows, using templates and power shears or chisels.
Fit and secure windows, vinyl roofs, and metal trim to vehicle bodies, using caulking guns, adhesive brushes, and mallets.
Read specifications or confer with customers to determine the desired custom modifications for altering the appearance of vehicles.
Replace damaged glass on vehicles.
Measure and mark vinyl material and cut material to size for roof installation, using rules, straightedges, and hand shears.
Inspect repaired vehicles for proper functioning, completion of work, dimensional accuracy, and overall appearance of paint job, and test-drive vehicles to ensure proper alignment and handling.

Qualities of Good Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Adjustable widemouth pliers
Adjustable wrenches
Air chisels
Air compressors
Air hammers
Air pressure gauges
Alignment machines
Alignment squares
Anvils
Blow torches
Body saws
Bondo spreaders
Brazing equipment
Buffing machines
Calipers
Cold chisels
Crown spoons
Dent hammers
Depth gauges
Desktop computers
Dial indicators
Digital cameras
Door skin dollies
Double-edged blades
Double-edged cutter tools
Drill presses
Feeler gauges
Fluorescent lights
Foot shears
Frame alignment equipment
Gas arc welding equipment
General purpose spoons
Grease guns
Grinders
Hand brakes
Hand shears
Heavy duty inside spoons
Heel dollies
Height gauges
High velocity low pressure HVLP spray equipment
Hoists
Hot air guns
Hydraulic automobile lifts
Hydraulic cranes
Hydraulic jacks
Impact wrenches
Infrared IR paint curing units
Jacks
Laser printers
Machine polishers
Media blasters
Metal inert gas MIG welders
Micrometers
Nut drivers
Oxyacetylene torches
Paint sprayers
Paint stencils
Panel cutters
Personal computers
Pick hammers
Pick pull rods
Pitch gauges
Pneumatic grinders
Pneumatic hammers
Pneumatic metal cutting guns
Pneumatic panel crimpers
Pneumatic smoothing hammers
Pop rivet guns
Portable buffers
Portable welding machines
Power drills
Power punches
Power sanders
Power shears
Pressure feed sandblasters
Pressure gauges
Pressure washers
Pry bars
Pull rods
Punches
Ratchets
Resistance spot welding equipment
Respirators
Rivet busters
S-hooks
Safety glasses
Safety gloves
Safety hoods
Sanding blocks
Scrapers
Screwdrivers
Single-cut mill saw files
Slapping spoons
Slide hammers
Socket sets
Socket wrench sets
Soldering equipment
Spoon dollies
Spot weld breakers
Spray booths
Stainless steel brushes
Steam cleaning equipment
Stud welder kits
Suction cups
Suction feed sandblasters
Surforms
T pullers
Telescoping gauges
Toe dollies
Tungsten inert gas TIG welding equipment
Universal railroad dollies
Vernier calipers
Wedges
Weld current controllers
Welding electrodes
Welding goggles
Welding helmets
Welding hoods
Welding tips
Windshield knives

Technology Skills required for Automotive Body and Related Repairer

Accounting software
Accounts receivable software
Appointment scheduling software
Automotive and Accounting Software by R*KOM Invoice Writer
AutoZone ALLDATA
Collision damage estimation software
Collision damage measurement software
Equipment management information software
Inventory management software
Materials management software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Word
Paint mixing and matching software
Swan River Estimiser Pro

US Universities

How to become Automotive Body and Related Repairer in 2024