Temporary cover fills 25,000 hours

The launch of a temporary vehicle technician recruitment programme, created to help leading UK car manufacturers overcome significant loss of revenue through the skills shortage, has proved successful with almost 25,000 hours filled over the last 12 months.

The figure demonstrates the dependence UK repairers now have on temporary vehicle technicians to fulfil labour gaps.

The manufacturer-led recruitment programme was launched by Autotech Recruit in January 2018. The over-riding objective of the programme was to cut the time it takes car manufacturers to employ temporary vehicle technicians throughout their garages across the UK, improving service capacity, and counteracting the financial losses caused by empty service bays.

Under the programme, Autotech Recruit develop a bespoke solution to suit each manufacturer’s specific requirements, including access to an exclusive online booking portal, all-inclusive rates, and a dedicated team of recruitment specialists. In addition, a group of regionally based temporary vehicle technicians are sent on an intensive training course, at each manufacturer’s dedicated training facility, to ensure they are trained to the manufacturer’s specific standards.

In January 2018, eight of Autotech Recruit’s network of temporary vehicle technicians and MOT Testers, were placed on training courses with Volvo. Over the course of the year, Autotech Recruit forged further alliances with VW Commercial Vehicles, BMW, SEAT, Renault and Ford, and the number of technicians trained and working within each manufacturer’s garages will have risen to 69 technicians by the end of the year.

Gavin White, managing director of Autotech Recruit, said, ‘Dealership garages are no different from independent garages, they still need to recruit technicians to ensure they are running at optimum capacity. In 2017 we witnessed increasing demand from them for our temporary vehicle technicians and, due to the volume of this demand, we devised the programme.

‘Today, as a direct result of the programme, our temporary vehicle technicians are covering positions with manufacturer’s on both a short term and longer term basis, up to several months in some cases.’