Fixing what moves: cars, trucks, EVs, race cars, locomotives, boats, and motorcycles.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Dealership Service Director: Runs the service department at a car dealership: technicians, advisors, and parts. Typical pay $115k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Auto Repair Shop Owner: Owns an independent repair shop with technicians, bays, and loyal customers. Typical pay $100k.
Master Automotive Technician: The top technician in a shop who solves the hardest problems no one else can. Typical pay $90k.
Diesel Technician: Diagnoses and repairs diesel engines in semi-trucks, buses and heavy equipment for trucking companies, dealers and bus fleets. Typical pay $61k.
Electric Vehicle Technician: Diagnoses and repairs electric vehicles, including their high-voltage batteries. Typical pay $62k.
Locomotive & Rail Car Mechanic: Repairs the huge diesel-electric locomotives and rail cars that move freight and passengers. Typical pay $65k.
Race Car Mechanic: Builds, tunes, and fixes race cars, and may work on the pit crew. Typical pay $62k.
ADAS Calibration Technician: Calibrates the cameras and sensors that power self-braking and lane-keeping features on modern cars. Typical pay $56k.
Paintless Dent Repair Technician: Pushes dents and hail damage out of car panels from behind with special rods, without any paint or filler. Typical pay $65k.
Diesel Fuel Injection Specialist: Tests and rebuilds the precise diesel injectors and fuel pumps that keep trucks, tractors and generators running. Typical pay $58k.
Tire & Lube Technician: Changes oil, rotates and repairs tires: a common first job in auto repair. Typical pay $37k.
RV Service Technician: Repairs everything on motorhomes and campers: engines, plumbing, propane, electrical, slide-outs and air conditioners. Typical pay $48k.
Automotive Machinist / Engine Rebuilder: Rebuilds engines by boring cylinders, grinding crankshafts and resurfacing heads in a machine shop. Typical pay $50k.
Transmission Technician: Diagnoses, rebuilds and replaces car and truck transmissions, one of the most complex parts of a vehicle. Typical pay $50k.
Mobile Electronics Installer: Installs car stereos, speakers, cameras, remote starters and custom electronics in cars, trucks and boats. Typical pay $42k.
Golf Cart Technician: Repairs and customizes golf carts and low-speed electric vehicles at golf courses, retirement communities and resorts. Typical pay $40k.
Mobility Vehicle Technician: Converts vans for wheelchairs and installs hand controls and special steering so people with disabilities can ride and drive. Typical pay $50k.
Tire Retreader: Inspects worn truck and airplane tires and bonds on new tread so they can roll another few hundred thousand miles. Typical pay $42k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.