Future of Vo-Tech: A Collision Instructor Roundtable Part 2

Shops need more talented young people to come work in the field, but recent years have seen a significant decrease in the number of students interested in pursuing a collision career. What’s happening to cause this, and how can YOU make a difference in the industry’s future by getting involved with the next generation? New Jersey Automotive began tackling this touchy topic in May (available at grecopublishing.com/new-jerseyautomotive-may-2023) by talking to four local collision instructors: Michael Bonsanto (Passaic County Technical Institute Vo-Tech; Wayne), Sam Lopez (Piscataway Magnet Schools; Piscataway), Bob Magee (Bergen County Technical High School; Teterboro) and Mike Nickerson (Salem County Vocational Technical School; Pilesgrove).

They’ve already explained some of the changes they’ve seen and recruitment challenges they face, but now they share even more important information with the industry: why they need you to get involved and how you can do it as effectively as possible in a way that benefits your business and your industry now and in the future.

New Jersey Automotive: What hurdles are you facing as a collision instructor?

Michael Bonsanto: Budgetary constraints are definitely one of the largest hurdles that instructors face, but the value of strong advisory boards is totally underrated because they provide the necessary information to the administrators about what the program needs to be successful. An instructor can ask for new equipment and never get it, but when the advisory board explains what’s required to get these students ready for an industry career, they listen. It’s more likely to get approved in the budget when it comes from the industry. Schools can run a successful program with minimal equipment, but without an advisory board to help, the program never improves, and kids see nothing but a dingy old place they don’t want to spend their time which absolutely impacts enrollment in a negative way. I want to applaud the effort of the passionate instructors around New Jersey who fight for their programs and do their damnedest to repopulate Garden State shops. And we all appreciate the help we get from the Collision Repair Education Foundation which aids in combating some of those shortcomings on the budget side.

Sam Lopez: There are always challenges in education. The question is how do we prepare for them ahead of time. Funding has always been difficult because our Middlesex County Magnet Schools District has five campuses and various automotive shops within them. This doesn’t even count other industrial shops like welding, carpetentry, plumbing, etc. These are great in my opinion, but I will always have a soft spot for the collision trade because of all the good people who helped me in this journey to this day. No one has all the answers, but I can proudly say that our district has taken the initiative to tap into those schools who want to get their students involved starting as early as the eighth grade. The buzz word we hear a lot is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). We can use these initiatives because in this trade we see it on a daily basis, and we apply it everywhere from mixing and blending paint, welding on different metals and alloys, plastics and adhesives, nitrogen welding and spraying, frame straightening and measuring, just to name a few. Yet, we must get involved to showcase these for schools like mine which may be behind with certain equipment. I believe this way we can retain students and encourage them to pursue this as an honest living and a rewarding career.

Bob Magee: Definitely budget. It’s decreased significantly since I came on board until it’s down to nothing; we can barely run the program. They took three-quarters of my budget away to invest in the aerospace program…99 percent of my students will drive cars, but I don’t know that any of them will be flying jets. But I have to go along with whatever the administration chooses. I’ve done what they wanted me to do, and I’ve given 150 percent.

Mike Nickerson: Our biggest issue is budgeting for new equipment and tools. We really need a new frame machine because our current one is shot, and it’s not always easy to get the money we need. Fortunately, we have a strong advisory board that helps us come up with ideas and find what we need most of the time.

NJA: How can body shops get involved with local vo-techs to ensure there’s a future workforce pipeline, and how does the industry’s involvement impact student morale?

MB: Again, advisory boards are vital to the schools. We all need more shops to get involved with their local vo-tech programs, and then it works on a quid pro quo basis. You show up to a couple advisory meetings each year and provide some feedback, and in turn, you get the opportunity to talk to the students and possibly get fed some graduating technicians. We want to help supply the workforce, but we need YOUR help to get there. That relationship works well for both sides, but it requires a little effort on the shop side. I’ve heard shop owners complain that a recent graduate didn’t know enough or didn’t fit into their culture, but doesn’t the same thing often happen when you hire a new technician from another location? Yet, you’re already paying them a hefty salary, so why wouldn’t you put that same effort into a brand-new technician who is eager to learn and probably has fewer bad habits to break? In North Jersey, we’re seeing a wonderful change with shops becoming more open to this incoming generation…and with the average technician age being 45 years old, it’s about time.

SL: As far as shops and their role with the new generation of techs, the pandemic reminded us about the critical shortage of skilled labor across the country in a big way. In the school setting, this is no different, and it is a hard pill to swallow. But the beauty of this trade is the vast opportunities for those students who may not necessarily have the most up-to-date mechanical aptitude or skills. I remember a student who came to our school for one of our computer shops and decided he would join my program after cycling through four others. After all, we are a school of choice, and during his junior year, he competed and won the SkillsUSA refinishing competition at one of the vo-techs in New Jersey. To this day, he is working at a collision shop in Linden, and I am very proud of the dedication he has. I think with testimonials like his, we can persuade the public to understand how important this profession really is, including for their own safety as it pertains to repairs and public safety matters.

I always think about how advanced these cars are getting and how important it is to continue to learn and obtain certifications. In one of the recent AASP/NJ meetings, Tom Elder explained that the minimum entrylevel requirement for students should be I-CAR related certifications. We could include ASE too. This is just scratching the surface, and I want to point out that not all schools have the luxury of achieving this because many of them can barely run 90-minute classes and are only two-year programs. I cannot imagine having to cover all the material needed with so little time, yet many of these veterans have been doing so for years. Kudos to them.

BM: I used to have many shop owners who were friends –basically like family – and they sat on my advisory board, but then it came to the point where we weren’t putting as many kids into the industry, so they stopped participating, and I understand that. Even when seniors go out on internships, you’d think they should pick an internship in their major, but they’re not doing that. Maybe one or two do, but not the majority. I’ve had maybe 30 kids that I taught who are still doing great in the industry, working for BMW, Subaru and in private shops, and they keep in touch with me. It’s great when you can teach somebody, and they learn and better themselves. But the majority of my students didn’t stick with the industry because the interest just isn’t there. In a classroom of 20 kids, probably 15 are on their phones because there’s no drive; you can’t teach drive.

MN: Shops need to reach out and start hiring some continued on pg. 38

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201-227-6505 town-motorcar.porschedealer.com continued from pg. 35 of these kids, even at a basic level of sweeping and washing cars. We’d also love for them to come in and do a presentation to talk to these kids about the industry and their local businesses because the kids need to hear more from the people actually doing the work. They need to see how things work in a real shop, so inviting our class for a tour or having a kid come out to clean up and work his or her way up the ladder would really build some excitement and help them see the potential for a future career in this industry. That’s definitely my plan for next year – to get more shops involved – now that we’ll have seniors who can participate in co-op training. Shops, if you need people (and we all know you do!), let’s get together and do something about it!

NJA: What role does the public’s perception of the collision repair industry play in the future of vo-tech education, and how can correcting this help solve the workforce shortage?

MB: Vo-tech schools have been in existence for many years, and a lot of programs are stuck in older environments. While it may be functional, it fits the perception that many parents have of shops from 30 years ago: dirty, poorly-lit dungeons. It all goes back to those advisory boards that can explain the industry’s current expectations and help us get fresh paint, new spray booths and maybe even new equipment. Then, when we have an open house, it’s easier to promote the program as a highly technical trade with a bright future. It allows us to show that we’re not just banging on fenders all day long; this industry has many more things to offer with roles as painters, A-techs, estimators and now even ADAS technicians and scanning and recalibration professionals. That doesn’t even take into account jobbers, OEs and the many other career paths that are available since cars became computers on four wheels. There’s precision needed on new vehicles, but instructors need the industry to help us get our programs up to speed to make them more attractive before they get shut down due to lack of enrollment.

SL: The public’s perception of this trade seems to be changing rapidly, especially through the introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) in the market. We see that many car manufacturers are pushing for some type of EV model that uses advanced technology and materials that are exotic and at times irreparable. This is also the case with your conventional modern vehicles, which means that the information on repairs of these vehicles must be available for dissection. There is also such an opportunity for manufacturers to tap into the high schools because of the critical shortage levels we are reaching. At our school, we have a saying that we were the best-kept secret, and I am very proud of our students. Even though there may be tough days ahead, I believe we have all the tools and resources to continue to strive for a better future for all involved. educate our customers about their Right to Appraisal, to support them on the backend and help them through these shenanigans.

BM: Just look at what someone flipping hamburgers makes, and then you want to pay a body man minimum wage to start when he’s doing skilled technology. An auto body professional is an artist who turns chicken shit into chicken soup. When you go to a doctor’s office, they “practice” on you, but a collision professional can’t practice on a car; they have to fix it! There’s nothing you can hide when you’re doing bodywork. A car comes in totalled and needs to look perfect when it leaves the shop, and it takes a true artist to do that. But people today don’t understand that. They want to frown on the people who enter the trades, which is sad, because what are you going to do when things break down?

MN: It boils back to that every time. They think we’re all grease monkeys, but today’s collision professionals truly are technicians who perform very skilled labor. Parents don’t believe shops pay well, so they discourage their kids from pursuing this trade. And if nobody does pay a decent amount, that stigma is going to stick with us forever. We need to offer apprenticeships to help students earn as they learn instead of sending them to trade schools where they graduate with a ton of debt and still don’t know half of what a shop actually wants them to know.

So, when’s the last time you got involved with your local vocational and technical school? Are you offering apprenticeships to local students? If you’re not doing anything except complaining about the lack of qualified help, you’re part of the problem! Become part of the solution by reaching out to your local vo-tech instructor(s) and asking a simple question: How can I get involved to ensure that our industry has a future supply of qualified workers? It’s likely a lot simpler than you’d think…and it pays in real help for your shop!

Insurers need to be held accountable. Make sure everything is provided in writing. Verbal communication means absolutely nothing when it comes to accountability. I have never seen these types of actions from insurers in my career…insurance companies have turned the claims process into a profit center that doesn’t represent our mutual customers’ best interests. It’s time to educate our customers.

Rather than spending months negotiating through multiple supplements and trying to convince insurers to add parts and procedures (which were provided on the original repair plan) to the final bill, educate your customer about exercising their rights within their policy to invoke the Appraisal Clause; this offers a whole new dimension of doing business. It’s a way for them to exercise the rights within their policies, which allows us to repair their vehicle properly without getting stuck in a battle that isn’t ours to fight. And I know that a lot of you just want to fix the cars, but think about it: If you could remove yourself from the friction of the short pay situation with the Right to Appraisal, wouldn’t this change the game?

OUT OF BODY (AND MECHANICAL) EXPERIENCES

continued from pg. 10

He laughed and said, “You idiot, it’s gonna get towed!”

“It said ‘no standing,’ not ‘no parking,’” I protested. I moved it anyway.

There are a lot of bands still chugging away on the road, and God bless them. The Stones are still at it. But like Bowie, I think they are average in concert. Amazing players – but the songs don’t sound like the records, and that always bugs me. Rod Stewart is always great because he gives you the hits and just the hits. But he, like Elton John, just doesn’t sound that good. Although the Eagles are still around and sound great, they aren’t the Eagles anymore. Since Glenn Frey died, they are really just Don Henley and his band. KISS is on their never ending tour. They are definitely still worth seeing if you’ve never been. Guns N’ Roses and Metallica aren’t my cup of tea, but they are still at the top of their game.

I could go on, but I’ll just end with my dear old friend Bon Jovi.

How delicately can I put this?

His voice is shot.

It might sound better in a rest stop.

ARANJ Board of Directors

David Yeager - EL & M Auto (800) 624-2266 / elandmauto@aol.com

Ed Silipena - American II Autos (609) 965-0987 / esilipena@yahoo.com

Norm Vachon - Port Murray Auto (908) 689-3152 / portmurrayauto@yahoo.com

Dillon Rinkens - East Brunswick Auto (732) 254-6501 / ebautonj@comcast.net

ARANJ Officers

President - Rodney Krawczyk

Ace Auto Wreckers (732) 254-9816 / aceautonj@comcast.net

1st Vice President - Daryl Carman Lentini Auto Salvage (908) 782-4440 / darryl@las-parts.coms

2nd Vice President - Mike Ronayne

Tilghmans Auto Parts (609) 723-7469 / tilghmans@snip.net

Past President - Bob Dirkes Dirkes Used Auto Parts (609) 625-1718 / dirkesauto@gmail.com

The Automotive Recyclers Association of New Jersey