How to Train a New Automotive Technician (First 90 Days)
Most new-tech training in independent shops happens the same way: pair them with your best tech and hope some of it rubs off. That works, eventually — but it's slow and inconsistent between hires. Here's a more structured way to think about the first 90 days.
Days 1-14: Shop Standards Before Skill
Resist the urge to get a new tech turning wrenches immediately. What needs to happen first is orientation to how your shop specifically operates — opening/closing procedures, safety protocols, bay workflow, documentation standards, and your 2-3 most common services, shadowed start to finish.
Days 15-45: Supervised Repetition on Core Services
Now they do the work themselves on your most common services, with an experienced tech checking before a car leaves the bay. A written SOP earns its keep here — the new hire has something to follow instead of relying on someone's memory. Watch for two different problems: speed problems (right steps, just slow — resolves with reps) and consistency problems (skipped or reordered steps — means the training didn't stick).
Days 46-75: Expanding Scope, Reducing Supervision
They should be reliable on core services without step-by-step checking. Introduce less common repairs, move to spot-checks instead of every-car checks, and start on soft skills — flagging issues to the service advisor, knowing when a job needs a second opinion.
Days 76-90: Evaluation Against a Real Standard
The question that matters: could this person be handed a car with no other instructions and get it done correctly and safely? That only works if you have a documented standard to evaluate against — without one, a 90-day review turns into a gut-feel conversation.
The Part Most Shops Skip: Writing It Down Once
None of this requires a training manual written from scratch. It requires each core service documented in enough detail that a 90-day tech could follow it without you standing over their shoulder — which is exactly what the SOP Generator inside ShopDocs is built for, formatted specifically for training a new hire.