Requirements

Vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician - requirements

As a vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician, you’ll use your technical knowledge and customer service skills to service or repair different parts of motor vehicles. Find out more about how to get into this area of work, what you could be doing day to day and how your career might progress.

Know what you'll need to land a job below.

What qualifications do you need to be a vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician?

You can enter this career without an undergraduate degree, but taking a course in one of the following subjects might be useful for some roles:

Before applying for a trainee role, you could also do a T Level, Level 2 or Level 3 college course. Subjects to consider include vehicle maintenance and repair, vehicle technology, and maintenance, installation and repair for engineering and manufacturing.

You can also get into this role through a three-year apprenticeship as a motor vehicle service and maintenance technician.

Please note this is a beta version. We'll continue to improve our suggestions here so that we show you the most relevant subjects.

Do you need a postgraduate qualification to be a vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician?

You don’t usually need a postgraduate qualification for this role, but it might be useful for some specialised technician roles.

Examples of degrees at postgraduate level include master’s in:

Mechanical engineering
Advanced mechanical engineering

What skills do you need to be a vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician?

Technical knowledge of vehicles and their parts, along with strong problem-solving and communication skills, will be important for this role.

Hard skills usually include:

Driving licence
Maths
Mechanics
IT
Vehicle inspection and maintenance

Soft skills include:

Attention to detail
Communication
Customer service
Sales
Teamwork

Do you need work experience to be a vehicle technician, mechanic or electrician?

Being able to show experience of working on and repairing cars will be highly valued by potential employers. Some jobs may prioritise experience with a certain type or brand of vehicle. You could get experience by shadowing mechanics in local garages, casual or temporary work between studies, or through an apprenticeship.