What if every technician could gain an extra working day a month?

17 September 2026  

The automotive aftermarket has spent years discussing the technician shortage, and with good reason. As vehicles become increasingly complex, workshops are under growing pressure to recruit, retain and develop skilled technicians capable of diagnosing and repairing ever more sophisticated vehicles. While the shortage of suitably qualified technicians persists, Autotech is offering an alternative way to tackle the problem.

What if one of the biggest opportunities facing the industry isn’t finding more technicians at all?

What if it’s finding more time?

It sounds ambitious, but the maths is surprisingly simple. Give a technician back just 30 minutes each day, and that equates to two and a half hours every week. Over the course of a month, that’s more than 10 additional productive hours – effectively an extra working day from every technician on the payroll.

Yet while much of the industry’s attention remains focused on attracting new talent into the sector, there is another question worth asking: are workshops making the most effective use of the technicians they already have?

Technicians are estimated to spend between 10% and 20% of their working day on administration. The challenge is not vehicle technology – it’s workshop efficiency.

For many workshops, increasing capacity is easier said than done. Demand remains heavily concentrated in technical roles, highlighting the ongoing challenge of sourcing experienced technicians. As a result, improving productivity remains one of the few levers workshops can directly control.

That means reducing the time spent on administration, warranty reporting, searching for technical information and duplicating data across multiple systems. And this is where technology is beginning to deliver measurable gains.

Assisted Reality technology

Autotech Connect’s Assisted Reality solution gives vehicle technicians access to technical information, remote expertise and digital documentation while they work on a vehicle. The software can be accessed through RealWear hands-free headsets or tablets, allowing workshops to adopt the technology in the way that best suits their technicians and working environment.

When using a RealWear headset, technicians can operate the system by voice command, allowing them to access technical information and repair procedures without stepping away from the vehicle. The headset can also connect them by live audio and video to a more experienced technician or specialist in another location, who can see what they see and provide guidance in real time.

Combined with Autotech Connect’s AI-supported software, technicians can verbally capture observations, diagnostics and repair information as they work. Voice-to-text technology converts this into structured documentation, rather than the technician having to stop at the end of a job and manually write up their notes. The platform can be accessed through the headset or a tablet and configured around approved technical information, workflows and compliance requirements.

For an independent workshop, the principle is straightforward: the technology doesn’t make the physical repair itself faster; it reduces the non-productive time surrounding it.

The old way of working is often like this: Stop work, find information, return to the vehicle, encounter a problem, find someone with the expertise, continue the repair, stop again, and then write up the job.

Modern technology can offer a simplified and quicker route: Work on the vehicle, access information by voice, call in expertise remotely if required, and document the work as it happens.

And it doesn’t need to save hours at a time to make a difference. Saving a technician just 30 minutes each day adds up to more than 10 hours a month – effectively giving the workshop an extra working day of productive technician time without increasing headcount. For a four-technician workshop, saving just 30 minutes per technician equates to two additional hours of productive workshop capacity every day.

For workshop owners, that means more productive hours, improved workshop throughput and ultimately the ability to get vehicles back on the road faster.

Modern vehicles need modern workshops

There is a certain irony within the modern aftermarket. Vehicle technology has advanced at an extraordinary pace, with technicians expected to navigate software-defined vehicles, connected systems, ADAS technologies, electrified powertrains and increasingly complex repair procedures.

Yet many of the processes surrounding vehicle repair remain stubbornly manual.

Technicians routinely move between multiple systems to find technical information. Repair notes are often recorded manually before being transferred into another platform. Warranty claims can require the same information to be entered multiple times. While each task may only add a few minutes to a job, collectively they create a significant drain on workshop capacity.

The issue is not that independent garages are resistant to technology. The aftermarket has consistently demonstrated its ability to adapt, whether that was diagnostics, hybrid technology, EVs or ADAS calibration. The challenge is that technology within the workshop has often been viewed as a significant investment rather than a practical tool capable of solving everyday operational problems.

The reality is that the most effective technologies are often the simplest to implement because they work alongside existing workshop processes rather than replacing them.

Technology should amplify expertise

Perhaps the biggest misconception surrounding modern workshop technology is that it is designed to replace technical knowledge, but the reality is quite the opposite.

The most effective solutions are those that allow technicians to apply their expertise more efficiently.

They reduce repetitive administration, make technical information easier to access and help workshops utilise specialist knowledge more effectively when complex repairs arise.

Importantly, this isn’t about relying on generic AI tools or scraping information from the internet. Workshop technology needs to be built around manufacturer-approved information, workshop-specific workflows and the realities of modern vehicle repair.

The goal is not to replace experience – it’s to make experience more accessible.

A differently approach

Technology also has an important role to play in tackling one of the industry’s biggest challenges: access to expertise.

Many independent workshops have experienced the frustration of a complex fault that requires specialist knowledge beyond the capability of the technician standing in front of the vehicle. Historically, that often meant waiting for a master technician, escalating the repair or extending vehicle downtime.

Today, Assisted Reality technologies such as Autotech Connect are already proving what is possible in practice. By enabling technicians to connect directly with remote master technicians while remaining hands-free on the job, workshops can access specialist support exactly when it is needed. One commercial vehicle network reported a 93% increase in repair efficiency using this approach, helping technicians diagnose and repair vehicles more quickly while reducing delays.

In a market where experienced technicians remain in short supply, making expertise instantly available may prove just as valuable as recruiting additional people. For independent garages, this represents an opportunity not simply to overcome skills shortages, but to make better use of the skills already available within the business.

The most productive will thrive

The next generation of vehicles entering the aftermarket will place even greater demands on workshops. Software-defined vehicles, connected systems, and increasingly sophisticated diagnostics will require technicians to process more information than ever before.

In that environment, productivity will become a key differentiator. The workshops that succeed will not necessarily be those with the largest teams or the biggest premises. They will be the businesses that find ways to reduce wasted time, streamline processes and maximise the expertise available within their workforce.

The industry will always need more technicians. But perhaps the bigger opportunity lies in unlocking more time from the talented technicians already working within our workshops.

For many businesses, that opportunity may be closer than they think.

Click here to find out more