Ford says its dealerships have thousands of open mechanic jobs that can pay six figures. The catch: very few people last long enough in the job to actually get to that level of pay. In Kent, Ohio, 39-year-old technician Ted Hummel is what Ford calls a "senior master," the top rung in the company's hierarchy of dealership mechanics, the Wall Street Journal reports. He specializes in the heavy, complicated work many colleagues avoid—like swapping out a 300-pound transmission on an F-150. Ford's warranty system pays the dealer 14.6 hours for that job; Hummel can finish it in about five and a half. In 2025, he took home roughly $160,000. His boss' wish: "I wish we could clone Ted."
Hummel's path shows why cloning might be easier than replacing him, the Journal reports. He spent about $30,000 on a two-year auto-tech degree, then years earning close to fast-food wages—his first muffler-shop job in 2007 paid under $10 an hour. On top of tuition, he had to finance tens of thousands of dollars in tools, from basic impact guns to $800 torque wrenches required by Ford, often paying up to $200 a week to "tool trucks." It took until 2022, a decade into his Ford dealership job and after reaching the company's top certification and supervising apprentices, for his pay to finally crest $100,000.
The pay system that makes careers like Hummel's possible has also helped fuel the shortage. Most dealership technicians work on a "flat rate": they earn a fixed number of billable hours per job, no matter how long it really takes. Skilled techs who beat the clock can stack hours and income; slower or injured mechanics watch their pay collapse when the shop is slow or a job goes sideways. The work is physically punishing—back injuries, hernias, and long hours leaning over lifts are common—and there's no paycheck when you're out recovering. Even as repair bills have jumped 59% over the past decade, mechanics' wages are up only 34%, with the median dealership tech earning about $58,600 in 2024, according to federal data.
Ford, which says its senior masters average around $67,000 after five years and only a "pinnacle" few hit $120,000-plus, is trying to grow more Hummels through 33 training centers and scholarships, but mechanic shortages are expected to continue. "We are in trouble in our country," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in November. "A bay with a lift and tools and no one to work in it." In a look at the issue last year, the New York Times noted that while shortages of mechanics are nothing new, the decline of vocational programs in schools and the increased computerization of vehicles has significantly worsened the problem.
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