Diagnose and fix cars and light trucks. Paid from day one, but you buy your own tools.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 6,500 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $116,675 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $40,000 at the lower end to about $90,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 5 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$3,500 to $9,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$40,000
Upper end
$90,000
Job Bank's figures for automotive service technicians across Canada (2023 to 2024) are $19.00 an hour at the low end, $29.89 median and $43.27 at the high end, about $40,000, $62,000 and $90,000 a year at 40 hours a week. Dealership diagnostic specialists, EV (electric vehicle) technicians and shop foremen sit at the top. Small-town independent shops sit lower.
$42.00 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, British Columbia is highest at $35.00. Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan sit at $30.00, and New Brunswick is lowest at $24.75. Apprentice pay is a percentage of the licensed rate and rises each year.
Paid by the book
Each job has a set number of paid hours, however long it takes you
Most dealerships pay flat rate: each job has a book time, and you are paid that time whether it takes you longer or shorter. Fast, experienced techs beat the book and earn more. A slow week, a tricky diagnosis or a quiet January means a thin paycheque.
Roughly, all in
$3,500 to $9,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Tools are the real cost here, not tuition. The low end is three in school blocks plus a starter hand tool set and box. The Certificate of Qualification exam at the end is free on your first try in Ontario once your apprenticeship is complete. The high end is blocks at the top of the range and a larger starter set. Shops supply lifts and diagnostic gear but expect you to own your hand tools, and most technicians keep buying tools for years after qualifying, which is not counted here. EI (Employment Insurance) is paid during school blocks and the Canada Apprentice Loan charges no interest.
Tools are the real cost. Shops supply lifts and big equipment but expect you to own your hand tools and a box. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant closed in March 2025. The new federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 if you finish your apprenticeship and get certified in a Red Seal trade on or after April 1, 2025. Applications open November 16, 2026.
Health and dental
Standard at dealerships, fleets and chains. Less common at small independents.
Tool programs
Some employers offer tool allowances, tool insurance or payroll deductions with tool dealers.
Employee vehicle pricing and parts discounts
Pension
Municipal, transit and utility fleet garages, usually unionized.
Overtime
Spring and fall tire changeover are the busy seasons.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A 4-year apprenticeship. About 90% on the job, 10% in class.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math, physics and auto shop. In Ontario you can start early through OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program). Alberta has RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Program).
Find a sponsor
Weeks to months
A shop or dealership willing to register you as an apprentice. Start as a lube tech or tire installer and ask. A pre-apprenticeship college program helps you get noticed.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario (trade code 310S), Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, SkilledTradesBC or your province's authority.
Work and study
4 years
Ontario requires 7,220 hours: 6,500 on the job plus 720 in school, taken as three 8-week blocks at a college.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. In most provinces the same exam earns the Red Seal endorsement, valid across Canada.
Math
Ratios, electrical calculations, reading specs.
Physics
Electricity, hydraulics, gears and heat.
Auto shop or transportation technology
The most direct preparation there is.
Computer literacy
Scan tools and service manuals are all software now.
English
Writing work orders a customer can understand.
In Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island you must be a registered apprentice or certified to work as an automotive service technician. Quebec requires it in the regions covered by an auto industry joint committee, such as Montreal. Elsewhere the trade is voluntary, but employers still expect the ticket. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work in any province without re-testing.
Your employer sends you to a college for school blocks. Pre-apprenticeship programs run at the same schools.
Ontario
Centennial, Mohawk, Fanshawe, Conestoga, Georgian.
Alberta
SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology), NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology).
British Columbia
BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Vancouver Community College.
Elsewhere
Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg, Nova Scotia Community College.
In Quebec you start with a vocational diploma, and in regions covered by a decree a joint committee for the auto service industry tracks your hours and runs the journeyperson exam.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Automobile Mechanics needs a high school diploma, or age 16 with Secondary IV language, second language and math. From 18, the general development test is another way in.
DEP in Automobile Mechanics (5298, or 5798 in English)
About 18 months
1,800 hours of diagnosis, repair and maintenance on every vehicle system. In French at many centres across Quebec, and in English at several centres.
Apprentice card
First job
In Montreal, the Quebec City region, Saguenay and other decree regions, you register with the CPA (comité paritaire, the joint committee for the auto service industry) and get an apprentice card.
Work as an apprentice
About 3 years
In Montreal the apprenticeship is three periods of 2,000 hours, 6,000 in all. The Saguenay committee credits a mechanics DEP with 1,700 hours.
Journeyperson exam
End of apprenticeship
A theory and practical exam gives you a class C journeyperson (compagnon) card. After 12 months you can sit exams for class B or A.
Red Seal, if you want it
Optional
Automotive service technician is a Red Seal trade in Quebec. The exam is 4 hours of multiple choice with a 70% pass mark, and makes it simpler to work in other provinces.
Laurier Macdonald Vocational Centre, Montreal
English Montreal School Board.
West Island Career Centre, Montreal
Lester B. Pearson School Board.
Nova Career Centre, Montérégie
New Frontiers School Board.
Riverside School Board centres (ACCESS), Montérégie
South shore of Montreal.
Western Québec Career Centre, Outaouais
Western Québec School Board.
Things you don't need, but that help.
EV (electric vehicle) and hybrid certification
High-voltage safety training. Growing fast as dealerships sell more electric cars, and not every tech is willing to touch 400 volts.
Manufacturer master technician
Factory training from your dealership's brand. Usually paid by the dealer, and it unlocks the top flat-rate jobs.
Truck and coach technician (a second trade)
Diesel work, fleets and transit, with pension jobs.
Ozone-depleting substances certificate
A short course you need to legally handle air-conditioning refrigerant.
Alignment, transmission or electrical specialization
Ontario has separate tickets for these branches.
Driver's licence
Nearly every shop requires a clean licence.
A basic tool set
Shows you are serious, and shops notice.
Pre-apprenticeship program
A college semester that makes sponsors more willing to take you.
WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials) certificate
A cheap one-day course.
Comfort with software
Half of diagnosis is a laptop.
Technicians who like talking to customers move to service advisor, then service manager, a salaried desk job at a dealership. Others open their own shop. A two-bay independent needs $100,000 or more in lifts, tools and rent, but owners set their own labour rate.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start around 7:30 or 8am. The service desk hands you a work order: oil change, brake job, check-engine light. You inspect, diagnose with a scan tool, quote the fix and wait for the customer to approve it. Big jobs like a timing chain can take a full day. In spring and fall, tire changeovers line up bumper to bumper. Home by 5 or 6pm, sometimes Saturdays.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
A working technician's box and tools often add up to $20,000 or more by mid-career. Tool trucks visit shops every week and sell on credit.
Every passenger vehicle in Quebec must run winter tires from December 1 to March 15. Across Canada, tire changeover makes October and April the busiest months in any shop.
An EV (electric vehicle) has no oil changes, no exhaust and far fewer moving parts, but its battery pack runs at 400 to 800 volts. Technicians need high-voltage training before touching one.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Vehicles and equipment first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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