Find, order, stock and sell the parts that keep vehicles and machines running. A Red Seal trade you can do without getting greasy.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Certified partsperson
$54,000
1st-year apprentice
$40,000
Parts manager or mine site
$83,000
Job Bank's national median is $26 an hour, about $54,000 a year full time. Retail parts stores pay the least. Heavy equipment dealers, mines and oil and gas sites pay the most, often with commission on sales.
$19 to $21 an hour
First-year apprentice or counter trainee, about $40,000 a year
You start in the warehouse receiving and shelving, then move to the counter. Dealerships pay more than retail chains from the start.
$38 to $40 an hour
About $83,000 a year, more as a parts manager or at a mine
Parts managers at big dealerships earn a salary plus a share of department profit. Camp jobs at mines and oil sands sites pay premium rates for running the parts warehouse.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is a paid apprenticeship, so there is no tuition year to save up for. The low end is somebody whose employer covers the classroom blocks and who buys little more than safety boots, plus the certification exam at the end. The high end is paying for every in school block yourself, the exam, and a few small items of gear. The shop supplies the computer and the scanner, which is why this is one of the cheapest skilled trades to enter.
The cheapest Red Seal trade to enter. No tool chest, no steel-toed budget beyond boots.
Commission on parts sales
Common at dealerships and wholesale counters.
Health and dental
Standard at dealer groups and equipment dealers.
Staff pricing
On parts and often vehicles.
Indoor, regular hours
Rare in the trades.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A Red Seal apprenticeship, about 3 years in Ontario. The Red Seal name is Partsperson.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Math, business and any automotive course. OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) can start you early.
Get hired
Weeks
Dealership parts departments, auto parts chains, truck and equipment dealers. Many hire counter trainees with no experience.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
Skilled Trades Ontario calls it Parts Technician (240P). Alberta and other provinces register it as Partsperson.
Work and study
2 to 3 years
Ontario: 6,000 hours, 5,460 on the job plus 540 in school. Other provinces run 3 periods of roughly 1,500 hours.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the exam. The Red Seal endorsement works across Canada.
Math
Pricing, margins, inventory counts.
Business or accounting
A parts department is a retail business inside a dealership.
Automotive or shop
You need to know what the part does.
Computer courses
Catalogues and inventory systems are all software.
English or French
Talking to technicians, customers and suppliers all day.
Nobody needs a licence to sell parts, so the trade is voluntary everywhere. Plenty of people work a parts counter for years without a ticket. The Red Seal still matters: equipment dealers, mines and unionized shops often require it for the better-paid jobs, and it is the usual step toward parts manager.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Heavy equipment or truck parts
Bigger parts, bigger margins, better pay than car dealerships.
Mine and oil sands warehouses
Camp rotations, premium wages, running a large inventory.
Parts manager
Runs the department, earns a share of profit.
Supply chain and purchasing
Parts experience leads naturally into buyer and logistics roles.
Forklift ticket
Cheap one-day course, used daily in the warehouse.
Driver's licence
Parts delivery is often the first job.
Mechanical curiosity
Techs trust a partsperson who understands the repair.
Patience and memory
Thousands of part numbers and a technician waiting at the window.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open the parts counter at 7:30am. Technicians line up with work orders: look up the part by vehicle identification number, pull it from the shelf or order it for tomorrow. Receive the morning delivery, check it against invoices, shelve it. Quote a wholesale customer, chase a back-ordered part, run a cycle count on one aisle. Phone and computer all day, with a forklift in between.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Partsperson is a Red Seal trade alongside electricians and welders, but the tools are a computer, a scanner and a forklift. It is the closest thing to an office job in the skilled trades.
Every vehicle has a 17-character vehicle identification number, and a partsperson uses it dozens of times a day to find the exact part for that build. One wrong digit and the wrong part shows up.
A big mine or oil sands site keeps millions of dollars of parts on hand so haul trucks never wait. Certified partspeople run those warehouses on camp rotations at some of the best rates in the trade.
Last checked September 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.