Moore Tech, auto dealers team up on technician training center
Car dealer Al Gossett knew Memphis needed an auto technician training center of its own when he found dozens of job-seekers from Memphis at a Nashville job fair.
“I go to job fairs around the country and I was in Nashville a couple years ago and there were 40 Memphis kids. Nashville had a school where they could learn to be a technician,” Gossett said.
Gossett was among more than 50 car dealers who showed up last Tuesday to launch a former auto dealership's conversion into Moore Tech Automotive Technician School.
The Greater Memphis Automobile Dealers Association and Moore Tech will transform the former Dobbs Honda at 2785 S. Mendenhall Road into a technician training facility by early next year.
GMADA president Kent Ritchey spearheaded the push to open the training center. It will boost the pipeline of technicians for local dealerships while furthering Moore Tech’s mission of providing technical and vocational training to Memphians.
“We should have done this 25-30 years ago,” Ritchey said.
The association estimates area auto dealers are short 100 to 200 trained technicians, a shortage that manifests in longer waiting times for the public.
Auto technicians can start at $35,000 to $40,000 and earn as much as $100,000, making it a promising career track for students who aren’t head-
ed to four-year colleges.
Moore Tech Automotive will offer a two-year associate’s degree and National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence Student Certification. After students complete a semester, they’ll have an opportunity to be placed in onthe-job training at Memphis area dealerships.
“If we can get technicians trained here, it will open up the pool of applicants available to us,” said Jay Keras, vice president of Jim Keras Automotive, which employs about 60 technicians.
“It’s just harder to find new technicians,” Keras said.
While turnover and veteran technicians aging out of the workforce are factors in the shortfall, area dealers are also seeing increased demand for technicians because of growth and industry trends.
Gossett, president of Gossett Motor Cars and an association board member, said Gossett employs more than 80 auto techs.
“We’re putting more cars on the road, so we need more technicians to take care of them,” he said.
Longer factory warranties translate into demand for more technicians. While Hyundai and Kia have long been associated with 10-year, 100,000-mile warranties, Volkswagen recently doubled its warranty to six years, 72,000 miles.
The Honda dealership has been vacant about five years. The association and Moore Tech will build out eight classrooms inside the main building, refurbish the shop with air conditioning and non-slip floor coating, and make use of the parts department, upstairs offices and a separate shop building.
The dealers are working their network of industry contacts and suppliers for deals or donations of key equipment, tools and other necessities.
“A lot of these guys are eager to participate because we’re just building the future for the auto dealers and auto technicians,” Gossett said.
The inaugural group of about 75 students will attend classes in portable buildings starting in September while the dealership is under renovation. The renovation is expected to be completed by January or February.
Moore Tech president Stanley “Skip” Redmond said about 20 students have applied for the program. The school’s director of automotive service technology is Martin Gambill, and admissions director is Justin Benjamin.
“This is a first-of-its-kind partnership,” Redmond said. “We feel like we are going to attract regional students from Jackson, Little Rock and Birmingham.”
Call 901-726-1977 or go to williamrmoore.org for more information.