] "There's no shortage of general technicians, but there is ] a big shortage of qualified people to work on drivability ] and emissions issues," says Robert Rodriguez of ] Automotive Service Excellence. The Leesburg, Va., ] organization certifies repair shops and technicians. ] ] These specialist technicians need advanced reading, ] problem-solving, and basic electronics skills, he says. ] "The best people to find are those who have worked in the ] IT [information technology] industry," he says. This is a very interesting article about the technologies in new cars and their associated repair expenses. A combination of government regulation, oligopoly pricing ($3000 headlights?!), and technological change (the author mis-explains the advantages of LEDS) has created a situation were damaged cars are more frequently totalled. Its also created a job market which is egar to hire IT people misplaced by outsourcing. New cars are getting too expensive to fix | csmonitor.com |