An independent shop on West Warren

The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence runs proctored exams by speciality: engine repair, electrical systems, brakes, suspension and steering, and so on. Passing one is not enough on its own. A technician also needs two years of documented hands-on experience before the certification is issued.

Certifications expire after five years and have to be re-earned by taking the test again, which is the part that matters. Cars change, and a credential from 2009 that never had to be renewed would tell you very little about who is working on a vehicle built last year.

A trouble code names the circuit that reported a fault. It does not name the part that failed. The gap between those two things is where most wasted money in car ownership lives, because the code frequently shares a name with a component and people buy that component.

Testing the circuit costs an hour. Guessing costs the price of a part that cannot be returned once fitted, and then the price of the next guess. We would rather charge for the hour and be right.