Diploma of Automotive Management

The Diploma of Automotive Management is a one-year qualification for people who want to run the business side of a workshop, dealership or automotive service operation. You'll study how a repair business actually makes money: quoting and costing jobs, managing parts inventory and supplier relationships, rostering technicians, reading financial reports, and keeping up with workplace health and safety and environmental rules that apply to automotive premises. Marketing and customer service come into it too, because repeat business in this trade lives or dies on trust.

This is an AQF diploma, which sits between a certificate IV and an associate degree. Australian diplomas are usually delivered over two or three study periods across a year, made up of units of study that each carry credit points. Assessment leans practical: case studies, simulated workshop scenarios, budgets you build yourself, and projects based on real automotive businesses. Some providers build in a work placement or industry project, so ask City College what yours involves. If you later want to go further, completed units may count towards a bachelor degree through credit transfer, though you'll need to check each institution's rules.

You'll come out able to prepare and monitor budgets, manage staff performance, oversee compliance, and handle the paperwork that keeps a workshop licensed and profitable. Those skills travel across fleet management, service advising, parts distribution and dealership administration. It suits people already working in the trade who want to move off the tools and into supervision or management, and it suits career changers with some business or retail background who want an industry to specialise in.

International students study this on a Student visa, which normally allows 48 hours of work per fortnight while your course is in session and unrestricted hours during scheduled breaks. After finishing, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available depending on your circumstances. English entry is typically IELTS Academic 6.0–6.5 overall or an accepted equivalent such as TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic or Cambridge C1 Advanced, with the Department of Home Affairs setting its own separate threshold for the visa. Tuition is listed on the CRICOS register under course code 116735H. Confirm current entry requirements, intake dates and fees on the official page before you apply.

• Workshop manager or service manager in a repair centre or dealership
• Service advisor handling bookings, quotes and customer communication
• Parts and inventory coordinator for a workshop or parts distributor
• Fleet maintenance coordinator in logistics, mining or government fleets
• Assistant manager or operations supervisor in automotive retail
• Small business owner running an independent mechanical or auto electrical workshop

Employers include independent repair shops, franchised dealerships, fleet operators, automotive parts wholesalers, and mining and transport companies that maintain their own vehicles. Some graduates use the diploma as a step towards further study in business or management.