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 rather than spend their career under a hoist. You study how automotive businesses actually make money: quoting and costing repair jobs, managing parts inventory and suppliers, rostering technicians, handling customer complaints, reading a profit and loss statement, and keeping a workshop compliant with workplace health and safety and environmental rules.

As a diploma, this sits at the same AQF level as the first year of a bachelor degree, but it is a vocational qualification, so the teaching is practical. Expect units of study built around real workshop scenarios, with assessments based on case studies, budgets and business plans rather than long essays. Delivery is typically over two or three study periods across the year, and each unit carries credit points. Some providers build in a work placement or structured industry experience in a dealership or repair business, which is how most students get their first proper look at how a service department is managed. Ask the provider directly about placement arrangements before you enrol.

You come out knowing how to prepare a repair estimate, manage a parts department, supervise a small team, and explain technical work to customers who do not know a camshaft from a crankshaft. Those skills transfer across the automotive sector and into related trades-based businesses. Because the qualification is accredited on the Australian Qualifications Framework, it can also be a stepping stone, some graduates use it as credit towards a bachelor degree in business or automotive management, though you need to confirm credit arrangements with the receiving institution.

This course suits three kinds of people: a qualified mechanic or technician who is being pushed into a supervisor or service manager role and needs the business skills to match; someone already working in an automotive business in parts, service advising or administration who wants to move up; and international students who want an Australian qualification in a practical industry. If you are studying in Australia on a student visa, you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while your course is in session, which many students use to get hands-on experience in a dealership or workshop. After graduating, the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream may be available depending on your circumstances, check the Department of Home Affairs for current rules.

• Service manager or assistant service manager, running the day-to-day operation of a dealership or independent workshop service department.
• Workshop supervisor, rostering technicians, managing workflow and quality control in repair and maintenance businesses.
• Parts and inventory manager, ordering, storing and controlling stock for dealerships, parts distributors and repair chains.
• Automotive service advisor, the customer-facing role that quotes jobs, explains repairs and manages bookings.
• Fleet coordinator, looking after maintenance schedules and costs for company vehicle fleets, councils and logistics operators.
• Small business owner or operator, many graduates run their own mechanical repair or mobile automotive business.

Employers include new car dealerships, independent repair workshops, national service chains, automotive parts retailers and distributors, fleet operators, and mining and transport companies with large vehicle fleets. Australia's automotive service industry is spread across every state and territory, so the work is not confined to the big cities.