AAA’s Playbook for Fixing the Technician Shortage

Jim Sennett is the manager of repair programs at AAA (American Automobile Association), where he oversees the Approved Auto Repair network of roughly 6,000 shops across the country, about 5,000 independents and 1,000 dealerships, along with the club's emerging technologies work on EVs and hybrids. He came up through Goodyear, starting as a tire changer and working through alignment tech, service advisor, service manager, and store manager across two stints with the company. Between his Goodyear years and his current role he spent nearly a decade in law enforcement before returning to the industry.

Jim has been with AAA for 12 years and serves as Vice Chair of the ASE Education Foundation, which puts him at the center of how the industry is responding to the technician shortage in auto repair; both through the certification side and through the apprenticeship program AAA built with NAPA to bring new people into the trade.

In this episode…

The technician shortage in auto repair stopped being an abstract talking point around 2022-2023, when AAA's approved shops started telling Jim Sennett the same thing in different words: the tows keep coming, the waiting rooms keep filling up, and there's nobody behind the bay door to do the work. AAA's response was to stop waiting for the trade-school pipeline to fix itself and build a parallel one, partnering with NAPA on an apprenticeship program designed to take someone out of a grocery store, a fast-food job, or a closed-down factory and turn them into a working technician in 18 to 24 months.

Jim walks through the actual mechanics: $300 a year per person, free for shops already running NAPA, but built parts-supplier agnostic so O'Reilly, Advance, and AutoZone shops are not locked out. The program is self-paced and mentor-based inside the shop, and the apprentice finishes with four ASE certifications; brakes, steering and suspension, A/C, and electrical. He also gets into why the recruiting pitch itself is part of the problem. The trade is still being sold as the "Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard" job; greasy coveralls, wrench in hand, when the actual work is a laptop in one hand and a diagnostic tool in the other. The shortage closes faster when the marketing catches up to what the job has become.

The other thread worth following is Jim's story about a Buffalo shop owner who was a few months from closing. Jim sat down with him, looked at the numbers, and made him do two things first: raise labor rates and raise parts margins. The shop is now operating out of its second, bigger location.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[01:14] Introducing Jim Sennett and his role at AAA

[02:45] Early career path from college into a general service technician role at Goodyear

[04:26] Overseeing AAA's Approved Auto Repair program

[08:49] The three-decade partnership between AAA and NAPA

[09:40] Reframing the technician's image in the modern trade

[10:36] Formative lessons from Goodyear's management training

[13:28] Addressing the technician shortage through the AAA/NAPA apprenticeship

[17:30] Rescuing a Buffalo shop through disciplined pricing and margin strategy

[21:06] Leading with a firm, fair, and consistent standard

[24:35] The under-promise, over-deliver principle and the Five Guys case study

[26:48] Closing reflections and hometown conversation

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Jim Sennett on LinkedIn
• American Automobile Association
• ASE Education Foundation
• Tread Partners
• Gain Traction Podcast on YouTube
• Gain Traction Podcast Website
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments:

• “These men and women are professional people out there, you got a laptop in your hand now, you're doing more work on a computer than you are turning wrenches."
• "You find the right person, the right personality for you, and we'll give you a program, and we'll make them into a technician in 18 months to two years."
• "Always be firm, fair and consistent every day."
• "I'm always a fan of under-promising and over-delivering."
• "If you can't be your word, or you can't have someone that believes in you, it kind of sets a bad foundation and we know what happens with bad foundations, the building tends to crumble."

Action Steps:

1. Audit your labor rates and parts margins this week, raise both if the math says so.
2. Enroll one career-changer in the AAA/NAPA apprenticeship at $300 a year and assign a senior tech as mentor.
3. Rewrite your tech job postings to lead with diagnostics, scan tools, and EV work, not wrench-turning.
4. Pick one customer promise: timeline, price, or scope, and engineer the over delivery.
5. Join AAA's Approved Auto Repair program to access the apprenticeship pricing and the nationwide warranty.