Shop Licensing

While no one likes to operate under oversight and the weight of possible fines and incarceration, honest shops will accept a reasonable amount of oversight to help eliminate the bad guys that are giving our industry a bad image.

I tend to support the licensing of shops AND technicians.  I think it’s important to license technicians because right now due to the severe technician shortage the workforce is largely out of control and voluntary efforts will not be considered by the lazy and the lawless.

After decades of voluntary efforts one thing is becoming obvious: The people that are the biggest problem, those who are lazy or who blatantly rip off people, will not join any voluntary effort that would oversee them.  Therefore voluntary efforts alone can’t make enough improvement in the industry.  There must be accountability and consequences.

While licensing will not solve all the problems, we can minimize the problem and keep things in check with licensing.