By Tod Trousdell, Fleet Marketing Consultant
September 3, 2025
For decades, vehicles were simple machines and maintenance was a task most fleets could plan for with regularity. It was a time when technicians were plentiful and vehicle and parts configurations were consistent from year-to-year.
My, how times have changed.
Today’s vehicles are complicated marvels of modern machinery. Innovative designs driven by technological advances and buyers who demand increasingly sophisticated features. Gone are the days when a fleet could simply employ a few savvy maintenance experts or turn to reliable local providers to service and maintain their assets.
According to a recent study by the TechForce Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on solving the shortage of skilled technicians in emerging industries, the US will need over 110,000 new vehicle technicians between 2022 and 2026. Similar statistics from WrenchTech magazine suggest a shortage of more than half a million vehicle techs between 2022 and 2024 when you consider all of the technicians required to keep America’s vehicles on the road:
Why?
While the situation is complicated, many of the reasons are obvious, especially when it comes to commercial vehicles. That includes aging fleets, a situation exacerbated by the lack of vehicles caused by the pandemic, increased demand for freight and services that require work vehicles, and the simple fact that today’s complex vehicles require a new breed of technician. One with advanced training and computer skills – a far cry from the days of maintenance shop grease monkeys ripping out carburetors and changing spark plugs.
Experts say that long-term bias is also keeping young people away from choosing vehicle maintenance as a viable career path.
For starters, being a vehicle tech has never been considered a glamorous career, leaving most young people to rarely consider it as an option. Making matters worse, the industry has never gone out of its way to recruit career techs – especially women – resulting in a shortage at a time when the number of fleet vehicles has skyrocketed in the past generation. In a male-dominated field, the number of female vehicle techs stands at just 12%. Meanwhile, a mere 27% of C-suite execs at auto industry companies are women.
Given such a challenging outlook, what can the vehicle service sector – and the fleets that so desperately depend on vehicle techs – do to ensure that enough technicians will be available to service their increasing needs?
Enter The Hourglass Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, co-founded by Ron Shoemaker, original Founder of Flexco Fleet Services, and son, Chad Shoemaker, the current Chief Executive Officer at Flexco. The Foundation works to not only draw attention to the shortage of vehicle technicians, but to empower young people to achieve their dreams in the face of financial adversity, by providing scholarships to pursue careers in automotive technology.
The Foundation, launched in 2017, works to address a looming tech shortage that could have significant – perhaps even dire – consequences for the fleet industry if not corrected, according to its Executive Director, Kim Davidson.
Kim Davidson
“When you look at the numbers and you see not just the current figures but the projections for shortages in the future, it can be staggering,” said Davidson, who’s also the Director of Marketing at Flexco Fleet Services.
“We’re talking about real numbers and shortages of techs that will create a challenging environment for fleets that will have a cascading effect. If you can’t get vehicles repaired in a timely manner you can’t deliver goods, you can’t make timely service calls, and all of that is going to make it hard to run an efficient fleet or small business.”
Technician shortages are such a significant problem for fleets that The Hourglass Foundation has been tabbed as the Automotive and Fleet Leasing Association’s (AFLA) official Charity of the Year for the second year in a row. Because of this, it will be front and center at AFLA’s annual conference at the JW Marriott, September 14-17 in Marco Island, Florida, providing an opportunity to make its case to some of the industry’s biggest decision makers under the banner of its recently launched “We Are One” fundraising campaign.
Karyna Zarate
The Foundation – which just awarded four new direct scholarships – is the kind of cause AFLA President Karyna Zarate, a fleet manager herself, believes should be top of mind for every fleet in the country.
“Having a strong maintenance component and talented technicians you can count on is vital to having a well-run fleet,” said Zarate, who has deep industry experience in several fleet disciplines and is currently the Director of Fleet for Audubon Companies. “The inability to keep vehicles on the road because of a lack of trained technicians should concern everyone attending the AFLA conference. It’s important we create awareness for the problem and help The Hourglass Foundation thrive, because ultimately it helps us all run better fleets.”
It’s a sentiment shared by AFLA’s new Executive Director, Caley Mutrie, CAE, IOM.
Caley Mutrie
“AFLA’s mission to support fleet and mobility professionals perfectly aligns with The Hourglass Foundation’s efforts to help young adults overcome financial barriers,” said Mutrie. “By investing in future talent, we strengthen fleet’s workforce and promote industry innovation, so AFLA is proud to encourage our members to do the same.”
While The Hourglass Foundation is a small – albeit important – part of helping address the technician shortage, its ability to create awareness is helping in big ways.
The result is increased interest from fleet industry leaders who are willing to invest in educating the next generation of skilled trades professionals through Corporate Sponsorship—bringing the organization’s Corporate Sponsorship total to 16 invaluable companies. One of those new sponsors, Nathan A. Reid, CEO of vehicle logistics provider uShip Logistics, sees supporting The Hourglass Foundation as a smart way to future proof the fleet industry no matter which direction it grows.
Nathan Reid
“When our team sat down to identify charitable partners, The Hourglass Foundation was just a natural choice,” said Reid, who’s company is an AFLA Diamond Sponsor for the second year in a row. “What better way to give back than to support an organization that not only helps young people succeed but makes fleet a stronger, more viable industry – we couldn’t be prouder of our relationship with the Foundation.”
While efforts like those of The Hourglass Foundation are certainly a step in the right direction, the industry is going to have to develop practical, comprehensive solutions if it wants to head off seriously negative consequences. That, or face a world where vehicles sit idle for increasingly longer periods. According to experts that’s going to require not only expanded training programs, but competitive compensation, strategies to attract younger more skilled prospects, and out-of-the-box thinking. It’s a task The Hourglass Foundation is looking forward to tackling, but according to Davidson, it can’t do it without the power and influence of the fleet industry.
“The vehicle tech shortage is the kind of problem that will seriously impact the fleet industry if we all don’t get together and find smart solutions to head it off,” said Davidson. “I’ve been so encouraged by the fleet community’s response, but I want to remind everyone we’re just getting started and that it’s going to take all of us to solve the problem.”
If you’re going to AFLA, be sure to visit the Hourglass Foundation’s display just outside the meeting hall. And for more information or to get involved with the Foundation go to thehourglassfoundation.org or reach out to Davidson at [email protected]. To show your support during The Hourglass Foundation’s current “We Are One” fundraising campaign, click here.
About the author
Tod Trousdell is a 40-year veteran of the marketing space and partner in the boutique firm RobertsTrousdell, headquartered in Atlanta. The firm specializes in project work for a wide variety of entities including several fleet related companies. He can be reached at [email protected].
