The Datum Report

Occupation 5232 · Skilled trades occupations

Vehicle body builders and repairers

Half of full-time vehicle body builders and repairers in the UK earn more than £34,999 a year, and half earn less.

Vehicle body builders and repairers repair and reconstruct structural and non-structural vehicle body components, including the removal, repair and refitting of mechanical, electrical and trim components, using manufacturer repair methods and technologies associated with modern vehicle construction.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements although some employers may require GCSEs/S grades or an equivalent qualification. Apprenticeships at NVQ/SVQ levels 2 and 3 are also available and take between three to four years to complete. Off and on-the-job training is provided.

What the work involves

• diagnoses job requirements or ascertains work specifications from drawings or instructions
• selects, cuts, shapes and assembles materials to form parts of vehicle underframe, framework and body
• repairs damage to chassis and engine mountings using hydraulic rams, jacks and jigs
• hammers out dents in bodywork, fills in small depressions or corroded areas in solder, plastic or other filler compound and replaces body panels using hand and power tools
• installs and repairs interior fittings including seats, seatbelts and fascia in cars, sinks and special features in caravans and mobile shops
• positions, secures and repairs external fittings including windows, doors, door handles, catches and roof attachments

Also called

Bodyshop technician · Car body repairer · Coach builder · Panel beater · Restoration technician (vehicles) · Vehicle builder

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for vehicle body builders and repairers, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 8 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Aircraft maintenance and related trades · Boat and ship builders and repairers · Rail and rolling stock builders and repairers · Vehicle paint technicians · Vehicle technicians, mechanics and electricians