Mechanic salary in Australia

What a qualified motor mechanic earns

Going by the Australian Government's Your Career profile for Motor Mechanic (General), median weekly earnings for a full-time mechanic are around $1,405 a week before tax. Annualise that and it lands somewhere near $73,000 a year as a rough guide, though Your Career quotes the weekly figure rather than a yearly one.

Treat that as a middle-of-the-road number, not a fixed rate. Your Career draws it from national survey data and updates it over time, so the exact figure moves. Plenty of mechanics earn under it, and plenty earn well over it. Use it to get your bearings, then work out what your own hours, skills and employer are worth.

What pushes the pay up

Two mechanics with the same certificate can be on very different money. Here is what moves the needle.

• •Experience: a first-year qualified hand earns less than someone with ten years and a reputation for fixing anything.
• •State and location: pay and demand vary between states, and a regional town short on mechanics can pay better than a capital city full of them.
• •Overtime and site allowances: after-hours work, weekend jobs and callouts add up quickly, and some sites pay extra loadings on top of the base rate.
• •Specialisation: getting good at auto electrical, diagnostics on late-model cars, EV and hybrid systems, air conditioning, or a specific European or performance brand makes you harder to replace and easier to pay well.

Running your own shop

The biggest earners in this trade often work for themselves. Once you have the ticket, the customers and a bit of business sense, opening your own workshop or a mobile mechanic service can lift your income well past the wage figures above.

It is not free money though. You carry the tools, the rent, the insurance, the quiet weeks and the paperwork. Do it well and it pays off. Rush into it without a customer base and it can go the other way, so learn the business side before you hang out the sign.

Mining, resources and FIFO work

If you are chasing the top dollar, mining and resources work is where a lot of mechanics head. Servicing heavy fleets and machinery on mine sites, or flying in and out on a roster, generally pays well above a suburban workshop thanks to site rates, allowances and long hours.

The trade-off is the lifestyle: long swings away from home, remote sites and hard conditions. It suits some people and burns others out. A light vehicle background can get you in the door, though picking up diesel and heavy vehicle skills opens more of these jobs.

What you earn as an apprentice

While you are training, your pay is set by the relevant modern award, usually the Vehicle Repair, Services and Retail Award 2020. Apprentice rates start lower than a qualified wage and step up each year as you move through your apprenticeship, so you are on more money in year four than in year one.

Your exact rate depends on your year, your age, whether you finished Year 12 and your state, so do not go off a mate's number. Punch your details into the Fair Work Pay Calculator to see what you should actually be paid. It is the official tool and it is free.

How the trade compares on pay

Being honest, motor mechanics sit a little below the middle of the trades on pay. Electricians, plumbers and heavy vehicle or diesel fitters tend to earn more, and the mechanic figure usually lands under the all-jobs average.

What the trade has going for it is steady, everywhere demand: cars break down in every town in the country, and someone has to fix them. It is a solid, secure trade rather than the flashiest earner, and the ceiling lifts a lot once you specialise or go out on your own.

How to earn more over a career

The mechanics who earn well rarely just clock on and clock off for thirty years. They keep adding to what they can do.

• •Get across new tech: EV and hybrid systems, advanced diagnostics and modern driver-assist tech are only getting more common, and the shops that can service them charge for it.
• •Add tickets and licences: auto electrical, air conditioning (refrigerant handling), roadworthy inspections and gas fitting all open extra work and extra pay.
• •Step up to leading hand, workshop foreman or service manager if you like running a team, or move into heavy vehicle and mining for the site rates.
• •Consider your own business once you have the customers and the confidence: it is the clearest path past the wage ceiling for most mechanics.