Automotive Body Repairer (Panel Beater)

Job overview
Automotive body repairers, or panel-beaters, as they are commonly known, repair and realign the damaged and dented panels of the bodywork of motor vehicles.

What do people do in this job?
The bent framework or bodywork of a damaged vehicle must first, with the help of special equipment, be bent back to its original position so that the doors and bonnet fit properly.

In the case of panels damaged beyond repair, these parts are removed and replaced with other panels.

The panel beaters see to it that all the components are properly secured and that window mechanisms, door handles and locks, function well.

Implements used include files and grinding equipment, dollies, gouges, keys, chisels and clamps, and electrical equipment like drills, riveting machines and cutters, as well as blowtorches and welding and brazing machines.

Automotive body repairing is often done in the neighbourhood garage itself, but there are also many panel beaters concentrating exclusively on this sort of work.

What kinds of people are suitable for this job?
Prospective panel ?beaters should possess good spatial and form perception and good eye-hand co-ordination.

Good two-hand co-ordination also is important, particularly for handling the dolly.

In addition workers must be physically strong and healthy, because even though repairers are not expected to handle heavy objects, the hard work requires a fair amount of physical endurance.

The continual pounding, grinding and noise can be tiring, too.

What qualifications are needed?
An apprenticeship, at age 16 years and older, is the normal method of entering the trade.

In the foreseeable future there will always be a demand for qualified artisans in this industry.