In today’s equipment industry, technician experience isn’t an HR issue — it’s an operational performance indicator. Technicians influence everything from repair cycle time to customer satisfaction, safety outcomes, and ultimately, dealer profitability.
Yet for most organizations, understanding what their technicians actually need — and where the biggest risks and opportunities lie — has been mostly guesswork.
That’s why SATISFYD created the 2025 Technician Experience Benchmark Report, the industry’s first aggregated pulse of technician sentiment across dealerships. This year’s report represents feedback from nearly 400 technicians across 15 dealer organizations, providing a rare cross-industry view of what’s working, what’s not, and what dealer leaders must prioritize going into 2026.
Below are some of the most compelling findings and what they mean for dealerships of every size.
Across regions and brands, one theme came through consistently:
Technician productivity is being limited by solvable, predictable issues.
Many technicians report missing specialty tools, outdated equipment, or tools locked on field trucks — issues that translate directly into lost billable time.
Industry Benchmark (Tools Satisfaction): 58.7/100
Technicians describe spending excess time fabricating work-arounds, borrowing tools, or hunting down critical equipment.
🚧 Operational impact: reduced efficiency, slower cycle times, and increased rework risk.
Technicians signaled clear links between shop condition, physical layout, and their ability to work productively.
Industry Benchmark (Shop Condition): 60.8/100
The most common challenges include cramped workspaces, aging lifts and jacks, insufficient cranes, wash bay issues, and outdated infrastructure.
🚧 Operational impact: more time repositioning machines, longer job durations, and preventable delays that cost the dealership productivity hours.
More than half of technicians say outdated or insufficient equipment has created a safety risk in their work environment.
Industry Benchmark (Outdated Equipment Creates a Safety Risk): 64.3/100
Technicians specifically cite lifting gear, cranes, rigging, and track press tooling.
🚧 Operational impact: avoidable safety events, higher liability exposure, and increased downtime.
The third benchmark metric, Safety Risk Frequency, measures how often technicians encounter risks related to equipment.
Industry Benchmark (Safety Risk Frequency): 69.4/100
Scores in the 60s mean risks are happening “occasionally” — a sign that underlying shop systems need tightening.
🚧 Operational impact: inconsistent safety practices reduce throughput, erode confidence, and create variability in job quality.
Across all comments and data, top-performing dealers consistently share these traits:
✅ Standardize tooling availability across branches and trucks
✅ Implement structured tool-room systems with labeling, check-in/check-out, and accountability
✅ Invest in infrastructure — cranes, presses, wash bays, lifts, lighting, and HVAC
✅ Run proactive safety programs instead of reactive ones
✅ Actively close technician feedback loops so techs feel heard and supported
✅ Benchmark their branches regularly to identify gaps early
These dealers see fewer delays, fewer safety incidents, and higher retention — long before the data becomes a crisis.
Technician experience is shop performance. And shop performance is revenue.
Dealers who use technician feedback strategically see measurable gains:
⚡Faster repair cycle time
⬆️ Higher billable hour efficiency
⬇️ Lower turnover (and turnover costs)
⬇️ Reduced safety and warranty risks
💪 Stronger customer satisfaction
This benchmark provides more than numbers — it reveals the patterns and priorities shaping the technical workforce heading into 2026.
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