Automotive shops and dealerships across the country have been hit hard by the technician shortage — and Phoenix is no exception.

Several area shops, dealerships and schools are joining forces on WrenchWay, an online community for automotive and diesel professionals, to combat the local technician shortage by promoting and improving technician careers in the region.

“It’s become obvious that the technician shortage is having a huge impact on shops in the Phoenix area,” explains Jay Goninen, co-founder and president of WrenchWay. “We need to drive proactive communication across our industry in order to build a better foundation, and the Phoenix chapter is doing just that.”

The WrenchWay Phoenix Chapter launched in early April and has already had 10 shops and 14 schools join.

“These early adopting shops and schools understand the dire situation we’re in as an industry, and know we need to work together if we want to make any progress,” Goninen explains. “WrenchWay is just trying to give them a way to make it easier to communicate and collaborate.”

The WrenchWay online community works like a marketplace where schools list requests for classroom resources they need, and shops can message the schools directly through the platform if they can help. Additionally, shops can list resources they have available for donation.

Currently, there are 15 open requests from schools in the Phoenix area on WrenchWay for things like EV repair and maintenance demos, career fair participants, shop tours, guest speakers for classes, internships and more.

“We encouraged our Phoenix schools to get their requests out there for next semester before summer break. So, even with things slowing down on the school side for a few months, it’s still a great time to get involved in the chapter,” Goninen says.

Shops and schools interested in joining can visit the WrenchWay Phoenix Chapter page to learn more.

Sara Kerwin is director of marketing at WrenchWay.