Panel Beater CV Examples & Writing Guide

"Panel beater" is the everyday term in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, but UK dealer groups, insurer-approved accident repair centres and recruitment agencies often advertise the same job as vehicle body repair technician, panel technician or bodyshop technician, and their hiring systems search for those words. If you trained overseas, keep your real job title as your employer wrote it, and add the UK equivalent in brackets.

A fictional CV for a structural body repair technician with twelve years in dealer and independent bodyshops. Bodyshops track sold hours and are judged by insurers on key-to-key time and comebacks, so those three numbers do most of the work here.

A bodyshop manager is trying to work out whether you will make money in a repair bay and whether the work will come back. That is a short list of things.

• Hours produced. Sold hours per week, or your efficiency percentage, is the number the manager lives by. If nobody measured it, give the jobs per week instead.
• What level of work you can take. Non-structural only, or structural? Aluminium? Can you weld to manufacturer-approved methods and follow the repair instructions without being watched?
• Comeback rate and quality. "Under 2% comebacks over three years" answers the question nobody wants to ask directly.
• Qualifications. Level 3 in vehicle body repair, IMI Accreditation, welding training, and any manufacturer bodyshop training the site needs to keep its approved repairer status.
• Equipment familiarity. Car-O-Liner, Celette or Blackhawk benches, measuring systems, spot welders, diagnostic tools. A technician who already knows the site's bench starts producing in week one.

“Tell me your hours a week and your comeback rate. Everything else on a body tech CV is a guess. If those two numbers are on the page and they hold up when I call your last shop, you are in the top three.”

Three lines: years and type of bodyshop, level of work and qualifications, then one production or quality number. Career objectives only make sense for apprentices.

The generic version of this CV says "repaired damaged vehicles". Every applicant says that. Put the volume, the equipment, the tolerance or the money in each line.

Group them so a manager can find the level they need. The structural and welding lines are what decide your pay grade.

• Structural: chassis and monocoque straightening, three-dimensional measuring, anchoring and pulling, sectioning to manufacturer instructions, sill and chassis leg replacement, aluminium structural repair
• Welding and joining: MIG/MAG steel and aluminium, resistance spot welding, MIG brazing, rivet bonding, structural adhesives, plug welds
• Non-structural: panel replacement and alignment, gap setting, metal finishing and shrinking, hammer and dolly work, filler application, plastic and bumper repair, nitrogen plastic welding, paintless dent removal
• Vehicle systems: ADAS pre- and post-repair scanning, calibration requirements and handover, airbag and seatbelt system remove and refit, glass remove and refit, wiring and connector care around repair zones
• Equipment: Car-O-Liner, Celette or Blackhawk benches, measuring systems, spot welders, dust extraction, aluminium repair bays, plasma cutter, spot weld drills
• Bodyshop and admin: Audatex and other estimating systems, manufacturer repair method portals, parts ordering, repair planning at strip-down

There is no licence to work as a panel beater in the UK, so nobody stops you working without qualifications. But bodyshops in insurer-approved networks and manufacturer-approved repair programmes are audited on their technicians' training, and many work to the BS 10125 repair standard, so the paperwork is worth real money to them.

• Qualifications: Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Vehicle Accident Repair Body Principles (IMI, City & Guilds and other awarding bodies) or a completed vehicle body repair apprenticeship. Give the level, awarding body and year.
• IMI Accreditation: name your category, for example panel technician, and your renewal date. It is recent proof of skill, and many insurer-approved bodyshops expect it.
• Welding training: name the process and material, for example steel MIG/MAG, aluminium MIG or resistance spot welding, and whether it was manufacturer-approved. Bodyshops care about this specifically because a welding test is often part of the interview.
• Manufacturer bodyshop training: name the training if you completed it through a dealer or approved repairer. If you are not sure whether you may name the brand, write "manufacturer bodyshop training, two volume brands, completed 2019".
• Safety and handling: IOSH Working Safely, COSHH awareness, face-fit testing for tight-fitting masks, and forklift or lifting equipment training if you have it.
• Overseas qualifications: a US I-CAR or ASE record, an Irish QQI award or an Australian Certificate III in Automotive Body Repair Technology all belong on the page, with the country named.

List the year for everything. Bodyshops have to show recent training at insurer and manufacturer audits, and a manager wants to see recent dates rather than a list from 2013.

Bodyshops are short of panel beaters and most will train someone who turns up on time with their own basic tools. What they will not do is train someone who has never touched a panel and cannot say why they want to. Make both of those obvious.

1. 1Put your college course or apprenticeship at the top with workshop hours, not just the qualification name. "Level 2 Diploma in vehicle body repair, 900 workshop hours" reads as experience.
2. 2List any short courses you have already completed, such as IMI or manufacturer online modules or a welding course. A candidate who has done six on their own time stands out immediately.
3. 3Say you own tools, and roughly what. A starter box with hammers, dollies, a grinder and a DA sander is enough to start preparation work.
4. 4Use any hands-on job that proves the same muscles: welding fabrication, farm machinery repair, motorcycle work, construction. Numbers still apply.
5. 5Ask about preparation or valeting roles if the technician door is closed. Preparation technicians in a busy bodyshop get pulled into panel work within a year, and the CV you write next time will have hours on it.

One page, two at most. Bodyshop managers read on a phone in the office between estimates. Single column, plain headings, no photo, no date of birth, no graphics. Dealer groups, large accident repair networks and recruitment agencies run applicant tracking systems, so avoid tables and text boxes that break when parsed.

• Use "vehicle body repair technician" and "panel technician" on the page as well as panel beater; those are the searched terms in many UK adverts.
• Name the equipment brands you have run. "Car-O-Liner" and "Audatex" are keywords as well as credibility.
• State the pay arrangement you want (hourly, or hourly plus a bonus on sold hours). It saves both sides a phone call, and managers appreciate a technician who knows the difference.
• Include your driving licence status, since you will move cars around the site, and your right to work in the UK if you trained overseas.
• Send a PDF named Reyes_Marcus_Panel_Beater_CV.pdf, and take two printed copies when you walk in. Plenty of bodyshops still hire off a walk-in and a welding test the same afternoon.