CLAREMONT, NH -- It wasn't a fancy car, but as Joe Osgood soon found out, it needed a lot of attention.
The 2001 Dodge Neon didn't have a spark. Osgood, owner of Joe's Family Car Care in Claremont, checked the coils and plugged in his computerized diagnostic tool, which gave him the repair history and systems check in seconds. Still, he couldn't figure it out.
He called around to other mechanics, all of whom had good suggestions but they didn't work.
Twenty hours later, he solved the problem.
"There was this one small piece of information that wasn't available from anyone, but I stumbled onto it in talking to this guy," Osgood said, sitting in his shop on a recent Friday morning.
As it turned out, the timing belt had been installed wrong, a defect from the manufacturer. But it could have been any number of possibilities, which is why it took Osgood, a mechanic with nearly 40 years of experience, three working days to find it.
That's just the way cars are built these days.
From on board navigation systems to push start ignitions, anti-theft systems and power-everything, today's automobiles are placing increased demands on the people that repair them and pushing the trade into an era of specialization. Independently-owned garages are spending a lot of money to keep up.
New federal emissions standards introduced the first big wave of electronics in cars around 1980, though most mechanics were able to keep up until the 1990s, when a digital revolution changed everything. The oxygen sensors, fuel injection systems and basically anything associated with emissions were electronically controlled for efficiency.
Then there were the extras. Features like the "body control module," an electrical system that linked virtually everything in the car, came into use. The BCM took things like power windows, seats, lighting, door locks and the radio and made them all work together. Increase the speed in your car, and the BCM would turn the radio up to account for the extra wind noise outside.
In 1996, the federal government stepped in and required auto manufacturers to install uniform "On Board Diagnostic" systems. The OBD allowed mechanics to plug into the car's computer and find the problem. Still, the sophistication of today's vehicles challenges even the most experienced mechanics. A favorite statistic of automotive experts compares working on modern cars to rocket science.
"There are more computers in automobiles these days than there were in space shuttle on the first mission to the moon," said Dan McLeod, president of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association.
The result has been better, more efficient cars with a longer shelf life.
It's been great for consumers, but tough on the independent auto mechanics, who have had to shell out more money for equipment and staff in order to handle the variety of electronically complex vehicles that come through the garage door.
Shuffling through a four-foot high Craftsman toolbox, Osgood inventories some of the devices he's purchased over the years: A lab scope for which he paid $1,500, an emissions analyzer he bought for $2,000, an $89 volt meter that was once "the Cadillac of diagnostics" a decade ago is now just a test tool.
His most prized possession is a $2,400 diagnostic tool that requires him to spend $1,500 every two years to update its software. The item resembles a large hand-held video game unit. Once plugged into a car's computer, it will tell him the vehicle's repair record, complete with notes from the past mechanics, and do a systems check with suggestions for what is wrong.
"If something ever happens to this computer, we're lost for information," he said, motioning to his desktop computer. "There's too much stuff required for this type of information these days."
Paying for all this equipment and the training to use it has closed the gap between what customers would pay at a private mechanic versus what they would pay the dealer, who usually charge much higher rates for service.
Some mechanics have hinted at conspiracy from manufacturers driving business back to their own, a charge dealers flatly deny. If mechanics want to blame someone, blame the market, said John Lambert, owner of Lambert Auto Sales in Claremont.
"As a customer, if you ask someone if they want to drive a fuel efficient vehicle that has high cargo capacity, everybody's going to say yes," Lambert said. "In America, we want sophisticated stuff."
Lambert said the technology changes have them investing more as well. He said he spent $40,000 last year to train his technicians in addition to subscription fees for his own diagnostic tools, an investment independent mechanics can't make. That expense is coupled with lower payments from manufacturers for warranty repairs, which Lambert said have dropped by about 66 percent.
The changes have many dealers competing with independents for even basic repairs, things that they wouldn't have done 10 years ago.
"A lot of dealers are doing tire alignment, oil changes and brakes. A lot of dealers are focusing on that as a source of income," Lambert said.
An equally vexing challenge is finding people with the training to do the work.
Steve Lamery, who owns Promex Service Center in Newport, has been into cars since he was a teenager. Lamery got his education on the job, learning from his father and guys with more experience. That was when cars were more simple, labor costs weren't as high and a service center was willing to let a high school student get under the hood.
Lamery said the technical schools aren't training students to diagnose and fix today's automobiles. At $60 per hour for labor, he can't afford to take the time to teach them on the job.
"The one I'm defending here is the guy bringing his car into my shop," Lamery said. "I want him to get the best bang for his buck and I can't put a high school kid on a car at $60 an hour."
Richard Saturley, a teacher at Hartford Area Career and Technology Center, said only one or two students out of 12 pursue electronics in his class. He admits that his two-year program only scratches the surface of automotive technology. Even if a student goes on to get an associate's degree afterwards, the schooling has only begun.
"When they graduate here, they will have seen the instruments and held them in their hands. Maybe they've used it, but not nearly the amount they'd need to as an employee," Saturley said. "Then they go to a tech school and, when they've graduated there, what you have is a very well-trained beginner."
But those graduates won't be the all-purpose mechanics of the past. Electronics have created an industry of specialists. Similar to a professional football team, Osgood looks for positions -- an electronics guy, heavy mechanical guy and the "in-between" guy to work on things like brakes, oil changes and inspections.
And it's extremely hard to find the right person for any one category, Osgood said.
While frustrating to employers, those people who recognize the need and get proper training will have a prime seat at the wage bargaining table. As the number of skilled mechanics dwindle, the opportunities will be there to make a lot of money, Osgood said. Auto service centers will have to hire them, no matter the cost.
"The day is coming when there's going to be a good job in this," Osgood said. "The pool is drying up of good mechanics."