Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
Service automobiles, buses, trucks, boats, and other automotive or marine vehicles with fuel, lubricants, and accessories. Collect payment for services and supplies. May lubricate vehicle, change motor oil, refill antifreeze, or replace lights or other accessories, such as windshield wiper blades or fan belts. May repair or replace tires.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Operation and Control
- Time Management
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Administrative
- Engineering and Technology
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Collect cash payments from customers, and make change or charge purchases to customers' credit cards, providing customers with receipts.
- Clean parking areas, offices, restrooms, or equipment, and remove trash.
- Perform minor repairs, such as adjusting brakes, replacing spark plugs, or changing engine oil or filters.
- Order stock, and price and shelve incoming goods.
- Rotate, test, and repair or replace tires.
- Grease and lubricate vehicles or specified units, such as springs, universal joints, or steering knuckles, using grease guns or spray lubricants.
- Sell and install accessories, such as batteries, windshield wiper blades, fan belts, bulbs, or headlamps.
- Check tire pressure and levels of fuel, motor oil, transmission, radiator, battery, or other fluids, adding air or fluids as required.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (58.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (52.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (25.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 60% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 87% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 62% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 73% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 94% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 83% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 87% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 79% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 12.41%
- Contact with others about half the time: 1.28%
- Contact with others most of the time: 9.49%
- Constant contact with others: 76.81%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 2.11%
- Fairly important: 3.45%
- Important: 11.06%
- Very important: 17.76%
- Extremely important: 65.63%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.44%
- Fairly important: 12.76%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 3.11%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.54%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Some freedom: 20.69%
- A lot of freedom: 60.31%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 1.01%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.08%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 2.6%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.46%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 4.55%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 37.24%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.7%
- Every day: 16.84%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 1.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 15.12%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.98%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.1%
- Every day: 34.33%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 2.72%
- Fairly serious: 35.86%
- Serious: 3.29%
- Very serious: 4.04%
- Extremely serious: 54.1%
n = 29, Incumbent 07/2016
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O*NET-SOC 53-6031.00 · SOC 53-6031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8