Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
Wash or otherwise clean vehicles, machinery, and other equipment. Use such materials as water, cleaning agents, brushes, cloths, and hoses.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Quality Control Analysis
- Operations Monitoring
- Monitoring
- Time Management
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Service Orientation
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Transportation
- Administration and Management
- Public Safety and Security
- Production and Processing
- Mechanical
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Inspect parts, equipment, or vehicles for cleanliness, damage, and compliance with standards or regulations.
- Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.
- Mix cleaning solutions, abrasive compositions, or other compounds, according to formulas.
- Press buttons to activate cleaning equipment or machines.
- Clean and polish vehicle windows.
- Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.
- Drive vehicles to or from workshops or customers' workplaces or homes.
- Turn valves or handles on equipment to regulate pressure or flow of water, air, steam, or abrasives from sprayer nozzles.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (54% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (42.3%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (39.3%)
- 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 Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment 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 | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 93% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 83% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 84% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 60% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 76% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 92% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 54% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: moderate
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: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Occasional contact with others: 23.65%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 20.8%
- Constant contact with others: 42.7%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 23.55%
- Important: 18.76%
- Very important: 10.48%
- Extremely important: 13.24%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 12.38%
- Very important: 24.76%
- Extremely important: 43.19%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.39%
- Very little freedom: 2.37%
- Limited freedom: 12.85%
- Some freedom: 42.11%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 7.32%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.11%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 19.45%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 2.37%
- Every day: 16.69%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 42.72%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.09%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 13.84%
- Every day: 0%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 16.6%
- Fairly serious: 26.33%
- Serious: 12.3%
- Very serious: 25.7%
- Extremely serious: 19.06%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 53-7061.00 · SOC 53-7061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8