How To Become A Car Inspector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a car inspector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a car inspector. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.91 an hour? That's $39,325 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -17,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCar InspectorUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,325

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 7.03%

Black or African American 13.61%

Hispanic or Latino 16.19%

Unknown 7.45%

White 55.05%

Gender

female 17.47%

male 82.53%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a car inspector

Explore car inspector education requirements

Most common car inspector degrees

High School Diploma

42.4 %

Associate

22.2 %

Diploma

13.6 %

Start to develop specific car inspector skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Equipment	22.94%
Rail Cars	10.86%
Troubleshoot	8.84%
Oil Changes	5.33%
Torches	4.17%

Complete relevant car inspector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New car inspectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a car inspector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real car inspector resumes.

Research car inspector duties and responsibilities

Operate specialize off-highway motor vehicles including forklifts and ATV's.
Inspect new Chrysler vehicles, look for damage move them from one spot to another, log in damages and shipping ..
Conduct dimensional and visual inspections procedures on CMM machines to ensure geometrical characteristics of the product are in specification.
Inspect certify pre own eligibility vehicles at Toyota and Lexus automotive dealers.

Prepare your car inspector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your car inspector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a car inspector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable car inspector resume templates

Build a professional car inspector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your car inspector resume.