The Shocking Truth Behind the Diesel Technician Shortage: ATRI’s Latest Report Is In

Jeff Lynch
September 1, 2025
5 minutes read

The diesel technician shortage is a persistent and growing problem. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI)’s Technician Shortage report states that a majority of shops (65.5%) reported that their locations were understaffed in 2025, with an average vacancy rate of 19.3%. This isn’t just a number; it’s a daily struggle that impacts uptime, maintenance costs, and operational stability. Compounding the issue is an annual turnover rate of 16.5%, with understaffed shops experiencing a higher rate of 18.1% compared to fully staffed shops’ 7.8%, meaning the cycle of hiring, training, and losing talent never seems to end.

In response, many fleets have focused on increasing pay, but as the data shows, that’s not the whole story. The report indicates that the shortage is also caused by issues with training, recruitment, and retention that go well beyond just compensation or company size. The reality is that modern technicians are looking for more than just a paycheck; they’re searching for a fulfilling career where they can apply their skills to meaningful work. The smartest fleets are beginning to realize that the key to winning the talent war lies not just in offering a competitive wage but in creating a proactive culture that prioritizes their team’s professional growth and job satisfaction.

What Techs Really Want (and Why They’re Leaving)

To understand how to attract and retain technicians, you must first understand what drives them to leave. The ATRI report offers some insight: nearly 44% of trucking techs surveyed were considering alternative employment.

The Firefighting Trap: Technicians ranked “more interesting work” and “variety of work” as top motivators for choosing a job. Conversely, a lack of variety was a top motivator for techs considering other jobs. When a technician’s day is filled with a constant stream of low-value, repetitive “firefighting” from unexpected breakdowns, it’s easy for the work to lose its appeal.
The Burdens of Training: New hires, especially those without formal training, require an average of 357 hours of employer-sponsored training just to get up to speed. This investment of time and money is a significant burden for a short-staffed team. What’s more, the report shows that even formally trained technicians often feel unprepared, with over 30% reporting they were unqualified in core skill areas when they started their careers. This lack of qualification is also related to one of the biggest challenges cited by training programs: that many aspiring techs struggle with basic math and reading skills. The lack of confidence and hands-on knowledge in areas like electronic systems and diagnostics can make their first few months on the job feel overwhelming. In fact, according to WrenchWay, only 28 percent of techs thought that their shop did a good job of teaching new techs, and 48 percent of techs thought that their shop did not do a good job
The Power of a Positive Culture: The report found that a lack of mentorship and poor shop training were significant barriers to a new technician’s career. On the flip side, strong relationships with colleagues ranked as a top source of job satisfaction for technicians already in the industry. Apprenticeship programs, in particular, are an effective retention tool, as techs who complete them have a turnover rate of only 6.9%, which is 58.2% lower than the overall average. This shows that a supportive, well-managed environment is a powerful, yet often overlooked, retention tool.

Creating a Proactive Maintenance Culture

So, how can fleets use this information to their advantage? The answer lies in a fundamental shift from a reactive “break-fix” model to a proactive “predict-and-prevent” model. This change empowers technicians, reduces the daily grind, and shows a commitment to an efficient, forward-thinking future.

The right technology is not a replacement for skilled labor; it is an enabler. Tech can take the burden of mundane tasks off your team while providing the data and intelligence needed to solve more complex problems.

A strong solution should:

Automate the Mundane: Automate routine checks and maintenance-related tasks to free up technician time for more complex, engaging projects.
Provide Actionable Intelligence: Translate complex data into simple, prioritized insights that enable your team to get ahead of problems before they become catastrophic.
Foster a Positive Work Environment: Help streamline workflows and reduce the stress of unexpected, high-stakes repairs, thereby cultivating a more positive and productive shop culture.

Approaching your maintenance team this way demonstrates a commitment to their professional development, creating an environment where technicians feel valued, challenged, and empowered to excel.

Finding the Right Partner to Build Your Culture & End The Technician Shortage

Tackling the technician shortage requires a holistic strategy that addresses the core frustrations of your team. The goal is to build a culture where technicians are seen as proactive problem-solvers, not just reactive mechanics.

This is where Idle Smart can help. Our solutions were designed to align with technicians’ needs:

Reducing the Mundane: Our core system automates battery protection and cold start guards, taking low-value, repetitive tasks off your technician’s plate, freeing up time for more challenging and rewarding work.
Empowering Proactive Work: Our SmartInsights predictive maintenance tool provides data-driven intelligence to predict and prevent major breakdowns, giving technicians more focused, valuable work to do so they can get your trucks on the road faster.
Building a Future-Proof Fleet: With a simple, ~1-hour installation and seamless OEM compatibility, Idle Smart reduces the training burden on your staff. It shows a commitment to an efficient, tech-forward future that attracts modern technicians.

Whether you’re ready for a full solution or just want to explore a more proactive approach, our team of fleet experts is here to help you build a culture that attracts and retains the best in the business.

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Rising Costs and Continuing Challenges

For fleet leaders, navigating the current economic landscape feels like a constant battle against climbing costs and driver retention. The data from the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) Operational Costs of Trucking report confirms what many in the industry are experiencing firsthand: while fuel prices offered some relief, the truckload sector still faced a negative average operating margin of -2.3% in 2024. In an environment where every dollar is scrutinized, the search for hidden inefficiencies is more critical than ever.

Beyond the spreadsheet, there’s a human element to these challenges: your drivers. With an average annualized driver turnover rate of 48% in 2024, the industry is in a constant battle to attract and keep talent. It’s a fight that often comes down to the simple things that happen in the cab, late at night, far from home.

What’s the connection? A cold night.

The Driver’s Reality: A Story of Frustration

It’s 2 AM, somewhere in rural America. A driver, after a long day of fighting traffic, delays, and a tight schedule, finally gets a chance to rest. The cab’s temperature has been dropping, and the bunk heater is struggling to keep up. After an hour of shivering, a decision has to be made: start the engine and idle for warmth, or endure a miserable night. For many drivers, this isn’t a rare event; it’s a frustrating, recurring problem that chips away at their morale and makes them question whether the long hours and days away from home are truly worth it.

The Financial Impact of One Bad Night

For a fleet executive, a cold night is not just a personal inconvenience; it’s a financial event. The consequences cascade, driving up your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in ways that often go unnoticed in a broad expense report.

The Breakdown: The average fleet experiences an unscheduled repair or breakdown every 38,249 miles. A major cause of this is the wear and tear from excessive idling and cold starts. When a truck won’t start on a cold morning, it can lead to mechanical failures and costly roadside service calls, which eat directly into your profits.
The Missed Delivery: Every minute of downtime is a minute of lost revenue. A truck sidelined by a cold start or breakdown can miss a critical delivery window, which strains customer relationships and can lead to lost business. With the industry’s total marginal cost per mile at $2.260 in 2024, every delayed mile is a measurable hit to your profitability.
The Added Labor Burden: In 2024, the ratio of drivers per truck was 0.93, a drop from 0.97 in 2023, signaling that carriers are already operating with fewer drivers per truck. This tight labor market means a single breakdown or delay can have an outsized impact on your operations, forcing other drivers to step in to cover a route.

The Most Expensive Cost of All: Losing a Driver

While the costs of a tow or a repair are significant, they pale in comparison to the ultimate financial consequence: losing a driver. Driver retention is a serious challenge; the cost of replacing a single driver can range from $2,243 to $20,729. This includes the expenses of recruitment, hiring, training, and lost productivity from an idle asset. The ATRI report highlights the lengths to which fleets are going to keep drivers, noting a remarkable 42.1% increase in driver retention bonuses in 2024 alone.

This is the unbreakable link between people and profit. The frustrations that contribute to a “bad night” are directly tied to the costs that erode your operational margin. Investing in your drivers is not just a gesture; it’s a strategic move to build a more resilient and profitable fleet.

A Solution That Protects Your Drivers and Your Bottom Line

A strategic approach to fleet management requires a system that prioritizes driver comfort and operational reliability, which directly combats turnover.

This is where Idle Smart steps in. Our solutions are designed to eliminate the frustrations that lead to driver dissatisfaction.

Guaranteed Starts, Zero Hassle: Our features monitor the temperature and battery voltage, automatically starting the truck before voltage levels drop or temperatures get too low. It’s a key-out solution that works on its own, without requiring driver input. Idle Smart prevents no-start situations that lead to costly breakdowns and stressed, frustrated drivers.
Restful Nights, Every Night: Idle Smart also automatically maintains a comfortable cabin temperature, allowing drivers to get uninterrupted, restful sleep without needing to idle excessively. Plus, our system also helps charge eAPU batteries. If your drivers are getting poor sleep because their eAPUs aren’t lasting through the night, Idle Smart can help. We charge eAPU batteries when the APU battery is drained, and we don’t require the driver to get up to start the truck to do so.
A Strategic Partnership: While APUs offer some of these benefits, they come with high costs, heavy weight, and significant maintenance burdens. Idle Smart provides a customizable, maintenance-free solution that integrates seamlessly with your existing Class 8 trucks and integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack.

The Unbreakable Link: From People to Profit

The numbers are clear: a well-rested, comfortable, and satisfied driver is less likely to leave. By providing a reliable system that eliminates common frustrations like dead batteries and uncomfortable cabs, you’re building a culture that values your drivers. You’re not just reducing a line-item expense; you’re making a tangible investment in your most valuable asset.

With the average TCO per mile at $2.260 and negative operating margins for many fleets, reducing turnover is more critical than ever. Idle Smart is a simple, strategic investment that pays dividends in both tangible and intangible ways. It reduces the direct costs of roadside repairs and fuel while also addressing the root causes of driver dissatisfaction and turnover, ultimately leading to a more resilient, profitable, and efficient fleet.

Ready to invest in a solution that works for your drivers and your bottom line?

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Reducing Idle Time in Unpredictable Fall Weather

Don't let unpredictable autumn weather derail your profits. See why...

The Smarter Way to Idle: How Smart+ Turns Your Trucks into Climate-Adapting Machines

The fall transition can be a beautiful but deceptive time for heavy-duty trucking. One moment, a warm sun shines on a quiet country road; the next, an unexpected cold snap leaves you with a stranded driver, a truck that won’t start, and a missed delivery. Fall’s unpredictable temperature swings lead to excess idling and create a logistical nightmare for fleet leaders, leaving them in a constant battle to stay in control. Adjusting every truck for every weather front that rolls through is almost impossible; while you can’t control the weather, you can control how your fleet responds to it.

The Dangers of Autumn’s Temperature Swings

The shift from summer to fall is a subtle but significant threat to your fleet’s operational stability. Without the right preparation, small issues can become major, costly problems.

Battling Unpredictable Battery Drain: High heat can shorten a battery’s life. Your truck might start fine during a warm autumn day, but a sudden overnight temperature drop can cause the battery to fail. A frustrating guessing game begins, as the truck that worked flawlessly yesterday might be dead on the lot this morning, creating an unexpected no-start.
The Threat of Fuel Gelling: A sudden dip in temperature can put your diesel at risk of gelling, especially if you haven’t transitioned to a winter blend yet. Gelling clogs fuel filters and lines, causing engine failures and costly roadside repairs. The cost of a tow and emergency service for a truck that won’t run is a hit you simply don’t need to endure.
The Chaos of Inconsistent Driver Comfort: Drivers are at the mercy of the weather, dealing with a comfortable cab one evening and waking up to a frigid bunk the next. Unmanaged temperatures force them to idle the engine, burning fuel and leading to fragmented, stressful sleep.
Escaping the “Firefighting” Cycle: For maintenance leaders, unpredictability creates immense friction. Maintenance teams get calls about issues and no-starts that need immediate attention, despite a shop full of trucks and a team of technicians who also need immediate attention. Now, your workforce is putting out fires for trucks already on the road while also preparing the trucks in the shop to be road-ready.

The Smarter Way to Reduce Idle Time During Seasonal Shifts

Smart+ is a software add-on that works with your Idle Smart system to put your fleet on autopilot. Smart+ automatically adjusts critical idle parameters based on a truck’s real-time location and current weather conditions.

Think about a truck driving a long-haul route from Dallas, Texas, in January, heading north toward Detroit, Michigan. The driver starts in near 70-degree weather but will finish their route in below-freezing temperatures with a risk of snow. Instead of a technician or driver manually changing settings, Smart+ automatically adjusts the system’s idle parameters to prevent cold start failures and fuel gelling. This ensures the truck is always operating as efficiently as possible, regardless of the climate, without wasting a ton of fuel from unnecessary idling.

Intelligent automation is a game-changer for fleets that need to manage long routes through changing climates. It frees up your team from constantly monitoring and adjusting settings, minimizing the need for manual intervention and eliminating the risk of human error.

“Choosing Smart+ was a no-brainer. In just one month, we saved an additional $60k in fuel costs and reduced starts by 42%. This made a great impact on operational efficiency, improved the health of equipment, and significantly enhanced the overall driver experience.”

Director of Fuel, PAM Transport, Inc.

Smart+ builds upon the core Idle Smart system, which already provides:

Battery Protect™: Eliminates no-start surprises by ensuring batteries are always charged with patented technology that monitors precise voltage, not just a battery percentage.
Cold Start Guard™: Defeats fuel gelling and engine damage by monitoring coolant temperatures and automatically starting the engine when needed.
Cabin Comfort™: Ensures drivers get uninterrupted rest by maintaining a consistent temperature without wasting fuel, so they can get a good night’s sleep.

The SmartPortal Advantage

The SmartPortal is your fleet’s command center. It gives you unparalleled visibility into system usage and a clear view of how your trucks are performing. Gain visibility into idle hours saved, fuel savings, and a breakdown of every Battery Protect and Cold Start Guard event. You can see when and why the system engages, giving you clarity on what’s going on across your fleet without having to be in every cab.

Outsmarting the Hidden Costs of Fall

Being unprepared for seasonal shifts is a direct hit to your bottom line. Cost-saving solutions like Idle Smart are not just an expense; they’re strategic investments that reduce hidden costs and lower your fleet’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Don’t just take our word for it:

“The system pays for itself many times over.”

– Director of Customer Accounts, Miller Trans Group (NationaLease Member)

“We are able to be successful because of great companies, like Idle Smart, that take the time to listen and understand what we are trying to accomplish. The customer service and response time are unbelievable!”

– Director of Maintenance, Ploger Transportation

By preventing no-starts, reducing wear and tear on your engines, and eliminating unnecessary idling, Idle Smart delivers a quantifiable ROI. You can gain confidence in the face of unpredictable weather, freeing you from the constant need to manage minor problems and allowing you to focus on the big-picture goals that drive your business forward.

If you’re interested in saving on fuel costs and reducing idle time for your fleet, talk to our team today.

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2025 Roadcheck Results: Eliminate False Logs & HOS Violations

CCJ Shares 2025 Roadcheck Results The results are in from...

CCJ Shares 2025 Roadcheck Results

The results are in from the 2025 International Roadcheck, and once again, the data shows that compliance comes down to two things: human compliance and equipment integrity.

Over three days in May, enforcement personnel across North America conducted over 56,000 inspections. The numbers are staggering: 10,148 commercial vehicles and 3,342 drivers were placed out-of-service (OOS). The vehicle OOS rate was 18.1%, and the driver OOS rate was 5.9%.

If you want to keep your fleet in the compliant 81.9% (vehicles) and 94.1% (drivers), you need solutions that take things off your team’s plate, not add to it.

1. The Driver Problem: Reducing the Mental Load

This year, the CVSA placed a special emphasis on False Records of Duty Status (RODS), a critical driver violation. The results confirmed it is a pervasive issue: 332 drivers were placed OOS for False Logs/RODS, accounting for 10% of all driver OOS violations.

False logs are a symptom of a deeper problem: driver mental fatigue and overload.

The modern driver has an overwhelming number of duties, from performing a precise pre-trip inspection to constantly managing their digital logbook. When drivers are forced to hunt for parking or worry about their battery health, they are mentally distracted, leading to mistakes in their documentation. They falsify logs, not always out of malice, but often because they are struggling to reconcile a difficult, non-compliant reality with the documentation requirement.

The Solution: Idle Smart Automates Comfort and Compliance

The strongest way to eliminate False Log violations is to use technology to reduce the driver’s overall compliance burden.

Idle Smart reduces the mental burden of driving by automatically managing idling, cabin temperature, and battery health for the driver. Automating the responsibility of balancing costs and efficiency with comfort lets your drivers focus on the most critical aspects of their job, keeping them comfortable and well-rested without racking up idle fuel costs. Plus, with protection against battery drain and fuel gelling, your drivers can stop worrying if the truck will start in the morning.

Simplified Process: While many OEM systems claim to manage idling, they often require multi-step processes to activate, and can be accidentally tripped/turned off by the driver opening the door. Idle Smart makes it easy to activate, and hard to mess up; idling, battery protection, and fuel gelling run automatically, and to activate Cabin Comfort, drivers only need to press “Turn On” on their display.
Compliant Rest: By automating cab environment management, you ensure drivers get uninterrupted, compliant rest, reducing the need to make stressful logbook adjustments or log off-duty time while still actively managing their truck.
Focus on the Road: When drivers know comfort and battery life are handled, they can focus their mental energy on compliance duties that only they can perform, like cargo securement and checking their ELD.

2. The Vehicle Problem: Getting Proactive with the Top Killer

While the focus was on tires this year, the primary issue was brake systems.

The CVSA reported that brakes were the undisputed top vehicle violation:

Combined, 5,561 brake-related OOS violations were issued.
This accounted for a massive 41.1% of all vehicle OOS violations.
Brake Systems and 20% Defective Brakes were the top two OOS categories.

These numbers prove that relying solely on a driver’s visual pre-trip is insufficient to keep your vehicle OOS rate below the 18.1% national average.

The Solution: SmartInsights Adds Visibility Where it Matters Most

While your Idle Smart system manages power draw, its Predictive Maintenance tool, SmartInsights, provides essential visibility into your vehicle’s most failure-prone systems, notifying you about potential issues before they escalate into breakdowns (and so you can address them before they become CVSA violations):

Brake Health: SmartInsights can surface alerts for critical problems like Anti-Lock Braking (ABS) Faults. These are hidden electrical or system issues that a driver cannot find on a standard walk-around but will trigger a Level 1 OOS violation.

By coupling the driver-forward solutions like Idle Smart with predictive maintenance tools like SmartInsights, you arm your fleet with the tools to tackle both the #1 driver problem (HOS/False Logs) and the #1 vehicle problem (Brakes). It’s the only way to reliably beat the Roadcheck odds every year.

Want to talk about how Idle Smart can help you pass next year’s road check with flying colors?

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