Car mechatronics engineer: What do you actually earn as a car screwdriver?

Welding and screws were earlier, today it is plugged and the electronics updated. The motor vehicle mechanic has changed a lot. This starts with the name: Today the training is no longer called “car mechanic”. The syllable “Tro” for “electronics” was added. As a result, one now speaks of the “car mechatronics engineer”. In general, less patches and welded on the car today, and parts are completely exchanged than before.

New manufacturing methods for electric cars increase this trend. The enthusiasm of the youngsters has been unbroken: Mechatronics engineers have been by far the most popular apprenticeship in men for men. The number of companies has been decreasing slightly for a long time, but around 430,000 people still work in car companies. There are a total of 36,000 of them, 14,000 of them are tied to a manufacturer, but the majority form the free workshops.

The METALL (IG Metall) industrial union acts the collective agreements for the vehicle industry. This has just been presented for the next collective bargaining in March: 6.5 percent should increase the wages according to their will. But no matter what results in the negotiations: only a part of the workshops and car dealerships are bound to this collective agreement, and it has been decreasing for years. In the meantime, according to IG Metall, only 91,000 employees work in the vehicle trade in companies who accept the collective agreement negotiated between employers’ associations and unions-only every fifth.

This has an impact on the account balance, because the basic salaries in tariff -bound companies are on average about 13 percent higher, as has been determined. There are also additional services such as vacation pay and more common in such companies – about three of four employees receive this salary plus. In companies without collective bargaining, holidays or Christmas bonuses are only paid for half as often. And mostly it is significantly lower.

The weekly working hours are also regulated by the applicable collective agreements for car dealerships and car workshops. In the west it is usually 36 hours, only in Saarland and in North Rhine -Westphalia it is 36.5 hours. According to tariff, car mechatronics engineers have to work in the east-except in Thuringia, there are 37.5. In companies without collective bargaining, however, longer working hours are very often required.

On average, according to the WSI evaluation of March 2024, automotive mechatronics engineers earn around 2,860 euros with ten years of professional experience. Administrators come to 2,420 euros – and after 20 years in the job, around 3,060 euros are on the pay slip. Anyone who works in large companies tends to earn more than in small ones. If you want to support the WSI in its “wage mirror” and see what is paid elsewhere in your job.

In the wage mirror, the salary increase in the industry from October 2024 is not taken into account. Since then, if you are paid according to the tariff, 3.6 percent has received more wages.

As in most professions, wages differ from region to region. More is paid in the southwest than in the north or east. But it is also more expensive to live and shop there.

Here is the salaries, according to the collective agreement for car mechatronics engineers with ten years of professional experience for three federal states with a current status (February 2025):

IG Metall has put together.

In addition, half a monthly wage is also paid in all three federal states as and as a vacation allowance. So considerable salary extras that many companies do without. If you also take this and the shorter working hours into account, according to the IG Metall, around 23 percent more per hour is earned in companies with a collective agreement than in companies without.