David Dye

DAVID Dye was a 17-year-old high-school student who took his parents’ BMW in for a service and never went back to school.

The road to the Perth BMW specialist was never retraced as Mr Dye this year completes a 30 year journey from apprentice to tradesman, and now business owner.

He was in his final year at Perth’s prestigious private school, Hale, when he dropped the BMW off and was so enthralled by the workshop that he asked to stay.

“I stayed a week and at the end I told my parents and my school that I wanted to leave and do an apprenticeship in auto mechanics,” he said.

Hale, seen as a precursor to university studies and a professional career, was unexpectedly helpful.

“The BMW dealership received more than 1000 applications for apprenticeship the previous year so when I was offered one, I didn’t want to take the chance of waiting for the end of the year, so I left school.

“I was aged 17 and that was 30 years ago. I finished my apprenticeship with the BMW dealership, then moved to another business before starting 3MW.”

Mr Dye, also the president of the MTA WA, strongly supports apprenticeship schemes.

“I have two apprentices now and I’d prefer to have three. The reason I don’t is that the environment is tough at the moment,” he said.

“There is no government incentive to employ apprentices. I pay for training and then training outside of the business. This additional training is available from suppliers, such as Bosch and ATA (German OEM brake maker) and can be very important for apprentices.”

3MW also belongs to a group of independent BMW centres around Australia which is headquartered in the US. The group hosts two or three US visits each year to training centres on the east and west coast, and also at BMW’s manufacturing plant at Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Mr Dye said he believed apprentices have to be willing to learn.

“They have to have a passion for the industry and the cars. They should be computer literate, be willing to move with change and understand basic electronics,” he said.

“The demands today is on diagnostics for repair and trouble finding, and on the massive amount of electronics on today’s cars and on the EVs that will follow in the future. This will mean people coming into the industry need to be aware of and be interested in the basics.”

Mr Dye said that people should understand that today’s technician – or mechanic – is not a “grease monkey”.

“They don’t go to the pub at lunchtime and hold barbecues to discuss cars,” he said.

“We need to lift the perception that we are covered in grease and have trouble holding a conversation with a customer.”

By Neil Dowling