Ontario's Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer apprenticeship, trade code 310B: Grade 12 entry, three levels, 7,280 hours on the job plus 720 hours of in-school training, compulsory status, and the certifying exam with a Red Seal endorsement.
Applies in: Ontario
In Ontario, an auto body and collision damage repairer apprentice registers under the trade name Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer, code 310B. Find a collision repair shop, dealership body shop, or fleet shop willing to sponsor you, register the apprenticeship with Skilled Trades Ontario, and work through three levels that combine 7,280 hours on the job with 720 hours of in-school training, 8,000 hours in total, about four years. At the end, the trade has a certifying exam, and passing it earns a Certificate of Qualification with the Red Seal endorsement under the national title Auto Body and Collision Technician. Skilled Trades Ontario does list an auto body and collision damage repairer apprenticeship, so this slot ships: the kill condition in the batch slate, no apprenticeship listed, does not apply. The compulsory status is the point to absorb first, because it changes what registration means here.
The name is exact. The Ontario trade name is Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer, code 310B. The Red Seal title is Auto Body and Collision Technician. Job postings say auto body technician, collision repair technician, or body repairer. They point at the same apprenticeship when the registration says 310B. Use code 310B whenever a form asks for the trade, and expect the Red Seal title on the national exam material.
The second point matters just as much. Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer is a compulsory trade in Ontario. Nobody may practise it legally in this province without holding a Registered Training Agreement, a Provisional Certificate of Qualification, or a Certificate of Qualification, with their information on the Skilled Trades Ontario Public Register. A Certificate of Qualification in this trade must be renewed to stay valid. The apprenticeship is not only structured training here. It is also the authorization to do the work. Because the trade is compulsory, the registration step is not paperwork you can put off until a convenient month. Start it before the work, not after.
What the trade covers, in Skilled Trades Ontario's own description, is the repair of collision-damaged vehicles: assessing damage, repairing body panels, frames, and structures, replacing structural panels, aligning panels and assemblies, repairing plastic components, and refinishing repaired surfaces, with glass work and mechanical checks as part of returning a vehicle to a safe, roadworthy state. The in-school subjects run across applied work practices, welding, body, frame and structure, refinishing, applied mechanical work, plastic repair, non-structural repairs, damage analysis and estimating, structural panel replacement, alignment, and glass. This is the structural collision trade. It is not the same trade as Auto Body Repairer 310Q, which Skilled Trades Ontario lists separately, and it is not the same trade as Automotive Painter 410N, where refinishing is the whole trade rather than one part of a collision repair. A bumper cover blended and polished on its own and a unibody rail sectioned and replaced after a crash can both involve paint, and they belong to different registrations.
The sponsor comes first. Skilled Trades Ontario is clear that an apprenticeship begins when you sign a Training Agreement with a sponsor and register it, and that finding a sponsor is the key first step. A sponsor can be an individual employer, such as a collision repair shop, a dealership body shop, or a fleet maintenance shop, or a group of employers, such as a union or consortium.
The application steps, from Skilled Trades Ontario's start-an-apprenticeship page, are:
The program totals 8,000 hours: 7,280 hours of on-the-job training and 720 hours of in-school training across three levels. Skilled Trades Ontario describes the time frame to become competent as approximately four years. About 80 per cent of an Ontario apprenticeship is paid work on the job and about 20 per cent is classroom learning, according to Skilled Trades Ontario's general description of apprenticeships, though this trade's own split is 7,280 hours on the job against 720 hours in school.
The rhythm is work, then a block of in-school training, then work again. The in-school curriculum runs across the subjects listed above, from applied work practices and welding through damage analysis and estimating to alignment and glass. Depending on the training delivery agency, in-school training may run as block release, day release, part-time, or alternative delivery such as online or correspondence. Attend when invited through the training system, keep your logbook current, and make sure your recorded hours match what your sponsor reports. Collision work punishes careless measurement in a way that shows up at assembly: a panel aligned a few millimetres out leaves gaps and wind noise no amount of filler can honestly hide, which is why the training standard skills around measuring, structural repair, and alignment exist.
Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer 310B has a certifying exam. Skilled Trades Ontario issues a Certificate of Apprenticeship when you complete the apprenticeship program, and a Certificate of Qualification when you pass the certifying exam. Because the trade is part of the Interprovincial Red Seal Program under the title Auto Body and Collision Technician, passing the exam also carries the Red Seal endorsement, which is the credential recognized in every province and territory. Remember that the Certificate of Qualification in this compulsory trade must be renewed to stay valid, and your information must appear on the Public Register.
Experienced collision repairers who never registered have a parallel door. The Trade Equivalency Assessment lets experienced tradespeople document equivalent qualifications or experience and seek the Certificate of Qualification without completing the apprenticeship. The application guide requires verifiable evidence of competency against the Training Standard and experience at least equal to the required training time, 8,000 hours for this trade, supported by work experience verifications from references who know the work first-hand. Confirm the current fee and the evidence list in the Trade Qualifier application guide before you apply.
Do not start collision work assuming the Ontario compulsory status, or another trade's voluntary status, applies to this trade in another province. Job Bank records collision-technician certification as compulsory in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Alberta and voluntary elsewhere on its list, so check the destination province's listing for this exact occupation before you move for work. Do not confuse this trade with Auto Body Repairer 310Q or with Automotive Painter 410N. Refinishing skill matters here, and the in-school training covers it, but the repairer's trade is the full repair: analysing the damage, repairing or replacing the structure, and refinishing the result. Do not let months of shop work go unrecorded. Unrecorded hours are hours you may have to work again, so keep the logbook signed and the hours submitted. And do not pay for a course that promises the certificate on its own. The certificate comes through Skilled Trades Ontario on completion of the program and the certifying exam, not through a private training provider alone.
Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer, trade code 310B. That is the Ontario trade name exactly as Skilled Trades Ontario lists it in the apprenticeship programs chart and on the trade information page. The Red Seal title is different: Auto Body and Collision Technician. The national occupation name is Auto body collision, refinishing and glass technicians and damage repair estimators, National Occupational Classification 72411. When a form asks for the trade, put down 310B. It separates this trade from Auto Body Repairer 310Q, a separate compulsory trade with its own program, and from Automotive Painter 410N, which covers refinishing work on its own.
The program is 8,000 hours: 7,280 hours of on-the-job work experience and 720 hours of in-school training, delivered across three levels. Skilled Trades Ontario describes that total as approximately four years. Job Bank describes the occupation route as a three- to four-year auto body and collision damage technician apprenticeship program, or a combination of over three years of work experience in the trade and completion of a professional or college automotive body repair program, to be eligible for trade certification. The hours are the fixed part; the calendar time follows how steadily the work comes and when the in-school blocks run.
Yes. Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer 310B is compulsory in Ontario. To practise the trade legally in Ontario, a person must hold a Registered Training Agreement, a Provisional Certificate of Qualification, or a Certificate of Qualification, and their information must appear on the Skilled Trades Ontario Public Register. A Certificate of Qualification issued in this trade must be renewed to stay valid. That is the opposite of a non-compulsory trade, where nobody needs registration or certification to do the work. Job Bank records the same position nationally for the collision-technician part of the occupation: trade certification for auto body and collision technician is compulsory in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Alberta, and available but voluntary in the other provinces and territories it lists. Do not assume the Ontario rule travels with you, and do not assume another trade's voluntary status applies here.
Grade 12 is the academic entry grade listed in the Skilled Trades Ontario apprenticeship programs chart for Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer 310B. Skilled Trades Ontario also requires apprentices to be at least 16 years old, to have legal permission to work in Canada, and to have a sponsor in Ontario. Job Bank describes completion of secondary school as usually required for the occupation nationally, which matches the Grade 12 chart entry. Treat the diploma as the standard a sponsor will expect: the in-school training runs on damage analysis and estimating, body, frame and structure work, and refinishing, so measurement, reading drawings and estimates, and careful record keeping are worth arriving with.
First find a sponsor, an employer or group sponsor responsible for your training. Then apply: if you are 18 or older, apply online through the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal; if you are 16 or 17, or you cannot apply online, complete the paper Application for Apprenticeship Training, signed by you, a parent or guardian if you are under 18, and your sponsor, and submit it to Skilled Trades Ontario. Once approved, you and your sponsor sign a Training Agreement, which registers you as an apprentice, and you receive a Registered Apprentice Wallet Card. Because this trade is compulsory, that registration is also what authorizes you to practise the trade legally in Ontario while you train.
Yes, through the Trade Equivalency Assessment. It exists for tradespeople who never completed an Ontario apprenticeship but hold equivalent qualifications or experience and want an Ontario Certificate of Qualification. The bar is documented proof: competency against the Training Standard and experience at least equal to the required training time, which the Trade Qualifier application guide records as 8,000 hours for this trade, supported by work experience verifications from references who saw the work. Check the current Trade Qualifier application guide before relying on that route, because the evidence bar is documentary and any fee can change. Passing the certifying exam through that route carries the same Certificate of Qualification as the apprenticeship route.
Where a figure could not be verified on a Skilled Trades Ontario or Job Bank page at the time of writing — any certifying examination fee, any Trade Equivalency Assessment fee, any wage figure, and the calendar dates of the in-school training blocks — this guide says so and points to the Skilled Trades Ontario trade page instead of carrying a secondary source's figure. Check that page before you pay anything or plan around a date.