Collision Repair industry insights
Explore the latest industry insights from Infometrics to learn more about the industries we work with and how they’re evolving.
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Collision Repair industry summary
Employment in 2025
In 2025, the collision repair sector employed 11,194 people, representing 0.4% of all filled jobs in New Zealand.
Employment in the sector grew at an average rate of 0.8% per year between 2020 and 2025. Stronger growth is forecast, with employment expected to increase by 2.2% per year between 2026 and 2031, outpacing projected national employment growth of 1.4%.
Businesses in the sector
In 2025, there were 2,794 collision repair businesses operating across New Zealand. These businesses accounted for 0.4% of all business units nationally.
Future workforce demand
Between 2026 and 2031, the collision repair sector is expected to generate 3,937 total job openings. These openings include:
- 1,281 new jobs resulting from employment growth
- 2,656 replacement job openings, reflecting workforce turnover.
Where people work
- Auckland: 3,921
- Bay of Plenty: 686
- Waikato: 1,316
- Wellington: 874
- Canterbury: 1,693
- Rest of North Island: 1,572
- Rest of South Island: 1.131
Top occupations
The top five occupations in 2025 were:
- Panelbeater: 2,822 jobs
- Vehicle Painter: 1,048 jobs
- Office Manager: 588 jobs
- Car Detailer: 574 jobs
- Chief Executive or Managing Director: 418 jobs
These represent 5,451 jobs, 48.7% of total Collision Repair in New Zealand.
Self-employment in 2025
In 2025, 2,496 workers in the collision repair sector were self‑employed, representing a 22.3% self‑employment rate.
This is significantly higher than the national average of 15.2%, with collision repair workers consistently more likely to be self‑employed than workers across New Zealand as a whole.
Sector productivity
The collision repair sector generated $946 million in GDP in 2025, contributing 0.2% of New Zealand’s total GDP.
GDP grew at an average rate of 1.7% per year between 2020 and 2025, and 2.2% per year between 2015 and 2025.
These growth rates are broadly comparable with overall national GDP performance.
Productivity, measured as GDP per full-time equivalent (FTE), was $90,474, compared with $174,045 across New Zealand.
Ethnicity of workers
In 2025, collision repair workers were predominantly European, at a similar proportion to the national workforce.
Asian workers were represented at a slightly higher proportion, with Māori and Pacific Peoples represented at slightly lower proportions relative to total New Zealand employment.
Highest post‑school qualifications (2023)
Among collision repair workers with formal qualifications, Level 4 was the most common—representing over 20% of the workforce.
Just under half of the workforce hold no formal qualifications.
Age profile of workers
The age distribution of collision repair workers broadly reflects the national workforce.
- Younger workers aged 15-24 were comparable with the national average.
- Workers aged 25-54 make up a noticeable share of employment.
- Older workers aged 55–64 are well represented, but at slightly lower levels to the national workforce.
Female participation
Women made up 16.3% of the collision repair workforce in 2025.
Female participation in the collision repair sector continues to increase over time.
Hours worked
Collision repair workers were far more likely than the national average to work full‑time hours.
The largest share worked 40–49 hours per week, at a higher proportion than New Zealand overall.
Fewer collision repair workers were employed in lower‑hour brackets compared with the wider workforce.
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These reports were defined by MITO Limited. Data sourced from Infometrics and Statistics New Zealand.