Cultivating safer and more aware drivers through a youth-focused car-maintenance program seems a no-brainer for creating a future with reduced road accidents and improved car roadworthiness.
The mandate is one employed for 14 years by innovative automotive educator Eleni Mitakos and her team operating under the Galmatic name, which teaches a whopping 100,000 Sydney students a year on the basics of car maintenance.
The exposure to that huge audience of future motorists brings within it some fascinating insights into what teenagers want in a car, what they are itching to know about what makes a car tick and even how they can get a career in automotive.
Ms Mitakos told CarsGuide that while the job is great fun and the role of educator is often overtaken by being entertainers for the teenagers, the students have some very different attitudes to the car industry than their parents and teachers.
“One of the standouts is that the teenagers are very keen to have a role in the car industry,” she said.
“But parents and educators think they may like to be an apprentice technician, for example. In fact, what the teenagers want is all the exposure to the vibrancy of the industry but without being tied at a low wage to a long apprenticeship.
“They want a well-paid career in a top job with a carmaker or a dealership, including being the dealer principal or a senior executive. They look at the wage of a technician and immediately want to aim higher - and in trying to get women into the industry, the focus is often on apprenticeships and not on other opportunities.”
A misconception, Ms Mitakos says, is that there is a division between male and female career orientation. She said that division is not visible between male and female students, but evident in their parents, teachers and other adults.
Galmatic has four educators with a 20-year-plus history in teaching and as entertainers. Their ‘uniform’ is based on the World War II US “Rosie The Riveter” character that epitomised women working in industry while the men were at war.
The business, started in 2007, has been at the pointy end of what teenagers think - and want - when it comes to cars.
Galmatic has four educators with a 20-year-plus history in teaching and as entertainers.
“We get asked a lot of questions, but overwhelmingly, the students’ most common three questions are: ‘What should my first car be?’, ‘What petrol should I use?’, and ‘Do I have to put air in my tyres between services?’,” Ms Mitakos said.
“That really reflects the general attitude to cars by youths. It says they want to know more about what car to buy; have never been shown how to fill a car; and that maintenance is something that is seen as being left to periodic servicing at the dealership or garage.
“The vast majority of youths have not been exposed to putting petrol in a car, so don’t know what the numbers mean at the bowser and know very little about keeping a car maintained, so that’s where we come in.”
In teaching the basics to students at mixed and single-gender private and public schools and colleges, Galmatic aims to activate interest in knowing what makes a car tick so that students can do basic repairs, change a tyre, maintain engine oil and water levels, and be aware of when a car is not running correctly.
“We’re very pro-dealership servicing,” said Ms Mitakos, who last year was a finalist in the Telstra business awards for women.
“We want the student to feel comfortable about owning and driving a car, and about taking it to be serviced regularly, to be aware of what can go wrong and how to understand problems so they can comfortably converse with a service technician or adviser when the car is in for repair.”
Galmatic recently partnered with Mobil, which will sponsor the educators to get the message across to more schools and students.
Ms Mitakos said the support was invaluable as it gave further legitimacy to the business and linked Mobil with a new classroom of tomorrow’s motorists.
“Brand partnerships and alliances help us keep our students up to date and well informed,” she said.
Galmatic is the only business of its type in Australia, but other companies have student-oriented programs for learner drivers and youths who are looking at a career in the automotive industry.
The Motor Trades Association of Queensland annually holds its three-day Auto Camp, a course for high-school students aged 14-17 years that is held four times a year during school holidays.
The course is predictably sold out, and parents who want to encourage their children towards a career in the motor industry should book early. Auto Camp is only available in Queensland.
