Glossary
Auto Body Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential auto body technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key auto body technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in auto body technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- ADAS
- Advanced driver assistance systems, such as cameras and radar that may need calibration.
- Blending
- Gradually fading new paint into adjacent panels to match color.
- Body filler
- A compound used to fill small dents before paint.
- Corrosion protection
- Coatings applied to restore rust protection after repairs.
- Datum
- A reference plane used to measure vehicle dimensions.
- Flat rate
- Pay based on estimated labor hours per job rather than time clocked.
- Frame machine
- Equipment used to measure and pull damaged structures back to specification.
- High-strength steel
- Steel used in safety structures that requires special repair methods.
- OEM repair procedures
- The manufacturer’s official repair instructions.
- Plug weld
- A MIG weld through a hole to join panels.
- Primer-surfacer
- A primer that fills scratches and can be sanded smooth.
- Sectioning
- Replacing part of a structural panel at approved locations.
- Spot weld
- A resistance weld used to join panels at the factory and in repairs.
- Supplement
- An additional estimate for hidden damage found during repair.
- Unibody
- A vehicle structure where the body and frame are one unit.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Auto Body Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Auto Body Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.