---
title: "Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendant"
description: "Service automobiles, buses, trucks, boats, and other automotive or marine vehicles with fuel, lubricants, and accessories. Collect payment for services…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-and-watercraft-service-attendant"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendant

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-6031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-6031.00

Service automobiles, buses, trucks, boats, and other automotive or marine vehicles with fuel, lubricants, and accessories. Collect payment for services and supplies. May lubricate vehicle, change motor oil, refill antifreeze, or replace lights or other accessories, such as windshield wiper blades or fan belts. May repair or replace tires.

Also advertised as: Attendant; Dock Attendant; Dock Hand; Fuel Attendant; Fuel Dock Attendant; Gas Attendant; Gas Pumper; Marine Fuel Dock Attendant.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $35,670 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $17.15/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $28,630 to $46,060, with the middle half between $31,300 and $39,320
- **Total US employment:** 102,010
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 12,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 64/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 102,010 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $28,630 |
| 25th | $31,300 |
| 50th (median) | $35,670 |
| 75th | $39,320 |
| 90th | $46,060 |
| Mean (average) | $36,780 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $43,630 | $39,681 | 270 |
| CA | $41,770 | $37,726 | 10,190 |
| DC | $41,750 | $37,989 | Not published by BLS |
| RI | $41,690 | $40,761 | 120 |
| CT | $41,600 | $40,151 | 420 |
| AK | $41,590 | $40,632 | 280 |
| NH | $40,030 | $38,429 | 200 |
| WA | $39,440 | $36,855 | 2,620 |
| MT | $38,700 | $40,890 | 460 |
| VT | $38,700 | $39,507 | 170 |
| CO | $38,370 | $37,234 | 2,980 |
| MO | $38,130 | $41,986 | 1,150 |
| MD | $37,580 | $35,804 | 1,060 |
| NV | $37,550 | $37,558 | 250 |
| MN | $37,470 | $37,994 | 1,230 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-and-watercraft-service-attendant/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-and-watercraft-service-attendant.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 102,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 106,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,900 jobs, or +3.8%. About as fast as average: 3.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 12,900 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 58.6% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 22.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 16.3% |
| Some College Courses | 2.4% |

## What the work involves

- Check tire pressure and levels of fuel, motor oil, transmission, radiator, battery, or other fluids, adding air or fluids as required.
- Grease and lubricate vehicles or specified units, such as springs, universal joints, or steering knuckles, using grease guns or spray lubricants.
- Sell and install accessories, such as batteries, windshield wiper blades, fan belts, bulbs, or headlamps.
- Rotate, test, and repair or replace tires.
- Perform minor repairs, such as adjusting brakes, replacing spark plugs, or changing engine oil or filters.
- Collect cash payments from customers, and make change or charge purchases to customers' credit cards, providing customers with receipts.
- Order stock, and price and shelve incoming goods.
- Clean parking areas, offices, restrooms, or equipment, and remove trash.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sales and Marketing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Trunk Strength — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.40 |
| C — Conventional | 4.37 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.15 |
| S — Social | 1.97 |
| I — Investigative | 1.32 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 86.2 |
| ESTJ | 78.5 |
| ISFJ | 77.8 |
| ISTP | 67.8 |
| ESFJ | 63.6 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Automotive Service Technician and Mechanic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-service-technician-and-mechanic) — median $50,620
- [Pump Operator, Except Wellhead Pumpers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pump-operator) — median $61,770
- [Maintenance Worker, Machinery](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-worker-machinery) — median $60,850
- [Cleaner of Vehicles and Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cleaner-of-vehicles-and-equipment) — median $35,830
- [Home Appliance Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/home-appliance-repairer) — median $50,990
- [Bus and Truck Mechanic and Diesel Engine Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bus-and-truck-mechanic-and-diesel-engine-specialist) — median $61,770
- [Rail Car Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rail-car-repairer) — median $67,530
- [Aircraft Service Attendant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-service-attendant) — median $40,450
- [Control and Valve Installer and Repairer, Except Mechanical Door](https://nuecareer.com/careers/control-and-valve-installer-and-repairer) — median $74,340
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-and-watercraft-service-attendant