Our Story

Built by a Tech Who Skipped Tech School

You shouldn't have to pay thousands in tuition to learn how cars work and get hired at a shop. Auto Academy exists so you don't have to.

The Story Behind Auto Academy

When I turned 16 and got my first car, I fell in love with it. All I wanted was to work on cars. But I didn't actually understand how anything worked: not the engine, not the electronics, not why my car did what it did.

So I did what everyone tells you to do and enrolled in tech school. Two semesters in, I dropped out. It wasn't worth it for me, so I went to work.

I started as a lube tech at Valvoline at 16. By 17 I was at a Chevrolet dealership, working my way up from lube tech to apprentice to flat-rate technician. Almost everything I needed to know, I learned on the shop floor, and most of it could have been taught in a fraction of the time if the right resource had existed.

It didn't. So I built it.

Auto Academy is the shortcut I never had: how every system on a car works, taught in order, plus the plan for getting hired that nobody gave me.

— Grayson Whitfield, Founder · Former Flat-Rate Dealership Technician

70.50 flat rate hours flagged in my first week as a Chevrolet dealership technician. Flat rate means you're only paid for what you produce — this is what genuine shop experience looks like.

What Auto Academy Is

Auto Academy is an online automotive school built as the tech school alternative. Our program, Get Hired Without Tech School, teaches every major system on a car (engine, fuel, ignition, cooling, electrical, exhaust, transmission, drivetrain, brakes, suspension, HVAC, tires and diagnostics) in the order a new technician needs it.

It's built on Automotive Fundamentals: 16 modules, a 100-question final exam and a certificate of completion, plus a step-by-step plan for landing your first shop job.

This isn't YouTube. There's no algorithm deciding what you see next and no gaps from jumping between random videos. It's a curriculum: a deliberate path from knowing nothing to being ready for the shop.

The Mission

Getting into this trade shouldn't cost thousands of dollars and a year or more of your life before you earn a dollar. Most of what a new tech needs to know can be learned before day one, and the rest is learned getting paid in a shop.

Auto Academy exists to get you there faster: learn how cars work, get hired, and start building real experience now.

Ready to Start?

Learn how cars work and get hired at a shop, without tech school.

Instant access · Lifetime access · Covered by the Know-Your-Car and Get Hired guarantees