World Class Wednesday: Chris Higgins: From Automotive Technician to Life Strategist

Earning the title of Automotive Service Excellence World-Class Technician is no small accomplishment. To be recognized as World Class, these individuals have obtained ASE certification in 22 specialty areas: A1-A8 (automotive), T1-T8 (medium/heavy truck), B2-B5 (collision repair), and L1-L2 (advanced).

Not only is achieving certification in these areas impressive, but as of 2026, only 2,000 technicians have achieved World Class status.

In this Q&A, Motor Age sat down with Chris Higgins—an ASE World Class technician and current life insurance producer and life strategist in Harwood, North Dakota—to learn more about his journey in the automotive industry and how gaining World-Class status helped advance his career.

Motor Age: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your experience in the automotive industry.

Chris Higgins: My automotive career spanned 20 years. It started out with a two-year college associate's degree at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton.

From there, I moved to Fargo, where I was a dealership technician for approximately seven to eight years. Eventually, I got into the independent world where I worked at a couple of different independent shops.

Five years later, I became a field service engineer for General Motors and eventually went back to the independent world. I worked in the independent world until July of last year.

This was when I left the automotive industry to pursue a career as a life insurance producer and retirement strategist. I officially became a World Class Technician in 2024.

Motor Age: What's the most memorable repair you've ever completed?

Higgins: Ten years ago—at the second independent shop I worked at—we mainly worked on domestic cars. One day, we had a Mercedes come in that needed a balance job.

We ended up working on the Mercedes, but some of the material and service information wasn't adequate. Even so, I was able to successfully remove the engine, tear it down, replace the balance shaft in it, reassemble it, and I had no hiccups.

Motor Age: Tell us one thing about you that we can't guess from your certifications.

Higgins: One strong ability I have is critical thinking. A lot of that was developed throughout my career as a technician and through life.

I’ve been through a lot of difficult situations, and it hasn’t always been easy. But with my critical thinking skills, I’ve been able to navigate these difficult situations and keep moving forward.

Motor Age: What automotive technology trend are you most excited about? Most concerned about?

Higgins: I’m excited about where everything is going. The autonomous driving and all the advanced driver assistance systems are super interesting.

The only concern I have is the lack of compensation that qualified technicians are receiving in certain areas. I think we need to be better at instilling in the consumer the value of having a knowledgeable technician.

Motor Age: How has ASE certification helped advance your career? 

Higgins: It helped keep me up to date on product knowledge. I'm a firm believer that your passion shows. There's a lot of technicians I've met over the years who say that ASE certification doesn’t mean anything. That’s the farthest thing from the truth.

ASE certification is meant to test your general knowledge in that area. If you can work on a vehicle, you should at least understand the general knowledge involved with it.