If you see fewer auto repair shops near you then you are witnessing a trend that is spreading throughout the auto repair industry. The small independent auto repair shop is getting squeezed by both the dealers and the ‘backyarders’ creating shrinking margins and putting many auto repair independents out of business.
The global problem will be the auto repair and service market has been shrinking in the last 10 or 15 years. Technology has made cars much more reliable with fewer breakdowns, repairs and scheduled maintenances.
Many manufacturers offer getting 100,000 mile warranty so that you can the independent will get little chance to work with that car for their early 5-10 years it is owned.
As new car sales margins go down, VW, Chevrolet, Toyota and other manufacturers are looking to their service departments to make inside the difference.
Additionally many dealers such as Porsche and Saab in order to adding other value added benefits such as a loaner car while repairs are being made. Independents are forced to give courtesy rides to customers in a shot to keep on top of the dealers since customers now expect this service.
Furthermore dealers for example Mercedes and Ford are now directly offering specials on services making their dealer prices for you to independent repair shop prices.
But it’s but not just competitive pricing that’s the worrying the independents.
The battle for skilled labor is also being won through dealers: the dealers constantly competed for skilled labor and already have become significantly more aggressive. With fewer folks entering effect on repair profession and opting instead for careers such as health and technology, essential talent pool of the superior skilled auto technicians is shrinking.
Increasingly it becoming tougher for independents to hire and retain these highly skilled employees. As an automotive technician, would you rather work in Audi or Joe’s Shed?
The dealers are collecting the best ‘mechanics’ or as might known today, ‘technicians.’ An increased end dealer technician may well make $100,000 a year with benefits while an unbiased shop owner would ought to gross within a $1,000,000 a year to make that and have absolutely to reimburse their own benefits and social safe practices.
Because in the economic realities many independent owners are at this moment closing their shops on and on to work for GM, Nissan and other dealers.
This puts the independent auto mechanic at a definite disadvantage when diagnosing and repairing difficult drivability, fuel injection, electronic and computer related crises.
Additionally, any time a diagnosis is intended and an area needs replacing the dealer will are in stock, not only verifying the verification but greatly speeding in the repair along with increasing customer care. Big advantage Cadillac and Mercedes.
But it’s not only a skilled employee war. Techs cannot fix cars without information and you’ll find a long and ongoing dispute with the dealers/manufacturers and independents over technical information access and diagnostic tools.
The manufacturers claim their technical data is proprietary everybody is making independents claim the information should accumulate to anyone who owns or fixes help to make of automobile.
Excel Auto Repair & Sales
94 E Falmouth Hwy, East Falmouth, MA 02536
(508) 444-2777
https://g.page/excel-auto-repair-sales
Posted on:
August 23, 2019