The Changing Face of the Vehicle Repair Industry
If you have been on this planet as long as I have, thirty something years and counting, you may have noticed that the number of small, locally owned mechanical workshops has been on the decline.
Gone are the days of taking your car down to the corner garage to have it serviced and tuned, now days the larger dealerships are seemingly taking over from the trusted local mechanic and naturally this is also seen in the price that people are paying for their repairs.
The trouble with operating a small scale mechanical workshop these days is that the amount of equipment needed to keep up with the technology that is going into each and every new car is extensive.
Gone are the days when you could set up a small workshop with just a vehicle hoist and a good array of hand tools, offer reasonable prices for the work that you do and make yourself a nice living.
Now days the amount of specialized equipment needed to successfully repair the modern motor vehicle has taken this opportunity away from budding small workshop owners and the consumer is the one that is losing out.
The large dealerships that are charging one hundred dollars an hour or more are lapping it up because when it comes to repairing anything other than the most basic systems on our cars, they are the only ones equipped to handle.
While our cars are continually getting safer, more fuel efficient, and more comfortable to drive we must realize that all of this is coming at a far greater cost than we might understand.
Our modern vehicles are not going to last as long as cars that were built say thirty years ago so we will be forced to update earlier rather than look at a new car purchase as something we would do once or twice in our lives and what happens when these cars get older and become less reliable? Once again the dealerships will be there to charge more than the vehicle is worth to fix something with the vehicle stability control or the traction control or the airbags and all because the 'small guy' is not able to keep up with the costs involved in equipping his workshop suitably.
It will be interesting to see how many cars built around the year two thousand for instance are still getting around in another twenty or thirty years.
My bet is that they will few and far between.
Gone are the days of taking your car down to the corner garage to have it serviced and tuned, now days the larger dealerships are seemingly taking over from the trusted local mechanic and naturally this is also seen in the price that people are paying for their repairs.
The trouble with operating a small scale mechanical workshop these days is that the amount of equipment needed to keep up with the technology that is going into each and every new car is extensive.
Gone are the days when you could set up a small workshop with just a vehicle hoist and a good array of hand tools, offer reasonable prices for the work that you do and make yourself a nice living.
Now days the amount of specialized equipment needed to successfully repair the modern motor vehicle has taken this opportunity away from budding small workshop owners and the consumer is the one that is losing out.
The large dealerships that are charging one hundred dollars an hour or more are lapping it up because when it comes to repairing anything other than the most basic systems on our cars, they are the only ones equipped to handle.
While our cars are continually getting safer, more fuel efficient, and more comfortable to drive we must realize that all of this is coming at a far greater cost than we might understand.
Our modern vehicles are not going to last as long as cars that were built say thirty years ago so we will be forced to update earlier rather than look at a new car purchase as something we would do once or twice in our lives and what happens when these cars get older and become less reliable? Once again the dealerships will be there to charge more than the vehicle is worth to fix something with the vehicle stability control or the traction control or the airbags and all because the 'small guy' is not able to keep up with the costs involved in equipping his workshop suitably.
It will be interesting to see how many cars built around the year two thousand for instance are still getting around in another twenty or thirty years.
My bet is that they will few and far between.
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