How much longer are industries going to blame “supply chain issues”? This seems like a cop-out at this point.

When I first started working as a mechanic after trade school I made $15/h. I was expected to do 70 hours a week of work within 40 hours. Everyone was expected to scam customers with repairs that weren’t needed. Oh and the dealer charged $150/h. I was laid off for not meeting performance goals that could only be met by scamming customers. No shock there is a shortage of techs, when being honest gets you fired from many shops.

Because to change a headlight bulb in modern cars, can mean removing the front bumper, a tire, and maybe a fender liner. The fancy bulbs can cost over $100 just for the bulb. And if you have LED lights, you’re going to have to buy the entire housing. It’s nuts.

I was in the automotive service industry for over 35 years. After the Navy, I was offered a tech job with Volvo (1971) After a year I was offered a job with Porsche. I was a Porsche tech for over 10 years until I reached the point of disgust at how so many customers were unfairly treated at the dealerships. I opened my own shop doing European autos only. Within 6 mo. I was on fire with work. Even from shops that couldn't do what I knew/did. In town, I was treated like the Mayor at times because I was honest and professional and explained everything that was done. Recently my GF took her Honda to a shop for some repairs that I couldn't do b/c of my health. I was astounded at the overlapping labor charges and the use of "OEM Parts" which were clearly aftermarket. I called that creative writing. Creative for profit. Finding an honest and forthright repair shop is like gold. And when you do, spread the word.

I hate that the pandemic is still being blamed for price increases today when it is very clearly greed and price gouging.

That's why I'm driving a 20-year-old Corolla. It cost next to nothing to maintain, it doesn't break down easily, no complicated computers to repair, parts are available everywhere at the junkyard or online. It makes you "look poor" but it doesn't actually make you poor.

The bad thing is nowadays the quality of everything is going down, while the price of everything is going up smh.

Since Covid there’s a lot of gouging going on in every industry. I have a friend in the car repair industry and I asked him why prices are so high and he said because the owners feel they can get away with it. They feel people are ‘mentally accepting’ of higher prices right now so they keep pushing up their prices and then blame Covid, shortages, inflation, etc.

Modern cars are not designed to be easy to maintain. They actually design them to be difficult when servicing…

I’m a mechanic. I work for myself too. I get a lot of people on referrals from other people I’ve done work for. They don’t want to go to a shop or dealer. I don’t charge insane amounts and can still make a nice living and my customers are happy. I’m happy. That’s the best way to do it.

I've learned to be a UKposts mechanic; over the past 5 years of maintaining and repairing my 3 vehicles, I've probably saved 6,000-7,000$ in labor costs.

They don't pay their mechanics. They charge $140+ for "labor" and pay those people 13-16/hr. Why do you think they can't find "skilled" mechanics?!

A 2023 F-150's headlamp assembly is over $700 on RockAuto. A 2003 F-150's headlamp assembly was less than $20

Don't forget manufacturers deliberately making it more difficult (or virtually impossible, in some cases) for customers and/or shops to repair certain things without getting them involved so that they can charge whatever they want for a replacement component.

As a former automotive technician, one of the biggest reasons why I left the automotive industry was flat rate pay and the way dealerships raised the cost of labor rate. For example service writers, who only deal with the clients and warranty companies. They don't work on the cars, get paid more than the people that work on vehicles? Automotive technicians who are paid on a flat rate system are the ones that are short-handed the most in the automotive industry.

I own an auto repair shop in Los Angeles, and despite having a 5-star rating and filling up our work schedules a few weeks out, we still struggle to meet our overhead because we have been pushed to acquire and maintain various tools and equipment for even your basic servicing. People don't understand why their car repairs are so expensive, and yet they opted to purchase a vehicle with heated cup warmers and complex exterior lighting (such as your headlights, tail lamps, etc.), each of which has it's own control module on even your standard economy car. They also don't understand that their vehicles boasting a much larger MPG range is due in part to the very little clearances between internal engine components than call for the thinnest weights of oils we as mechanics would have never imagined nor agree with. You waste less gas because they designed your engine to have the least resistance by using thinner engine oils which in turn causes premature engine failure, often well before 100k miles. Transmissions that you cannot rebuild and cost the same as the value of the vehicle. Cheap plastic and aluminum parts that used to be made of metals, steel and cast iron. This is the future, and our struggle to provide our work is just as expensive for us as it is for the general public to maintain and repair their vehicles. We are not crooks, we are tradesmen/women trying to keep up with the stupidity of modern automotive engineering.

After being told by the Toyota dealership that the transfer case on my 4Runner was gonna need to be taken out and rebuilt (it wouldn't shift into 4Lo) I found a UKposts video that showed how to fix the problem. I got under the vehicle, smacked the transfer case in just the right spot with a dead blow hammer a few times and problem solved. I then changed the oil in the case myself and drove it for several years. God bless UKposts videos. That video saved me roughly $2500.

Glad I'm capable to do 70% of my own repairs. Have saved $1,000's in repair bills. Very Grateful. You Tube played a huge role in helping me learn how to do repairs.

UKposts has saved me a lot of money by teaching me how to do minor to major repairs on my own. The only time i go to a mechanic now is if I'm being too lazy or if I'm pressed for time.

I been a mechanic most my life and most people who buy a car are not thinking about repairs down the road. No one is thinking how much is this blend door actuator going to cost when it goes out or the heater core,etc. I kinda do cause I’ve always had to replace them. I drove a 1990 Silverado for 15 years, when it became so rusty I bought the identical truck 2 years ago to replace it. These old trucks rarely have any issues and are crazy easy to work on when something goes wrong and parts are everywhere and cheap. Ill never buy anything new, glad I got out of that job field 6 years ago

They failed to mention that all these rising costs are now causing insurance companies to raise their rates too, sometimes substantially.

There are no real supply shortages, my family is in the business, and I can assure you we are able to get any part we need. The big change is manufactures have made it increasingly difficult for owners and independent shops to make repairs. They force you to go to a dealer by not allowing access to the software on their vehicles unless you have their equipment. You used to be able to change out a part, and drive off. Now, many manufactures are forcing you to program the part to the vehicle, and it can't be done unless you have their specific programmer. Mercedes was the worst, started this over 20 years ago with their STAR programmer. Without it, you can not replace most parts on the cars.

You wanna know how insane it is? I do my own work on my cars. I was curious one day and decided to call a few shops for a very simple PCV valve replacement which involves pulling off an easy to get to hose, wrenching off the valve and putting a new one on, put the hose back, done. Job takes like 5 mins. Part is about $15. Shops wanted to charge me $350-$400. Basically robbery.

I started off as a GST at pepboys just changing oil, rotate tires, alignments working in 100 degree shop. I had to take a loan out to buy my tools. GST are paid $7hr plus $6 flat rate, iI barley made enough I was “promoted” to a tech B, a parts changer, and made even less money. I left the trade when i found out the service advisors where making 3x more than techs while there sitting in cool ac talking to customers all day. Im sure SA are highly skilled at selling to customers. Fast forward today, i took up a course at my local college studying the IT industry, got my CompTIA certs and now working in the IT industry as a computer mechanic. Best decision ever made for myself I now use my tools to fix my own cars. I no longer work for people. I buy non running cars and repair and sell them as a side hustle.

The automaker is gonna be motivated to get these costs down. Thats the funniest most absurb shid Ive ever heard.

Hell, insurance is out of control.

There's an old saying that goes something like this: those who have it, dream of getting rid of it, but those who don't have it dream of having it. The car.

I can tell you exactly why car repairs are getting more expensive. The first 30 years of my life as a mechanic was with Mom and Pop dealerships. Every dealership I worked for cared about the technicians well-being making sure we made money and kept the shop hourly rate competitive for the community. Then corporate America moved in and in my case that was the nation's largest automotive retailer. The first words out of their mouth were "we're shocked at how much you people make", and from that point on it was downhill. Wages stagnated and the shop hourly rate went through the roof. There was a constant reminder that the shareholders were the top priority even suggesting us technicians weren't there to make money for our families, we were there to make money for the company. There's so much more I could say but If I could sum it up in one word it would be GREED. They taught me the meaning of worshiping the dollar.

I'm a master technician who has been in the business for about 20 years and I haven't seen anything like the last couple years. Parts have nealy doubled, no matter if it's aftermarket or OEM, not all parts but a good majority of them have, I have many different suppliers that I use to try to get my customer's the absolute best price I can for them on quality parts. The pandemic also caused a LOT of third party manufacturers such as Dorman, Behr, Nissens, Mahle, etc. to completely STOP manufacturing of some parts for some makes and models with no word on whether or not we'll see them produced again. This has caused a drastic rise in parts pricing, there is a LOT of scalping going on due to supply chain issues even at direct factory buying, it's actually insane. This is just ONE of the things making prices go up, labor rates have sky rocketed due to MASSIVE rent and insurance increases, techs are FINALLY starting to get paid what they SHOULD have been paid 10 years ago, most shops were taking advantage of seasoned tech at $17 an hour in California, techs with their own tools should be making at minimum about $22 an hour but should be near $25+, I've finally seen techs getting $30 an hour, also a few misconceptions in this video but electric vehicles DO still have oil changes and should be performed regularly, their drive units require ATF and filter replacement and Tesla themselves have fumbled the numbers multiple times as to WHEN you should perform the maintenance but like with any transmission or differential component you should probably stick to doing it about every 36K miles, EV's also still have cabin air filters and require AC system maintenance and brakes and tires and alignments and suspension components just like any regular ICE vehicle, the biggest caveat of this "lie" EV makers feed their customers is that there is no maintenance and nothing to replace but on average an EV battery system will only last about 8-10 years depending on charge/discharge cycles and temperatures and mileage.

It really wasn't that long ago that high schools had shop class and anybody could do the basic maintenance on their own car.

I have a small 2015 hatchback car with a CVT transmission. The owners manual says routine maintenance is never needed for the transmission unless you encounter issues. Well that's bogus, there is a filter there for a reason, and it's somewhat easily changed as well. The vehicle manufacturers don't want you performing routine maintenance like this so that it will inevitably fail in the future. Then they try to sell you another car or severely expensive parts.

Haha just recently my sisters windshield wipers were not working well, so she took it to Firestone. And an hour later they quoted her $1,300 to fix them! Like seriously? Hell no!

Another problem is the quality of parts. Parts store like autozone, Napa, O'reilys, etc, are all seeing brand new parts with horrible quality control. The rate of bad new parts the companies are seeing has jumped

UKposts has saved me thousands as I do most of my own work on my cars now.

Consumers keep wanting more technology/features/wants/desires of modern tech and have zero understanding on the costs associated with these systems.

Shops paying mechanics $23-$26 an hour and the customers are paying $120-$160. Mechanics have to buy expensive tools and bring their experience and education to the job only for the owners to make $100-$150 an hour off them

Fortunately I taught myself at the age of 15 how to do basic maintenance on my cars. I am now 33 and probably saved thousands in repairs. Also smart to buy Hondas and Toyotas.

The problem is price and cost of maintenance for a personal vehicle has kept up with inflation over the past 50 years, but wages and salaries have not

All these different industries saying "oh we have a worker shortage. No one wants to work. They all left the industry" like, where tf did all these people go then??? What industry is catching all of these people???

I wish all repair/maintenance places were owned by someone like the guy in the interview. He seems like a genuinely nice guy who cares about his workers and the customer.

Did 7 years in small engine work before going to school for automotive. When I got out they wanted to start me at $11-$13 an hour. This was in 2019. I said screw that and went to work in a glass factory starting out and more than double that with no experience required. After a year working there I was making over $30 an hour doing production. I know diesel mechanics with 10 years of experience and don't make what I make. I still have my autel scanner and a shop full of tools and do 90% of my repairs myself. In 3 years the school paid for itself and I don't even work in the field. The car business has a high turnover for a reason.

This is why i learned how to repair almost my entire car.

Techs didn't leave the industry because of the pandemic. They left the industry because flat rate is a scam for the tech most of the time, especially when you have to deal with warranty and recalls, paying 50-60% of what it actually takes to do the job. They left because of decades of worse benefits than other trades while we have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars more in tools. Worse benefits after a decade in the industry than entry level office jobs.

Prices going up yet the quality of work is going down. So frustrating.

So glad I payed attention when I worked on cars with my dad and took shop class, I can fix just about anything on my basic car, fluid changes, brakes, alternators etc. Not a mechanic but I've saved a bunch with no car payments or ridiculous car repair bills, they are robbing people out here, I've seen it.

People also dont treat their car well these days. Preventive maintenance would solve a lot of big issues.

Yup, i moved right next to where i work and save 1000 a month by not having or needing a vehicle, thats not including repairs

Hi 20 year mechanic here. Worked in dealers all my life. I’ve watched labor rates 2-3x but tech pay has been relatively flat in the same time. This pushes techs out cause factor in inflation we make less now than we did 20 years ago. Tools that we have to buy are insane now for any new tech entering the industry.

I always love how they interview one of good shops, that takes care of their techs and customers. Maybe they should talk to actual techs who have left the industry and the average shop who looks at tech as a body.

I went to a shop once... what a mistake that was. I bought a used truck with a drivetrain warranty. The cv axle boot was ripped in the first 2 weeks of ownership, so I brought it back to get fixed. They told me that a cv axle is not a drivetrain part, and they charged me for it. When I went in to pay, I called them scammers and said that they would never see me or the truck again. One time was proof enough for me that shops gouge customers for everything.

I tried doing my own repair on an f-150. Lasted about 10 minutes before i just realized how difficult it was.

It's not just a matter of cost, either. It has just as much to do with quality and expertise...or the lack thereof. Example: I worked in the automotive industry, until recently. I know my way around, mechanically. Recently, I purchased a NEW transmission from my local Lexus dealer. $3500. Ouch...but new...so ok. Installed it (correctly) myself. After about 300 miles, it threw some warning lights and began shifting erratically. I brought it to the dealer, ONLY FOR DIAGNOSIS. They charged me $205 to tell me shift solenoids were stuck closed and that the transmission was shot and required replacement. Offered to replace the transmission, itself, under the parts warranty and quoted FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS just for the labor to install...which equates to about $300/hour. CRAZY!!!!!!! I decided to look deeper and not trust their diagnosis. Turned out is was just under 1 quart low on fluid, after some air pockets had released. Topped the fluid off, cleared the codes and voila...no...more...issues. Had I trusted them, I would have been out nearly $4K extra. Called them, told them what had happened, and insisted they refund my $205...which they did.

Was rebuilding small blocks in our high school shop class late 80’s. We had welding, woods, fabrication. Those type of classes are largely gone due to the big push trying to get every kid to college. Adults can’t even change their wipers now or their pouring engine oil into the radiator. All this higher education for nothing

The automotive industry is also full of lots of dealership crooks who are just trying to make max profit. services that aren’t even needed are recommended for insane prices. Dealerships around here are recommending “fuel induction services” where all they do is drop a bottle of cleaner in the gas tank and charge $250

The biggest scam I had seen is the shop fee charged by shops! They charge you a fee for having fixing your car at their shops. That would be equivalent to a table fee at a restaurant!

I started out as an auto mechanic and switched careers after struggling to get by for several years. The “labor shortage” is no surprise. Getting paid by the flag hour, especially on warranty jobs, was a joke. Changing industries was the best decision I ever made.

This is why I am staying with cars around 95-2010....I can't afford much of anything after that especially adding in maintenance costs nowadays. These new computer screens and comforts they put in these vehicles are going to be insane to repair and replace when this stuff starts going bad in 10-15 years.....people have no clue how expensive this stuff is and most of the time you won't even be able to start your car without those huge touchscreens. Currently have a 2003 Chevy Tahoe and it's everything I need.

When gmc dealerships are charging $195.00 per hour for labor. It’s greed. Period. No dealerships should charge that much for labor.

I don't know where they got 50 and $60 an hour, but here, the labor rate is $80 and up over $100 an hour.

Imagine how expensive it will get for repair shops and customers when every shop has to have manufacturer specific tech to repair brand specific proprietary software. Costs will put the smaller garages out of business, forcing customers to go to dealerships with much higher prices

I have a 97 Tacoma. Spark plugs are $3, air filters are $15, and brakes are $35. I fix and maintain it myself. I stopped going to mechanics years ago. I saw the writing on the wall that this was going to happen.

What's even worst is nowadays, the shops blatantly tell you they don't want you to supply your own parts. I was quoted $295 plus tax per shock absober , $110 plus tax per link kit, $150 plus tax for one ball joint, $500 plus tax for labor cost. I went online I found the pair of shock absorber cost $235, pair of link kit $75, ball joint $46.

Minor accidents in an Ev can easily write off the battery which will cost tens of thousands, that is a huge failing of this tech

Been repairing my cars for yrs. Even went as far as buying a manual transmission forester. I can't stand all this complexity and modernization that just adds losses to the owner.

it's all about Greed . Dealers are charging up to 275 just to tell the customer that what's wrong with the car . that's wrong !!! it's forcing the people to buy insurance for Maintenance . and half of those places are charging arm and legs just to pay for %50 of the bills

Whenever companies talk about skills shortages, they really mean they refuse to pay worthwhile wages

20 years professional technician and shop owner 4 years I literally opened 6 months before Covid. Just in the 4 years I’ve been open the cost of everything has gone up like crazy and unless u own a shop you don’t understand how much it really costs to run a shop people would be shocked to know they have an employee that makes more.

grew up overseas, and have said it for a long time, owning a car is a luxury, but I do not believe many people in America see it that way. The poor public transportation infrastructure outside of a few major cities is disappointing and I believe it is intentional.

People not having a clue about the state of their vehicle is probably the biggest factor

Owning a car is becoming as stressful as owning a house. Whether it's an EV or ICE car, these days a fender bender is usually enough to total a lot of cars. It takes almost nothing to get to a $5,000 - $10,000 repair bill. The problem is the cost and availability of parts is abhorrent, and shop rates are outrageous to deal with rising wages and overhead. Manufacturers are not really incentivized to make cars more repairable when it goes like this: the car is totaled, your insurance gives you a payout, and the manufacturer can convince you to get a brand new car lease. In fact, they would rather make it so cars can only be looked at/repaired by the dealer for this very reason. This is becoming the norm now, and pretty soon the car industry will be just as screwed up as healthcare. Insurance companies simply raise the premiums to compensate for the higher average payouts. We need laws to govern the repairability of items people buy. Every service in America is currently in a race to the bottom to maximize the monthly amount they can squeeze out of the consumer.

Inflation is a factor, but the primary factor is the shop owners. They will charge 200 per hour, but the mechanic gets 20-30. Also, the service department is now the primary profit driver for the dealers, not new car sales. After being a mechanic for many years, I don't know a single mechanic making six figures, most make 30-50k/year. They also have the additional expense of buying tools. I won't even get into 'flat rate'. Who wants to work in an industry like this? So glad I quit and went into a field where I am compensated FAR better.

Refering to the problems of tech bloat, that's an area where governments and automakers have failed to think realistically. Not only has it made cars heavier and more complex, its made them harder to diagnose and more expensive to repair or replace so many of us have to leave a damaged or faulty non-essential system dead or have it disabled.

I worked at a dealership for a year in the service department (left just before the pandemic hit) and other repair shops in the past. Here are some of the things I've seen in terms of modern cars compared to older cars: Saw a Ford Escape police vehicle owned by Homeland Security come by. A single LED went out in the headlight. It would have needed the entire headlight assembly to be replaced. Older cars have incandescent bulbs that only cost a few dollars a piece. A Land Cruiser came in with a cracked side mirror. Just the plastic lense covering the turn signal was damaged and the rest was fine. The parts cost alone from the parts department was almost $1600 without tax, labor or shop supplies. Older mirrors often don't have anything in them at all. A Prius came in with a damaged front emblem. Radar cruise control was relatively new at the time, and the emblem was what covered the sensor. Just the emblem cost was around $400. I remember our service manager ended up helping the customer glue it into place. Obviously older cars don't have this at all. People buying larger cars with four wheel drive or all wheel drive. The vast majority of people drive in the city where all wheel drive is completely unnecessary. These systems require maintenance! Front differential, rear differential and transfer cases need to be drained and filled. Obviously this costs more where as a typical front wheel drive car has none of those things (which most older economy cars are). I've seen a rear differential case that exploded. The owner had a shop remove the drive shaft and rear axles to convert it to front wheel drive because the cost to repair it all was so expensive.

This is a well done review of the topic. I am involved in that industry and concur with this.

I stopped fixing my car at the shop two years ago after I realized I'm racking up credit card debts because of repair bills. I thought my self basic mechanic skills and I buy parts online. I drive my car to the ground, scrap it and buy a newer used model from a private seller. I'm 50 and Im not expecting to set foot in a dealership to buy a new car ever, not even or any other car. Bottom line it's greed, cost of doing business. It's unsustainable

Inflation. Rent, labor, utility, everything is expensive.

Im an EV trained mechanic at Caliber Collision and we gotta remove the entire high voltage battery before doing welding repairs. Definitely gonna charge yall ass

Part of the problem is the excessive tech mandatory in all models. Drivers who need all these features and assistance programs really shouldn't b e on the road

Not included in this video, is how car manufacturers are making dealerships the only place that they can have their cars repaired. This is essentially controlling the market and forcing consumers to pay whatever they feel like charging. This will squeeze out the already stressed independent repair shops and basically negate any cost savings that could come from the lower complexity of an EV. . Please contact your local county and state and federal representatives and urge them to support right to repair for motor vehicles!

Fraud is another factor. I was charged 90 dollars for labor for replacing a bulb. Later I found out Walmart does it for 10

New vehicles are compacted engines with no room to work on them. Most shops charge $85 to 900 dollars an hour depending on vehicle, labor, & part's. Most shops in Florida are running 375 an hour just to cover labor costs

Funny, I never hear about the stupid level of profits thes corporations are making from this situation. There are no shortages due to anything other than corporate greed.

The real problem is that even basic maintenance is getting outrageous. Used to get a full synthetic oil change and tire rotation for around $100, now it’s over $170. Front end alignment…used to be $86 only two years ago, now it’s $150!!!!

Im starting to do maintenance myself. Changed a strut. Saved $400. This summer im going to learn to do my own brakes.

This is why I went out and bought a jack n jack stands ,went on you tube and work on my car myself now. I have successfully done my brakes, change brake fluid, flush out coolant and getting ready to change transmission fluid and motor oil.

6 figure salaries for skilled techs should be the minimum

Removing the transmission oil dipstick is beyond me. Supposed to be one of the easiest fluid changes. But now you need to take to the dealer. Not to mention you don't know if they actually did the fluid change because there is no way to check the fluid color.

As a automotive mechanic/technician that I see is vehicle owners do not take care of their investments. I seen customers that goes way over oil changes and tire rotations and just basic maintenance. And instead of paying 100 bucks every 3 months they end up paying thousands of dollars on a repair for a year of neglected care.

Also, you can thank government emissions regulations for making cars crappier and more expensive due to complexity. The increased requirements for more fuel efficiency leads to manufacturers having to do dumb things to a car, like replace critical parts with plastic parts to reduce weight, or modifying the engines to shut down cylinders or the engine all together which wears out the engine and starter faster.

Getting more expensive but mechanics aren’t getting paid more MONEY. Make it make sense

No wonder so many Americans come to Baja California to get their car fixed. We have great mechanics here at a fraction of what the U.S. charges.

Rivian wanted $4000 to replace a $277 rear window glass. Its about greed too. These shops charging $300 per hour dont even pay the employees half of that.

Hell, an oil change is running around $100 🤦🏻‍♂️

Here they already take 350 Euro per hour for repairs

Build more transit and walkable and bike friendly cities

*Year 2077* "MAN THAT PANDEMIC REALLY MESSED US UP"

I was doing some heavy maintenance to my only car a 1965 c10 pickup. I was pretty shocked how much some of the parts when up since i did it 10 years ago. Never trade her for anything though.

I do all my work thankfully

The major problem with repair costs is parts markup. My wife had a quick strut replaced under her extended warranty and the dealership charged the warranty provider a 200% markup. I was shocked to learn that the part replacement wasn't even OEM, but rather the least expensive aftermarket brand available. In retrospect, if I bought the part through a retail wholesale provider and did the work myself, it would have cost me $100 and around 8 hours of my time. It helps to know your way around a vehicle if you're poor or didn't pay for an extended warranty.

I've been in the industry for 20 years and the past 3 years has been devastating. I had 3 carpal tunnel release surgeries (two surgeries on my left wrist 2 years apart and one on my right this past year) and a torn rotator cuff tendon last year. I'm reluctant to get back into an industry that does nothing but use me up and throw me away.