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Why Are There Long Wait Times For Car Repairs?

Long wait times for car repairs become the ‘new normal’ amid calls for more auto workers. The owner of Powers Smash Repairs, likes being busy, but is as frustrated as his customers when it comes to waiting. “For a small panel shop like mine, we're getting three to four times more quotes and business coming through, which means our timelines are pushed out to get people in," he said. "Early on, we'd pride ourselves to get a car finished within a week. But time frames are blowing out. Parts are a little bit of an issue, but getting staff is a bigger issue. What are your thoughts LiveTribers? Why are there long wait times for car repairs?

Posted by on 15 Jun 2023

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yelsha42

Supply and demand. Need to have parts and staff to do the work

Posted by yelsha42 on 26 Nov 2023

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kendallx3

Need to employ more staff

Posted by kendallx3 on 26 Nov 2023

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Jay

My guess is there are fewer trained mechanics these days, and more car owners need to fix their cars instead of trade in for new cars as inflation goes up.

Posted by Jay on 27 Jul 2023

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Kira

Wow must count myself lucky here, my mechanic has only ever taken a day or two at most to service my vehicle.

Posted by Kira on 20 Jun 2023

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sandra

My local tyre and service centre told me they would have new tyres for my car last week but still waiting. I think I'd better book for a service (at the dealership) asap in case there's a long wait.

Posted by sandra on 20 Jun 2023

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Woodness

We must be really lucky with our car repairer/mechanic, a week is the most we have to wait but we have been with them for a very long time so maybe we get a bit of preferential treatment which is nice.

Posted by Woodness on 18 Jun 2023

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bmlglp

It seems that we can have these types of problems when the inflation is so high that everything goes up in price, including the labour cost. I need to watch out more to drive around if there is such an issue to repair cars.

Posted by bmlglp on 18 Jun 2023

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Jacquie

Fortunately for my partner and I, we have a good friend that is very handy and competent when it comes to fixing cars. We buy the parts on the net and he installs them. Plus my partner knows his way around cars too so can do minor repairs. Anything bigger than he or our friend, then we take it to the mechanics. So far, we haven't had to do that too many times in the past.

Posted by Jacquie on 18 Jun 2023

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stephen

I agree about the wait times and the lack of mechanics that can keep up with the new technologies. Also due to the electronics on vehicles people do not work on their own vehicles anymore which also adds pressure to the local repair shops.

Posted by stephen on 18 Jun 2023

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tassiegirl

I definitely agree that there is a shortage of mechanics and panel beaters. I had my car repaired, It took over 1 month and there was a shortage of parts. They sent it out to a specialist mechanic, as the preferred repairer only does the very basic things. There was hardly any parts for my car which is a recent Mazda sedan. I think there was only a few in the whole of Australia (this was for some car doors). It cost the insurance company $11,000. Thankfully I only had to pay the excess. Within the same week, my parked car was damaged on the other side, by some teenagers in Ocean Grove who were riding their bikes and doing wheelies. That cost me an extra $1,000 as Coles insurance wouldn't pay for it, unless the teenagers were charged. So all up, I ended paying $1850 for $12,000 of work. Then my insurance jumped by $55 per month, so I changed insurers. Most of the car repairs are damaged caused by other people especially to parked cars. Once I had my car parked in a very small street on the nature strip, and my car was knocked there. Thankfully the man left his details.

Posted by tassiegirl on 18 Jun 2023

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Dominic

Each car can have their unique car parts also in in addition to accidents and wear and tear to vehicle

Posted by Dominic on 18 Jun 2023

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Trevor

Just too many accidents from people who just cant drive

Posted by Trevor on 18 Jun 2023

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Tara Rata

The problem is not enough car parts coming in to the country and not enough people to work on them either

Posted by Tara Rata on 18 Jun 2023

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gonger

Im sure if you look at the number of cars on the road now compared to 10 years and at the same time look at the number of repairers still in business the anomaly might be another reason. My second point is the impact of "preferred repairers agreements" with insurance campanies

Posted by gonger on 18 Jun 2023

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Sally

My friend that works at a repairer works 12 hour days and they still can’t keep up with the workload

Posted by Sally on 18 Jun 2023

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merryl

There is a shortage of parts and a shortage of workers. These will probably be ongoing issues for a long time.

Posted by merryl on 18 Jun 2023

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Chin

It seems that everything is in short supply post Covid, goods and services.......the list goes on and on.........

Posted by Chin on 18 Jun 2023

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Ally42

Too much demand for repairs, not enough workers or car parts etc

Posted by Ally42 on 18 Jun 2023

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Paula

I've not needed a car repaired so all I could surmise is that there is a shortage of parts as well as trained mechanics. Children are pushed to go to uni now instead of apprenticeships like they were in my school days.

Posted by Paula on 16 Jun 2023

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ere

All school students were strongly encouraged to go to uni, to keep the unemployment figures down, and being a common tradie was looked down on. Companies that traditionally trained apprentices were either privatised or weren't offered suitable incentives to train new tradies. Now it's come back to bite them on the bum the only thing governments can do is import more tradie migrants, adding to the housing shortages and rising rentals.

Posted by ere on 16 Jun 2023

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mact

The demise of Tech Schools and privatisation of former Govt. owned essential services who trained many apprentices in many trades combined with an over emphasis on having a Uni degree even to collect Garbage has contributed to this Career mess!!

Posted by mact on 16 Jun 2023

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Kylie

Totally agree it’s hard to get quality workers, people want the money but don’t want to do the work, or even though they are educated they don’t have enough hands on experience to think out of the box on what could be wrong. Getting car part can also be a big issue especially if sourcing overseas due to covid and drug imports.

Posted by Kylie on 15 Jun 2023

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