Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On October 24, there are more and more high-tech cars equipped with a variety of sensors and computer chips. For car repair shops, repairing this kind of car is more expensive and takes longer to repair.

Brandon Mehizad (Brandon Mehizadeh) runs a car repair shop in Minnesota, Minnesota, which repairs Porsche and other brand models. Earlier this summer, a Porsche Cayenne hit a deer in South Dakota and needed structural modification.

When the car was sent to a local repair shop, the workers didn't have a Porsche parts catalog and "they didn't know what to do," Mehizad said. As a result, the Porsche Cayenne was loaded into a truck and towed thousands of kilometers to a repair shop run by Mehizad, which has the expensive training and tools needed for Porsche maintenance certification. Mehizad said remote repairs added more time to the already lengthy maintenance process, and the Porsche Cayenne owner finally got his car back in August.

Off-site repairs have caused a lot of inconvenience to Porsche Cayenne owners, which also shows that deeper changes in the auto industry have made it harder for people to repair cars.

In the past decade, cars have become more complex and computerized. Today, every car is equipped with sensors and hundreds of computer chips, all of which are controlled by software. Industry insiders in the auto industry are full of praise for the safety benefits of this "software-defined car", which not only increases service subscription revenue, but also increases data collection channels to make cars safer.

But it has to be mentioned that the increasing degree of computerization of cars also brings a lot of negative impact to the maintenance shop. Repairing such a complex car requires more and more technical experts and expensive knowledge and experience, and the supply of maintenance tools is also limited.

The number of car repair shops in the United States continues to decline as a result of the continuous consolidation of repair shops and the retirement of more shopkeepers. According to Focus Advisors, a market consultancy, 327 repair stores were bought by big companies in 2021 alone. In other words, independent repair shops are disappearing.

Compared with five years ago, there are significantly fewer places to repair cars in the United States. It has been reported that each of the US auto repair shops in 2016 usually serves 225 family cars and trucks on the road. Now an average of 246 cars are served in each workshop. The poor supply of computer chips and auto parts, coupled with a shortage of automotive technicians across the United States, is still driving up that number. According to CCC Intelligent Solutions, which mainly sells software to automobiles and insurance agencies, the average car repair time in the United States in 2021 is 2.1 days longer than in 2019, taking a total of nearly 11 days.

Rick White (Brandon Mehizadeh) provides training for repair shop owners through his company 180biz. "over the past 10 years, I have found that there are fewer and fewer repair shops, but more and more car owners are looking for shops to repair their cars," he said. " An industry survey conducted late last year found that 96 per cent of stores had maintenance delays, with an average backlog of 3.4 weeks, compared with 1.7 weeks at the end of 2019.

For the new Audi, when the car shifts to one side or the steering wheel vibrates during driving, the vehicle needs to be readjusted, a process that involves adjusting the suspension system that connects the car to the wheels.

Car repairmen said in an interview that it only took an hour and a half about a decade ago. Nowadays, it usually takes three to four hours, maybe even nine hours, to complete the adjustment. This is because the new car is equipped with an advanced driving assistance system, which can keep the vehicle in the driveway, constantly detect blind spots and avoid collisions. Related functions require the car to accurately control its position on the road, which requires maintenance personnel to calibrate the sensors and cameras that support the advanced system.

Some brands of cars can only be calibrated with expensive special tools. Lucas Underwood, owner of a car repair shop in Brownrock, N.C., says the equipment used for four-wheel positioning now costs about $70,000. Then a set of equipment is needed to help the car sensor and camera system locate itself. These products vary from carmaker to carmaker, selling for an average of about $30,000 each.

In general, the purchase of tools and corresponding modifications to the workshop can repair several specific models, a series of operations that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That doesn't include the cost of training workers to use these tools, and repair shops pay thousands of dollars a year to get employees certified to repair specific cars. As a result, the investment could cost shopkeepers millions of dollars.

For a maintenance shop that plans to stay in business for a long time, the investment may be worth it, but many repair shop owners are about to retire. An industry survey in 2019 found that nearly half of the owners of car repair shops are 60 or older. 30 per cent of shopkeepers consider leaving the industry the year after next. "you'll see older people say, 'Hey, I've spent enough money, so I'm not going to buy new equipment,'" says John Firm, the owner of a repair shop in Fort worth, Texas, who is also considering retiring. "these stores don't train, they don't buy equipment, they're all left behind."

Laura Gay sold her repair shop six years ago and now makes a living by selling used cars. Her words depict the bleak future of today's car repair industry. Guy says insurance companies' compensation can't keep up with the maintenance costs of cars with complex technology. It is difficult to find workers in maintenance shops because older people are dropping out of the industry, and young people lose interest in work because of low starting salaries. Shopkeepers are "fed up", she says. "they are physically and mentally exhausted, and car maintenance has changed from a very simple industry to a very complex industry."

Industry experts say the situation is likely to worsen before things get better. "We will go through a period of twists and turns in the next 10 or 15 years," said White, a trainer in the auto maintenance industry. "more people want to repair cars than people who are willing to fix them."

Car repair shops that persist will also be busier and their storefront designs will be different. After decades of shortage of automotive technicians, companies are eager to attract a new generation of maintenance workers interested in electric cars or self-driving technology.

With the disappearance of traditional car repair shops, the traditional impression of a dirty car mechanic with a wrench in his hand may also disappear. Underwood, owner of a repair shop in North Carolina, said: "complexity makes it more difficult for a repair shop to operate. Without adequate funds, proper insurance and the right tools, it is even more difficult to operate."

In Minnesota, Mehizad has begun to see more new workers entering the car maintenance industry. "We have more and more technical apprentices who are interested in computers and software and are very proficient in operating iPhone and iPad," he said. When a repair shop in Mehizad decided to certify maintenance technicians from Kia, Nissan and Fiat Chrysler, he nominated the youngest technician, an investment in the future of the maintenance industry.

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