Things have come a long way since I first started out back in 1975. Technology and the public have demanded that the automotive repair industry evolve and grow up. The industry has responded. Everyone knows that today's auto repair shop is a technical operation. Even the little independent guys have thousands of dollars wrapped up in equipment, training, advertising, facility, staff etc. The technicians themselves have thousands invested in certifications, tools, and schooling, just to keep up in the industry. Although every shop differs somewhat, you can picture a modern repair facility in your mind. Well,with the down turn in the economy, I have noticed some odd things taking place, at least in my neck of the woods. First all kinds of people displaced out of a job, if they have any tools and a garage or a shed are calling themselves a repair shop. These places operate without any formal training, certifications, guarantees, insurance, or licensing and run on a cash only basis.The scene is hard to put into words. They keep no regular hours, they operate on word of mouth. It is usually a grungy looking guy with a couple of his friends and a dog or two hanging out in a barn or garage with some beer, a space heater and a bunch of blight around the yard.. What is truly amazing and perplexing about these places, is that they have plenty of business and the cities or townships don't seem to mind them being there. Insurance companies even allow their customers to be towed to them as a repair facility, I know because I have had to tow to plenty of them.
The second odd thing is that there has been an inordinate amount of people coming in to our shop with a bag of parts from a local cut rate parts house, asking us for a labor only price on installing them. We are not just talking about young kids either. These people run the spectrum, young, old, women, men all walks of life. It seems that a cut rate parts house sold them parts based on a guess or the customer looked on the Internet and diagnosed their own problem. Either way they want their parts put on, with a guarantee and they want to hold us responsible for curing their problem, which by the way was never divulged to us.
It just completely boggles my mind to think of these things happening, taking into consideration the cost of vehicles today, the complexity of the systems involved, the regulation of the industry, not to mention the environmental and safety concerns. I believe that a major overhaul of the system needs to take place. Parts need to be categorized by importance. Some operations should have to be performed only by a qualified professional. There should be strong penalties for "back yard shops". A wide array of parts should only be available to be sold to qualified professionals. I am sure that there are other controls that would help protect the consumer and technician alike, but these would be a good start.
The second odd thing is that there has been an inordinate amount of people coming in to our shop with a bag of parts from a local cut rate parts house, asking us for a labor only price on installing them. We are not just talking about young kids either. These people run the spectrum, young, old, women, men all walks of life. It seems that a cut rate parts house sold them parts based on a guess or the customer looked on the Internet and diagnosed their own problem. Either way they want their parts put on, with a guarantee and they want to hold us responsible for curing their problem, which by the way was never divulged to us.
It just completely boggles my mind to think of these things happening, taking into consideration the cost of vehicles today, the complexity of the systems involved, the regulation of the industry, not to mention the environmental and safety concerns. I believe that a major overhaul of the system needs to take place. Parts need to be categorized by importance. Some operations should have to be performed only by a qualified professional. There should be strong penalties for "back yard shops". A wide array of parts should only be available to be sold to qualified professionals. I am sure that there are other controls that would help protect the consumer and technician alike, but these would be a good start.
