Fixed Ops Journal - August 2021 - F11

SLOW LANE
I
Life in the
Surge in repairs, scarcity of parts and techs keep customers waiting
KEN WYSOCKY
foj@autonews.com
t may sound nonsensical, but a number
of service departments nationwide
face what can only be described
as a good problem: an unprecedented
surge of repair work.
Th e good: signifi cant repair-order
and revenue increases.
Th e problem: some customers waiting
weeks or more for larger repairs.
" It's both wonderful and crazy at the same
time, " says Zach Brandt, general manager and
co-owner of Capitol Ford, where service customers
at the Santa Fe, N.M., store are waiting
fi ve to six weeks for large repairs. " It's all pretty
bizarre, but we're still thrilled. "
Tom Archer, service director at Fair Oaks
Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Chantilly, Va., is
in similar straits.
" We're typically running about 10 days behind
for major work, " he
says. " I've never seen anything
like this before, and
I've worked here since
1994. "
At Kama'aina Motors, a
Brandt: " We're
still thrilled. "
Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram
dealership in Hilo, Hawaii,
Service Manager Crisiree
Varize says some customers
have been waiting
more than a month for
major repairs.
" We have customers coming out of the
woodwork with older cars that have been sitting
forever and need to be towed in for repairs, "
she says.
Fred Dearth, fi xed operations director for
Burns Automotive Group in Rock Hill, S.C.,
says he's never seen anything like this in 46
years as a service manager.
" We're booked four to fi ve days out, " he
says. " People who usually patronize other
Ford dealers in the area are calling us because
those stores are 10 days to two weeks
out. "
Th e situation stems from a concurrence of
mostly pandemic-related factors: pent-up demand
from customers who couldn't aff ord
repairs during the early days of the pandemic;
Anatomy of a
car repair boom
The causes
 Pandemic-related pent-up demand,
deferred maintenance
 Parts shortages, low new-car
inventories
 Shortage of mechanics
 Federal stimulus checks
 Less ride-sharing, more
personal vehicle use
 High new-car prices
The good
 Signifi cant repair order increases
 Substantially higher average spend
per repair order
 Revenue windfall
 More customer-pay work vs.
warranty work
The bad
 Unhappy customers
 Increased overtime expense
households infused with cash from federal
stimulus checks; and cars that incurred problems
after sitting idle for months.
Parts shortages caused by supply chains disrupted
by the pandemic also contribute.
" Parts that would normally take 10 days to
arrive now sometimes take up to six weeks, "
Varize told Fixed Ops Journal.
Archer says he's been waiting fi ve months
for parts for some commercial vehicles.
Moreover, some customers are opting to invest
money in repairing older cars because
new-car inventories are scarce and prices are
sky-high. Amd the pandemic, they're also
avoiding ride-sharing services, which makes
driving their own cars - and repairing them
- a bigger priority.
Furthermore, a dearth of experienced technicians
at dealerships that have laid off employees
during the pandemic - and remain understaff
ed - adds to the frenzy, service offi cials say.
Revenue windfall
But dealerships are enjoying the unexpected
revenue injection.
At Fair Oaks, repair orders in June were up
57 percent compared with June 2020. Archer
expects overall revenue for 2021 to jump
about 40 percent compared with 2020.
" Th at's signifi cant, " he says. " Typically a 3 to
5 percent increase is a good year, and if you're
growing by 10 percent annually, you're really
doing something. "
Brandt says repair orders at his store from
January through June are nearly 10 percent
higher than the same period last year. And
customer-pay work increased to 85 percent of
repair orders, up from about 75 percent.
While the number of repair orders this year
is similar to 2019 and 2020 levels at Burns
Automotive , the average spend per customer-pay
order has increased substantially . Before
2021, an average repair order was about
$330. But this year, the average order hovers
around $500, Dearth says.
" Th at's a signifi cant increase, "
he says. " Our
gross profi ts are probably
up about 15 percent from
a year ago. "
Varize reports a similar
scenario: a slight increase
in repair orders this year,
but a signifi cant rise in
dollars per customer-pay
repair order, to between
$300 and $400 in June
compared with $200 in June 2020.
Archer: Running
" 10 days behind "
" It seems like many customers are agreeing
to do all the recommended maintenance in
order to make their cars last longer, " she says.
Coping skills
Th ere are no easy solutions for the repair
backlog. Scaling up to meet demand is diffi -
cult because quality technicians are in short
supply. Moreover, stores can't just add more
service bays overnight, service managers
say.
As such, some technicians at Fair Oaks are
working two to four hours of overtime a day.
Th e store also is hiring more apprentice mechanics
and using technology, such as the
see BACKLOG, Page 12
AUGUST 2021 PAGE 11
Fixed Ops Journal - August 2021

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