[NYRob]

My brother in-law has been in the auto repair business since the 70's, he owns his independent shop- he turned 66 this week.
I was over his place yesterday and showed him the Bolt maintenance schedule. He looked at it and said laughing... "looks like I'll be getting out at about the right time". He plans on working for only a few more years.

When I walk through his shop- the overwhelming majority of his jobs are engine related, the rest are brake jobs and state inspections, some electrical related stuff (bad window regulator, etc...), but mostly ICE engine repairs.

On a related note- One local auto repair shop in the town where I work (a one-man outfit) has refused to work on "modern" vehicles for several years now as the owner approached retirement age and he didn't want to invest in new diagnostic equipment. He just sold his shop to another mechanic- who is in his 60's! How much longer will he work?

What's going to happen to the independent local shops when there are more EV's than ICE vehicles on the road and these local owned shops can't or won't work on them due to complexity, etc..?

 

[Joe67]

*snip*

What's going to happen to the independent local shops when there are more EV's than ICE vehicles on the road and these local owned shops can't or won't work on them due to complexity, etc..?

We are a long way from that day.

 

[Dutch]

Farrier
Lamplighter
Bowling pin setter

I think there will be less repair shops, and the ones that exist won't look the same as what we are used to. One garage I know used to specialize in brakes and exhaust only. Recently the owner re-vamped his business and made a significant investment in modern diagnostic equipment and training because, as he put it, "I don't think we're even going to have exhausts on cars for much longer" so now his guys are training on EV and PEHV systems.

 

[NYRob]

... Recently the owner re-vamped his business and made a significant investment in modern diagnostic equipment and training because, as he put it, "I don't think we're even going to have exhausts on cars for much longer" so now his guys are training on EV and PEHV systems.

That's good to hear!

The other thing is- some of the parts/systems will have 10 year/150,000 mile warranty (in CARB States) so the locals won't be working on some issues anyway.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Recently the owner re-vamped his business and made a significant investment in modern diagnostic equipment and training because, as he put it, "I don't think we're even going to have exhausts on cars for much longer" so now his guys are training on EV and PEHV systems.

Yep, there are forward-thinking business owners and then there are the dinosaurs.