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Independent auto shops face challenges servicing newer vehicle models
For those of us who like to take our car to a local mechanic for repairs rather than a dealership, that option might not be around much longer.
CHICAGO - For those of us who like to take our car to a local mechanic for repairs rather than a dealership, that option might not be around much longer.
In a FOX 32 special report, Scott Schneider takes a look at why you may soon have fewer choices when it comes to getting auto repairs.
George Geropoulos and his brother Chris own and run "Ted's Auto Clinic" on Chicago's Northwest Side.
"My father opened the shop in 1982. I’ve been here on and off, I would say, since I was a little kid," George said.
It's that family-owned touch they provide that keeps John Peterson coming back. He's been a customer here for nearly 25 years.
"I just don’t want to deal with the dealers if I don’t have to. My cars run like new here," Peterson said.
But consumers like John may soon have to take their cars to the dealer instead of a local shop like Ted's depending on what kind of repair work needs to be done and how new their car is.
"It's one of those things. As time goes by, we have to focus on more cars we can actually service and turn away work on a lot of the ones we cannot. A lot of the reasons we cannot service a car is because of financial constraints," George said.
After the auto world saw in 2015 how hackers could remotely control a Jeep Cherokee as someone was driving it, automakers changed gears on how mechanics can access a car's computer.
That change came at a big price for some independent shops.
If a manufacturer requires a $40,000-a-year subscription, we’re just not going to service those cars because we don’t have enough volume of that specific vehicle to afford the subscription," George said.
The subscription is for the software to use what's called a scan tool.
A mechanic hooks it up to the gateway computer in a consumer's car. The gateway computer manages all of the car’s various electrical systems.
Once in place, the scan tool reads the various codes to tell the technician what needs to be fixed.
Depending on what type of car, George said a monthly subscription fee can cost him hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
"I’d say the lowest you pay is $65 a month but the highest you pay can be up to $40,000 a year," Geroge said.
Mechanics also have to purchase the scan tool itself. Dealer technicians tend to use one that's made by the automaker.
While independent shops may use that too or one that was not made by the car manufacturer. That’s called an after-market scan tool.
"The purchase price for this is typically $4,000 to $5,000 for the tool itself. But yearly subscriptions just for generic information, it's about $1,500 a year," George said.
The scan tool George uses is also called a universal tool because it can work on more than one type of car – but still not all of them. This means mechanics may need to purchase several scan tools – depending on how many different makes and models they work on.
Another expense is the time and money many shops also need to spend to get their technicians trained on how to use this equipment.
"I believe right now there are a lot of shops, especially small shops, that these are newer issues for them," said Jeff Cox, President of the Automotive & Maintenance Repair Association. "They don’t have the right equipment. They don’t have those certifications. So oftentimes, they are turning customers back to the dealer."
Automotive & Maintenance Repair Association (AMRA) works with independent shops, auto regulators and legislators to create repair standards to help make sure consumers are not paying for service work their cars don’t need.
"I don’t think a lot of consumers know this is an issue yet. The vehicles that have a secure gateway – fairly new vehicles.
Cox said that’s because these newer vehicles often don’t need any major repairs for the first few years.
We spoke with several different consumer automotive experts for this story. They told us the newer cars with gateway computers were built starting around 2017-2018, but do not include all makes and models.
Right now, you can find them in certain Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Nissan vehicles, with Hyundai and Kia to be next.
"The automotive aftermarket is about 200,000 shops nationwide," Cox said. "There are many more shops in the aftermarket than on the dealership side. So if you start to squeeze down on the aftermarket, consumers are really going to feel that."
While you can still take your car to a local shop for something basic like an oil change, other simple repairs might not be so simple.
"Depending on the vehicle, they need to access the gateway for even simple things. Something like replacing a power window module," Cox said.
Part of the reason why these easy jobs can now be hard to do has to do with how good the mechanic’s computer skills are.
"Now, you need to know a lot more. You need to know how the computers on the vehicle are communicating with each other and that’s a segment we refer to as vehicle communication," said Ira Siegel.
Siegal is the Automotive Technology Program Coordinator at Moraine Valley Community College. He said these days you can't be a mechanic if you don’t know computers.
"We start using diagnostic scan tools in the student's first course. They use that scan tool in every one of our courses as everything on the vehicle is controlled by electronics and electronic control modules," Siegal said.
Unfortunately, computer skills aren't something all current mechanics have in their toolbox.
"We’ve been a graying industry," Donny Seyfer said. "We’re seeing more and more young technicians come into this field where they didn’t want to be labeled as a grease monkey, doing regular service repair who are really interested in the information technology side."
Seyfer is the executive officer of the National Automotive Safety Task Force (NASTF). The organization helps technicians who are having trouble accessing the gateway computers – even when they have the right equipment and training.
"NASTF was designed by the automakers and the independent aftermarket as the mediator, the moderator, between them. The technical entity that could explain to each side what the other one was trying to accomplish," Seyfer said.
He said overall, automakers don’t want to see the independent shops go out of business.
"They don’t have enough dealerships to service all their vehicles, but what they’re also not good at is teaching us all of the little steps involved in working with dealership tools the same way the dealers do," Seyfer said.
Seyfer said better education is needed to solve mechanics’ issues with accessing and being able to use a gateway computer. However, George disagrees.
"We train all the time. At least monthly. We go to training classes for the new technology that’s emerging. The problem lies within the fact that we can't keep up with the subscriptions and all the hardware that’s needed to fix these cars," George said. "Especially as a smaller facility."
Which is why Seyfer said the next step for independent shops is to start specializing in which repairs they do. Just like doctors do.
"Our biggest problem is we are asking way too much from a single individual to know and we need to re-think what we all do in our professions." Seyfer said. "I think we are now saying there are 14 systems on the vehicle. Doctors don’t specialize in 14 systems. Yet we’re asking technicians to do that."
Tomi Oliva, owner of San Jose Automotive Center, was among the first shops to start specializing in a certain type of repair work. His specialty is automotive diagnostics.
"Diagnostics means when you have a malfunction. Any of the lights on. Whether it’s a check engine light or or air bag. That’s typically electrical failure. That’s what we specialize in," Oliva said. "Pinpointing what's going on with those circuits or those issues and fixing them."
While computers are often known for making work faster or easier, Oliva said that’s not always the case when it comes to cars.
"So now you can have one failure in one module cause a variety of different failures in other modules. So now you have to spend time dissecting the entire network and every manufacturer lingo," Oliva said.
Just like when your doctor sends you to see a specialist, it can cost you more.
Oliva said many consumers don't understand the cost involved when diagnosing your car.
"Some of these vehicles require six, seven, eight hours of diagnostic time," Oliva said. "We’re expected to know everything but in terms of our trade we’re still the least paid per hour."
Legislation regarding this issue has been introduced on both the federal and state levels. The Repair Act was introduced in Congress last year. Its goal is to require manufacturers to let consumers be able to access data from their cars so they can have them repaired at independent shops.
A similar bill was also introduced in the Illinois Senate in January. Until either bill passes, consumers may be in for a rough ride.
"We’re seeing steady enrollment in our classes, but it's still not enough to meet the needs of employers in our area," Siegal said.