Local car repair shops turning away jobs over ‘financial restraints,’ costly tech for new vehicles — why taking your car to a dealership for a fix-up might be your only option soon

Story by Danielle Antosz
• 2w • 4 min read

As the technology in new vehicles becomes increasingly sophisticated, local repair shops, like Ted's Auto Clinic in Chicago, owned by brothers George and Chris Geropoulos, face mounting financial and logistical barriers to repairing modern cars.

The auto repair shop, opened by their father in 1982, is increasingly unable to service newer cars, which often require a special scanner and a subscription service to access the car's computer to perform diagnostics and make repairs.

“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 told Fox 32 reporters.

These scanner subscription tools, he reports, can cost between $65 and $40,000 per year, depending on the car type. These tools prevent hackers from accessing the car's computer and exploiting vulnerabilities.

But it appears — thanks to the expense — that they’re also preventing some mechanics from being able to service certain vehicles. Here's why that could be bad news for consumers.

How hackers have changed car repair services

In 2015, Andy Greenberg was driving a Jeep Cherokee when hackers took over his vehicle. They blasted the air conditioning, cranked the music, and even blurred the windshield with wiper fluid. Then, they cut the transmission, leaving the Cherokee stopped in the middle of the interstate with cars lining up behind it. Greenberg was the victim of a zero-day exploit that allowed hackers to access multiple systems in his vehicle.

Luckily for him, the hack was expected — he was a willing participant, allowing hackers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek to show how these exploits could be used to disable vehicles. Since then, car manufacturers have made drastic changes to how car mechanics can access car computers. New cars now feature “gateway computers” — secure systems that manage everything from the vehicle’s engine to safety features and prevent unauthorized access.

These gateways require costly tools and software to access, which often come with steep subscription fees. Independent shops must purchase the initial scan tools — the Geropoulos’ universal tool ran them between $4,000 to $5,000, and it works on multiple types of cars.

However, not all tools work with all brands, which means mechanic shops may have to invest in more than one tool. This not only starts to get expensive for shops, it also limits the number of vehicles they can work with. Shops then have to invest time and money to train their techs on how to use the equipment.

Finally, they then have to pay subscription fees to use the tools.

The cars with these gateways are all fairly new — usually those sold after 2017. According to Fox 32, which spoke to several consumer automotive experts, the cars with gateways include Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and Nissan vehicles, with Hyundai and Kia to be next.

Read more: 5 ways to boost your net worth now — easily up your money game without altering your day-to-day life

The dealership may soon be the only option for car repair


Soon, repair shops like the ones owned by the Geropoulos brothers may only be able to fix a small number of cars.

“I believe right now there are a lot of shops, especially small shops, that these are newer issues for them,” Jeff Cox, President of the Automotive & Maintenance Repair Association, told Fox 32 reporters. “They don’t have the right equipment. They don’t have those certifications. So oftentimes, they are turning customers back to the dealer.”

If you’re one of many consumers forced to head to the dealership for repairs, you’ll likely feel it in your wallet. While the cost difference varies by vehicle, repair, and location, dealer rates can cost $30 or more per hour than the same repair at an independent shop, according to Edmunds. Repairs to modern cars can also take longer due to the complex nature of the systems, which may lead to higher repair costs.

As automotive technology advances, there is a real risk that independent automotive shops will continue to shrink in number, limiting consumers' options. To address these challenges, recent legislation like the Repair Act aims to ensure consumers have direct access to car data related to repairing their vehicles. Advocates argue that without legislative limits, dealerships may gain a near monopoly in car repairs.

While legislation may eventually level the playing field, for now, new car owners should brace for a world where car repairs — like movies, music, and software — come with a subscription price.



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...dealer rates can cost $30 or more per hour

That'd be nice. It's $120/hr here.

My youngest vehicle is a 2012. I don't, because I mostly can't, work on it. It goes to the dealer shop for anything beyond lube, oil, filters, and minor things. As complicated and computerized as this thing is, I can't imagine how bad it's gotten in the 12 years hence.

It makes me happy to have my '77 truck and '68 Mustang that I can still do just about everything on myself.

Mrs. Lee's MB just went in for a big warranty repair and the labor rate on the bill was $290/hr.

John Deere has faced several "right to repair" lawsuits over their similar tactics to force farm equiment owners to use factory service centers, with the plaintiffs winning so far, and are also currently under FTC investigation over it.

Car makers may be dealing with the same things if they continue down the same path.

My 2016 GX460 is the newest vehicle I'll ever own. If I ever manage to wear it out, I plan on having a pile of older stuff I can keep running until they bury me.

That's the plan.

Businesses have figured out that it's more profitable to have a subscription service than a sale. Once cars are too difficult to third parties to work on the manufacturers will make the next move into selling you a subscription service.

Think of it as a perpetual lease.

[QUOTE] dealer rates can cost $30 or more per hour than the same repair at an independent shop, according to Edmunds.[QUOTE]

I think the article was supposed to say "...dealer rates can cost $30 more per hour than independent shops" (without the "or")

We still have the '91 F-150 and '01 Expedition we bought new, as well as a '13 Ram. This reality of new vehicles makes me think I just might keep what I have until I can't get parts for them anymore. If I want a new vehicle, I'll now take a serious look at leasing options and do the cost/benefit analysis before buying. At my age, my hard-headed self just refuses to stay beholden to a dealership.

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While legislation may eventually level the playing field, for now, new car owners should brace for a world where car repairs — like movies, music, and software — come with a subscription price.

Anyone believe cars themselves will come with subscription fees in the future?

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Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

While legislation may eventually level the playing field, for now, new car owners should brace for a world where car repairs — like movies, music, and software — come with a subscription price.

Anyone believe cars themselves will come with subscription fees in the future?

Some already do, BMW installs seat heaters on their cars but you have to pay a fee to have them turned on.

The subscription method really started in the software business, since nobody would upgrade windows or other programs until they stopped support, a new release wasn't getting the numbers they needed.

Now with software subscriptions they get annual fee income on everyone, it's huge.

There was chatter at one time that you'd not buy a new car but pay a monthly fee and go pick up the car when you needed it, good for city dwellers, not so good for suburbia probably wouldn't work in practice when you have 50,000 soccer moms in LA wanting their suburbans ready at 7 am to take kiddos to school.

Not mentioned in the OP is that dealerships seem to have no conscience when diagnosing and recommending work based on their exclusive access to diagnostic equipment and software.

For example, my local mechanic could not get my 2018 VW Tiguan to pass an emissions test. In VA, for cars that are appropriately-equipped, this test is performed by state-issued software that interacts with the car's computer, there are no tailpipe or other external sensors used or even allowed to measure actual emissions, it is all from the state's computer reading data from the car's computer. This was for a vehicle that had 14K miles on it, but that had been sitting for about a year. The mechanic told me to drive it for about 100 miles and he'd test it again...no dice, another 100 miles...no dice. All my driving was done on dead tags risking a ticket. When I gave up and took it to the dealer, they did something with the computer, took it to a service station near them, where it passed the test just fine. They also diagnosed a "bad battery" that they wanted $500+labor for (I had replaced the battery a few months before and the new one was not showing any signs of trouble, nor would the service writer provide details on why the battery was "bad"), and a few other "small things" (that totaled to an over $5K estimate). These folks had been absolutely stellar when the car was in warranty, now it's BOHICA all the way, all because my local guy with a SnapOn scanner and subscription can't diagnose a problem, or even confirm the existence or absence of a problem.

I see this trend only getting worse until all cars reach Deere-like unrepairability or incompatibility with third-party replacement equipment enforced by encryption technology.

Are we going to end up like Cuba where they are still running lots of cars from the 50's? Maybe we'll be buying these cars from them?

This exact situation is why I opted for a factory extended warranty on my Cherokee. If something goes wrong, the dealer will be fixing it for a long, long time.

Dealerships do not charge more because you are getting a better repair than at a small independent shop. You are paying for a phone/showroom greeter, service manager, service writer, parts department, lot lizard/car washer, cashier, food coffee tv stuff for waiting room, etc.
Dealer techs have more product knowledge due to the same repairs on same models. In most cases an indy shop tech will be higher skilled and trained to deal with all the different models and systems out there, but have limitations on not having the factory scan tools.
Component replacement that requires "flashing" is the big problem now. Some aftermarket scanners can flash some stuff on some models, but not on everything because all the manufacturers have a different way of doing it.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

While legislation may eventually level the playing field, for now, new car owners should brace for a world where car repairs — like movies, music, and software — come with a subscription price.

Anyone believe cars themselves will come with subscription fees in the future?

Subscription fees are the long term goal of the automakers. It will eventually come to a point where the average person can't afford to have an existing car repaired. The skyrocketing prices for repair are by design and will squeeze most people out of ownership in the years to come.

In the case of John Deere, tractors would stop functioning during crop work or harvesting, and the nearest local shop would have too many customers waiting for maintenance to come out before the harvest would spoil.

It was a classic case of being held hostage to the brand. John Deere said you bought the hardware, but only leased the software/firmware that made it work.

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:
John Deere has faced several "right to repair" lawsuits over their similar tactics to force farm equiment owners to use factory service centers, with the plaintiffs winning so far, and are also currently under FTC investigation over it.

Car makers may be dealing with the same things if they continue down the same path.

John Deere make $10 billion in profit last year. They are now setting up a factory in Mexico and preparing to lay off many, many employees so they can make even more money. I will never, ever buy a JD product of any type. Hoping Trump makes some changes, so the greedy corporations go back to paying American workers.

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Originally posted by YooperSigs:
This exact situation is why I opted for a factory extended warranty on my Cherokee. If something goes wrong, the dealer will be fixing it for a long, long time.

OP is correct and I hate it as I have done most maintenance, up to and including complete engine overhauls since the late 1960s on my and some friends and family's vehicles. I actually have a grandson's 98 range stripped to the block in my shop now for an overhaul.

I don't usually buy extended warranties on anything but I did get 3 years powertrain on the used '18 Grand Cherokee Turbo Diesel I bought @ 5 years old.

It has already paid off in the first year as they replaced the automatic 4WD transfer case shortly after I bought it... they claimed it likely failed so soon, less then 30k miles, because the previous owner had ran mis-matched tires on it. They had put all new tires on it right before I bought it.

There was no questions asked... no hesitation on their part. They called after the diagnostics, stated the part was already on order and would call back when it repair was complete. This was a Jeep Dealer. I could not imagine a better outcome.

In today's world I'd never buy a car, especially an EV, lease it for the term of the warranty and no more, give it back when the lease it up and get another, that's your "subscription".

The bottom will fall out of the used market as nobody will want to have to buy a Used BMW and deal with the maintenance/diagnostic fees or subscriptions.

I'll just keep driving older cars. Market demand will change their bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

For example, my local mechanic could not get my 2018 VW Tiguan to pass an emissions test. In VA, for cars that are appropriately-equipped, this test is performed by state-issued software that interacts with the car's computer, there are no tailpipe or other external sensors used or even allowed to measure actual emissions, it is all from the state's computer reading data from the car's computer. This was for a vehicle that had 14K miles on it, but that had been sitting for about a year. The mechanic told me to drive it for about 100 miles and he'd test it again...no dice, another 100 miles...no dice. All my driving was done on dead tags risking a ticket. When I gave up and took it to the dealer, they did something with the computer, took it to a service station near them, where it passed the test just fine. They also diagnosed a "bad battery" that they wanted $500+labor for (I had replaced the battery a few months before and the new one was not showing any signs of trouble, nor would the service writer provide details on why the battery was "bad"), and a few other "small things" (that totaled to an over $5K estimate). These folks had been absolutely stellar when the car was in warranty, now it's BOHICA all the way, all because my local guy with a SnapOn scanner and subscription can't diagnose a problem, or even confirm the existence or absence of a problem.

All they do is see if there are any faults, they don't monitor data.
But there is a readiness monitor that has different prerequisites that have to be met.
o2 sensors and such.
If the codes are cleared the readiness monitor will say "Not Ready" for those parameters.
A dead battery will re-set the readiness monitor also.
If the Readiness Monitor is Ready and there are no faults then it passes.

It takes several drive cycles to get everything "Ready" again.
Most have 3 engine running cycles with various loads on the engine.
Stop and go, maintain 55mph for several miles ect.

Our test driver has a specific route that covers everything to get them ready, once those are reading ready and the fault didn't return then it's fixed.

Dealerships have to pay for the software as well, which is available to customers if they want it.

There's probably 6K a year in subscriptions on my laptop at work and I don't have a couple of them yet.
The shop has about 15 Toughbooks with individual subscriptions, Two for Paccar, Cummins, Alison, Bendix, etc.

And for quite a few you need to be connected to a network.
Which means a good Hotspot if you are out in the field.