Since this supply chain debacle started I've seen a large increase in repair work. I figured that was the root of it and didn't think much further. Sunday I got a breakdown job from a mobile tech I have never met before. After I did the job (paid my mortgage in five hours) he picked it up at 9 at night and couldn't stop expressing how grateful he was that there's somebody left doing this stuff. I have certainly noticed that all the big manual shops around me that I knew about have closed up over the past 5 years, but I figured that equipment went somewhere local and what work is left is still getting done somewhere.
Or is it? This guy made the case that the owners of the last two capable fix anything shops decided to retire during the pandemic and there was no emergency breakdown fix anything kind of shops left within a days drive. There are huge supply chain problems, lots of parts are impossible to get right now, but he didn't think that was the biggest problem. He thinks it's that the demand is about the same, but the supply of good shops is gone.
If you do repair work are you seeing the same balls-to-the-wall don't care about price climate?
If so, is it supply chain based, or as the guy wanted me to believe, is it that so many good old shops have finally closed that there's an abundance of work?
