As some of the regulars know, until 3 months ago I was shop manager at an indy repair shop, decent size with a good following. Business has been booming ever since the lockdown ended, to the point that for most of 2021 until now the business has had to use price to control work flow. Meaning that it’s just not tenable for a general auto repair shop to not have an opening for your car for 3 weeks. So we started raising prices. We still had more work than we could handle, so we raised rates again, 3 times in a 12 month period. People seemed to have no issues paying a $144/hr labor rate or $189 to diagnose a check engine light.
This is a very good time to be a competent mechanic.
It is a good time to be a competent ANYTHING right now! Like your shop, I have raised my rates considerably since this all started, hoping to slow down a tad but it didn’t do anything. I am just as busy and higher prices help weed out some of the more problematic customers for sure. I get paid to drive all over creation so can definitely weed out those who might be trouble.
I don’t know how long all this will last or if the entire economy is about to come crashing down but it is good for some people right now. The rising prices, etc. are not so good but I am afraid sticker shock is here to stay for everything from used cars to car parts.