Repair shops in the Lower Mainland say they’re busier than ever, with many quoting a months-long wait for service.
“We’ve never been this far behind before — after the pandemic it slowly built up and now this is the worst it’s been,” Joseph Mahesh, owner of Vancouver’s CSN Cosmos autobody said.
Mahesh said customers are facing about a two-month wait for repairs, and that the volume has gotten high enough he can’t accept tow-in customers, because there is nowhere to park them.
Labour, supply chain issues and expensive rent, he said, are plaguing the industry just like many other sectors of the economy.
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“Staffing, parts, and then especially we’re in Vancouver business leases are so high and some (shops) can’t even keep up. I don’t know the statistics, but I think there are some guys coming off the business because of it.”
Recruiting is also a problem, he said, in an industry that requires specially trained workers.
“We are losing people because the rent is high, they need to be paid more … and it’s hard to find new talent,” he said.
Michelle Isaac told Global News she faced a two-month wait to get cosmetic repairs on her vehicle, after damaging it in a parkade in September.
She said she was lucky that the damage wasn’t serious enough that it sidelined her car.
“I was fine because my car was drivable — if it wasn’t I would be in a pickle,” she said.
“If I had young kids and needed my car to drive around, and I had to wait and couldn’t afford to rent a car I would be in a serious jam.”
Mahesh said he does his best to get temporary fixes in place that would allow a customer to keep their car safely on the road until he can book them in for a proper repair.
“We’re trying our best,” he said.
ICBC, meanwhile, is recommending that people buy insurance that includes loss of use coverage, which will cover a rental if their own vehicle is not drivable.
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