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.
“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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