Gridlock at mechanics
Safety recalls pushing out car service wait times
DRIVERS are waiting up to six weeks to have vital work done on their cars and turning to independent workshops as skills shortages put the brakes on the automotive repair industry.
More than 190 safety recalls affecting 701,000 cars since January 2022 have piled pressure on workshops, adding almost 1600 recalls per day to overloaded workshops.
Major recalls within the last year include almost 80,000 Subarus that could roll away when parked, 39,000 Kias that could catch fire, 14,000 Lexus models with fuel leaks and 2600 Ferraris with bad brakes.
Mercedes topped the count with 48 recalls affecting more than 90,000 cars in 2022, while Kia recalled almost 99,000 vehicles with 10 notices.
Some manufacturer recalls were for relatively minor issues such as missing warning labels or window tinting, and four were for single vehicles that needed minor work such as a software update.
Interim chief executive for the Motor Trades Association of Australia Geoff Gwilym said people needed to book services weeks – or even months – in advance.
He said increasingly common vehicle safety recalls cause “bottlenecks very quickly”, pushing service departments to turn customers away.
“As soon as a recall is called on a car, a dealership gets inundated with recall work,” Mr Gwilym, who is also the chief executive of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, said.
“We already have a backlog of work. People are waiting five and six weeks to get their car serviced.”
Mr Gwilym said automotive maintenance was badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic as people deferred scheduled servicing on their cars. Many mechanics left the industry, and a reduced intake of apprentice mechanics and skilled migrant workers left the industry short-staffed. “Nationally we have a shortage of 24,000 light vehicle mechanics, 3000 heavy vehicle mechanics, 1650 spray painters and 1710 panel beaters,” he said. “Wages have gone up significantly in the automotive industry due to the skills shortage. I have mechanics on over $100,000 because their skills are in demand.”
Manufacturer guarantees have stretched from an average of three to five years – and as long as 10 years, in Mitsubishi’s case – while modern vehicles increase in complexity.
Those factors add to the warranty burden of official dealerships tasked with keeping customer cars running in good order.
Motor Trades Association spokesman Collin Jennings said the skills shortage won’t be fixed quickly.
“To be a mechanic is about doing an apprenticeship, and apprenticeships take time,” he said. Mr Gwilym said more people should consider training as an automotive technician, as work was easy to find.