Locating affordable parts and qualified technicians are independent auto repair shops' two top concerns, according to IMR Inc.
Forty-five percent of repair shop owners interviewed by the automotive industry research firm during January 2023 cited locating finding affordable parts as their biggest expected challenge in 2023.
Thirty-three percent listed finding qualified/responsible technicians as their most pressing worry.
Staying current with diagnostic/software updates (22.8%), getting parts on time (22.4%) and keeping up with technology (16.8%) rounded out the shops' "top five" list of concerns.
Looking back on 2022, "the challenges shops expect to face in 2023 are only similar in that finding affordable parts and getting parts on time remain significant concerns, while finding qualified/responsible technicians (and) staying current with diagnostic/software updates have become increasingly cited challenges," say IMR officials.
A deeper look at "results by bay size" shows that differently sizes shops "consider some challenges to be more pressing than others. For example, the number one-ranked issue for shops with one to three bays is finding qualified/responsible technicians, with finding affordable parts ranked second."
Meanwhile, shops with four or more bays "consider finding affordable parts their number one challenge."
