It would seem like now is the perfect time to own a shop that works on cars. Vehicles on the road have never been older, but “older” in this sense means a car that was built in the early 2010s. These are cars that often require more specialized knowledge to repair than even my early-2000s car needs.
You won’t be surprised to hear that service is the biggest chunk of revenue a dealer is likely to earn, but the actual amount some dealers are seeing may surprise you. The Morning Dump is thinking about dealerships today, as the big National Auto Dealers Association annual conference is about to start.
Right now, you wouldn’t want to necessarily be a Volkswagen dealer, as that brand has been in rough shape. Could a name change for an existing model help? Maybe VW, as a brand, could learn from Renault, which has continued to find ways to grow in a challenging environment.
The most challenging environment in the automotive world might be Le Mans, and this year’s Goodwood events will have three of the most famous cars.
85% To 90% Of Revenue At Stake
Last week, I talked about how direct sales were a threat to dealers. This week, I want to talk about service. If there’s a commonality between both, it’s that dealers have long had a huge advantage that’s slipping away due to both consumer preference and technology.
There’s a piece from Automotive News talking about the importance of dealer service centers:
Service departments can generate between 85 and 90 percent of revenue for a majority of dealerships, Rick Wegley, an instructor and consultant at NCM Associates of Kansas City, Mo., told Automotive News.
“There is not a department in any dealership in America more important than the service department,” said Tom McCollum, chairman of the Audi National Dealer Council and CEO of Forbes Todd Automotive Group.
For most brands, margins on new cars are slim, and used cars represent yet another challenge. Service centers aren’t necessarily a slam dunk, though. There’s the ongoing technician shortage, and parts are getting more expensive, plus less foot traffic to stores means fewer chances to grab customers.
The older the car, the more cautious the owner, said Alan Dibre, chairman of the Acura National Dealer Advisory Board and dealer principal of Acura dealerships in New York and New Jersey.
“Customers are very cautious in terms of what their spending is,” he said. “You’re seeing less traffic.”
There are lots of concerns being voiced here, but this can still be a profitable business, as Car Dealer Guy reported last year:
According to Reynolds and Reynolds’ recently released Fixed Operations Golden Metrics, profit per repair order jumped for dealers in nearly all markets with some variation depending on volume levels.
- As of May, major urban stores averaged $414 per customer pay repair order (RO), up $33 year-over-year.
- Metro stores rose $23 to $349 in total, and community-based stores accrued $268—adding $9.
- Rural location gained $2 and averaged $225 per RO.
As always, there’s an upper limit to what someone with a 2014 Nissan Rogue is going to want (or be able) to pay for repairs. There’s also an issue of convenience. Bringing your car to a dealer to be told that it can’t easily be fixed now, and that the fix will be expensive, is a terrible outcome.
One growing solution is mobile service and more technology to reduce errors/labor needs, which automakers like Ford are pushing with its dealers. Here’s Bozard Ford explaining how it works:
Our strategy mirrors a hospital system’s model, that utilizes urgent care centers to manage less severe cases. Similarly, our mobile vans, equipped with Wi-Fi, handle minor issues like computer downloads or quick fixes directly at the customer’s location. This prevents these simpler tasks from occupying valuable bay space in our main service center.
This strategic division allows our primary service center to focus on its core strengths: major repairs like transmissions and engines, and supporting our used car and accessories departments. It’s an efficient approach that maximizes profitability. While our Quick Lane provides fast maintenance, mobile service extends this efficiency by taking an even broader range of services out of the shop, significantly boosting our overall capacity.
Perhaps it’s because I have an old BMW, but I’d be hesitant to take my car to a BMW dealer out of fear of what they’d tell me. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with my Honda as it ages out of its warranty.
VW ID.4 To Become The ID.Tiguan?
Volkswagen’s naming convention for its EVs is kinda terrible, right? The ID.Buzz, the ID.4, the ID.7. Whatever. Maybe you like it, but it’s such a shame when the brand has such fun names as Beetle, Tiguan, and Polo.
Oh, hey, speaking of Tiguan and Polo, VW already announced it’ll use the name Polo for its ID.2-sized subcompact, and there’s maybe a name change coming, according to CarExpert:
It’s expected the ID. Tiguan will follow suit with a redesigned cabin where the much maligned capacitive buttons and sliders will be binned. Like the ID. Polo, the ID. Tiguan should also feature the company’s latest touchscreen infotainment system with faster response times and an improved interface.
Under the skin, the rechristened ID. Tiguan will use a heavily updated version of the MEB architecture. Cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology is likely to be adopted for some variants, with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion batteries to continue in longer-range versions.
So ID.4 becomes the ID.Tiguan. It’s not clear if this will happen in the United States, but it makes sense. [Ed Note: ID.Tiguan is not a great name. Just call it Tiguan EV and be done with it. -DT].
Renault’s Five-Year Plan Is Working
Renault is the most interesting European automaker right now, and while my focus has been on the clever EVs they’re building, the long-term plan from the company was to shift from dependence on China and Europe towards emerging markets.
This plan goes back a few years to after the pandemic, and according to S&P Global, it’s working:
Among the expected outcomes of this plan is the launch of eight new products by 2027. Several have already been launched and have contributed to the sales uplift in 2025. A key product has been the Renault Kardian, a compact crossover that is based on the automaker’s long-standing CMF-B architecture. Renault highlighted the model’s contribution to the growth it saw in Latin America and a 44.8% y/y uplift in Morocco.
Another product contributing to this improvement is the Renault Grand Koleos. Built in South Korea and born out of the relationship between the French automaker and China’s Geely—from which this model sources the GEA—the midsize crossover helped boost Renault’s sales in South Korea by 55.9% y/y in 2025.
Overall, this has meant that sales in Renault’s international market represented a 30.5% share of its worldwide sales, up from 28.6% in 2024.
The whole world wants cars, but the whole world isn’t going to be buying electric cars yet. Being able to build cars for the EU market and emerging markets isn’t a giant business, but it ain’t a small one, either.
Goodwood Is Getting The Le Mans 1-2-3 Ford GTs
I don’t know if I’m going to Goodwood this year, but there’s at least one more reason why I’d consider it: The 1-2-3 finishing Le Mans Ford GTs from the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans will be there.
For the first time in a decade, the three Ford GT Mk IIs driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, Ken Miles and Denny Hulme, and Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson will not only appear together, but also run.
These legendary cars – chassis P/1046, P/1015, and P/1016 – will take to the Goodwood Hill during the Festival of Speed as the event celebrates some of motorsport’s greatest showdowns with the theme ‘The Rivals – Epic Racing Duels’. Entirely apt, as 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the intense battle between the combined forces of Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby’s Shelby American, and Ferrari.
In September, the trio will reunite once more at Goodwood Revival, where they will run on the historic Motor Circuit, offering fans a rare chance to witness these icons in action.
Sweet.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I just learned that the opening orchestral sound from Portishead’s “Mysterons” is from a British TV show called Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. There is just so much incredible and weird puppet-based TV from the ’60s I never knew existed (I learned this from Bandsplain, FYI).
The Big Question
Who was the last person to fix one of your cars?
Top photo: Ford
I do a lot of work myself but I leave things like AC to others. The last person to work on my car was an independent shop that recharged the A/C system on my van last fall. (It quit just before a trip to the desert.) I also had a new serpentine belt that I hadn’t got around to changing and I said, “hey, why don’t you throw on that belt while you are at it”. Big mistake. Shop rates at that shop are now $180 per hour so that belt change cost me $45!
Local dealer charges $225 per hour.
I do almost all of my own repairs. Pretty much anything as long as it doesn’t require a lift. So tires, alignment, exhaust work go’s out to a local mechanic shop.
Where I am the population is spread out in multiple small towns, so there’s a lot of small repair shops. Dealers are around too, and some are absolutely horrible about gouging. That said, our Ford dealer, while not cheap, gives the best service I’ve ever had for repairs. Being a Ford only household now (don’t ask), it gives confidence that it at least gets down right.
I found great independent shops for the Saab, Audi & BMW, but they were easily the same costs as a dealer (if there was one around here). A good shop is worth it for the hope it’s done right.
Who wrenched on our vehicles last? It wasn’t me, I physically can’t do it anymore (too many broken bones), so a dealer takes care of us.
Oh and glad to see Renault’s plan is working, wish I could buy one.
> I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do with my Honda as it ages out of its warranty.
Change the oil, tires, and filters, and drive.
Title: “… Make More Money From Service Than You’d Probably Guess..”
Article: “… You won’t be surprised to hear that …”
So. Which is it? Do you think I’ll be surprised, or not?
Yes.
So I just read that first brands is winding down auto-lite, cardone and brake parts inc (including raybestos and centric).
Serviced the 2024 Rav4 Plugin hybrid at the dealer for recalls and other covered services. Since I can work from anywhere with on my computer, I just spent the day in the showroom area which is far nicer than the service waiting area. On my Prius I was the most recent servicer and will be the next one as well, as it just needs oil changes.
I find the “trustworthy local shop” more of a myth than a reality, it seems shops go in and out of business regularly, or techs leave, etc. At least with a dealer you likely have someone who is thinking longer term, so like the mysterious crack in our windshield when we had the wipers replaced, was fixed without much of a fuss.
I do my on DIY 90% of the time, but once in a while I need a mechanic for stuff I just don’t have the time to do.
I don’t mind paying the labor rates that are supposed to include the shop’s profit and overhead. I don’t even mind paying “book time” for stuff that takes 20 minutes I hate the 45% markup on parts prices, which I’ve confirmed by calling the NAPA they use. That’s just a ridiculous profit padding. All the shops here do it. Of course I can’t buy the same part at NAPA, they have to buy them, because “we need to know it’s the right one”.
There is no such thing as an honest trustworthy mechanic.
Individual mechanics? Sure. But as a business? No.
There’s a shop near me that will install whatever parts you bring. They’re great, you just get charged the book rate times they’re posted hourly. They’re happy to get the parts too and I’m sure they charge some markup, but it’s not a lot.
Markup really comes into play if you’re the one who has to stock and keep track of the stuff, since it entails several costs: the stuff itself sitting around, the space to put it, someone to organize it, and sometimes equipment to move it around that has to be maintained. But if someone is just getting the parts delivered as needed I agree anything more than a few percent is gouging.
Well, as the proud owner of a 2006 Silverado whose evap system appears to have parts that don’t appear on anybody’s list (but are clearly OEM), I’m just happy to get the problem fixed. So, me, I’m the problem.
I mean why don’t the autopian tshirts feature a check engine light?
That’s good go hear. Sounds like I need to redouble my efforts to find somewhere else!
I use them so infrequently, mostly doing DIY, that I forget the pain and tend to ignore it.
I just stopped in over there last week. Had some front-end noises. Took a test drive with me and put the car up on the lift and then sent me on my way “probably is the CV joints but the boots are intact and it will get way noisier before it’s a real problem”. So nice to feel like they are really concerned with doing what’s necessary not just what is possible.
I perform most of my own repair/maintenance work on cars with a few exceptions. I have an alignment guy, and a tire shop for mounting and balancing tires. There are few local indy shops that we use from time to time for diagnostic work on my vehicles, and some maintenance on my wife’s car, for the most part the only time I pay for someone to turn a wrench is an alignment or mounting and balancing new tires, OH and coolant/transmission fluid services for my wife’s car.
I have two Volvos (an XC90 T8 and a V60 T6) and I always take them to the local Volvo dealer. They’re also the regional McLaren dealer and they share a service department. I heard a rumor that the McLaren techs are some of the best compensated in the industry. I don’t know if that’s true, but the service there has always been phenomenal.
That’s always been the way all the money is in service. Some manufacturers will basically give dealer a car after they sell so many and they can profit from that too. But really it’s service and parts along with up sales.
I mainly do my own work unless it’s under warranty or I really just don’t want to or can’t for some reasons. I have a local tire shop I get to do things sometimes and alignment. The last service department I was in was Subaru for warranty work and they fixed nothing but tried to gaslight me to death. Tons of olders in there getting ripped off. The Nissan dealer I got my leaf from was funny they basically said the next time I see them is if I buy something else. They did say we can sell you tires and fix it but we really don’t see our leaf customers except for buying or if there is some kind of recall.
My buddy took his Land Cruiser to the Toyota dealer with an issue. After the dealer could not figure out what was wrong he called me, a Land Cruiser enthusiast. After 5 minutes on the Land Cruiser forums I had diagnosed the problem and discovered an easy remedy. My friend took this info to the dealer. He was met with “We use technical service manuals not forums to service vehicles” and they wanted to charge him $350 for “diagnostics”. He took the truck to a local mechanic who looked at the info from the forums. In 2 days the truck was up and running and it cost less than the $350 the dealer wanted to “diagnose” the problem.
There are two Jeep dealers local to me, and neither is getting any more of my business now that they’ve both lied to me:
I had this year’s oil change, and the coolant flush it was also due for, done at a local quick-serve place that did everything I asked for, while I waited, and no more. The only problem was the cold in their service bay.
I bought my first and last new car in 1999. That car was the one and only that was ever repaired at a dealership, and only because I exploded a transmission with less than 20,000 miles and it was repaired under warranty. I would never even think about paying dealers fees for
I think it’s funny when someone tells me they bought their car where they did because they get “free” inspections for life.I replaced the front brakes,rotors,and calipers on my Mazda 6 after the local Mazda dealer quoted me $783.45 to replace brakes and rotors only.
“Who was the last person to fix one of your cars?”
A relatively new repair shop that advertises they work on EVs and Hybrids near my work. And they were fine. Will go back to them again if I need to.
Decided to give them a try after the last time I went to the local Crappy Tire near my work, I got a call from the service advisor saying the mechanic said “We don’t work on Electric cars”
My car is a Ford C-Max… and I was taking it in to get the two outer front tie rods replaced.
And doing that job is more or less identical to the Ford Escape… which it shares parts with.
I told the service adviser that if they don’t start work on EVs, they will be out of business in a few years… or at least the auto-service portion of Crappy Tire will be.
And here I thought automakers were doing their part to help keep dealer service bays full via planned obsolescence and endless recalls of almost new models thanks to complex systems with more points of failure and lower quality more difficult to service parts. Why else would an automaker like Stellantis place a Jeep’s OEM 12v battery under the passenger seat or Hyundai keep selling a lineup of EVs with the same defect that can cause the vehicles to brick themselves at anytime without warning?
When we bought our 2024 Trax LS in 2024, they included the WarrantyForever lifetime powertrain warranty in the MSRP.
It strongly suggests that I have all the service performed at the stealership where we bought it. I can go to a different shop, (can’t do oil changes at home, though) but I have to notify them beforehand.
This way they get more service income.
The last person to fix? That would be me. I am an ASE Master certified tech (plus L1, L3 and L4 Advanced certifications) and a Subaru master tech.
Fix, as in repair versus maintenance?
Strangely enough, the dealer did the job, despite being well out of warranty.
But there was no way I was dropping a leaky fuel tank in freezing January in the driveway. Since the dealer was the only source for the part, less painful to have them get a new proper OEM tank for the Mazda and have the lift to do the job with less suffering.
It was a pricey job, but sometimes it is worth it.
Sometimes it’s cheaper to pay someone else.
Amen to that.
Uncanny Valley and Emo.
Assuming you don’t mean checking fluids or adding air to the tires, the last person to fix my car was my independent mechanic where I live.
My father went to them, and when I first went there after moving here and my warranty running out, they remembered him after 20 years since he stopped driving.
They’re extremely honest: I’ll ask them if I need x or y and they’ll say no. They’re excellent.
New car dealers should start paying the techs more than the salesmen. It’s never made any sense that a guy who sits at a desk all day makes twice what a guy who is on his feet all day working hard makes. It’s a broken model.
I agree techs deserve more, and recently wages have been increasing around here. But salesmen only make more because they get paid on commission. You really want a service tech to get paid on commission? That would absolutely piss off the honest ones. I wouldn’t compare tech comp structure to sales comp.
He didn’t say pay them on commission. He didn’t compare tech comp structure to sales comp structure. You did. They just need to be paid more. I feel like I found a car salesman in the comments…
Last person to fix my car? Me. In fact, the only things I’ve ever taken it to a shop for were the initial government-required safety inspection and undercoating! Hopefully that can remain the case indefinitely! I definitely won’t be taking it to a Suzuki or Geo dealership, though
Last person to fix one of our cars? Up until now it’s been me, just dropped off the truck on my lunch break to have a water pump replaced. Not doing that in this cold weather