This recent article mentions the flip side economic results of what we love/hate about our Primes and EVs in general - (love) less maintenance costs and (hate) dealers just not prepared to sell Primes. Specifically the article states: "auto dealers and mechanics would lose business from vehicle maintenance and repairs that are more common in gasoline-powered cars. The report also found that auto dealers may have to pay more for advertising and training of staff to market electric cars (though it also found that consumers will save money on gas and maintenance as a result of buying more electric or plug-in hybrid cars)." Tim Walz wants Minnesota to have more electric cars. Do consumers really lack buying options? | MinnPost
As the car industry changes, then the dealerships have to change. There's a whole new industry response being created by technological changes and those who do not adapt will lose out. The only constant in any business is change. Will this take time? Yes, but it is inevitable.
Agree wholeheartedly. With the adoption of the motor car, all the horse and carriage support structure had to adapt or reinvent.
I have to wonder though... With a 'normal' car, the dealer's service department has a lot of competition. Many mechanics are scared of a hybrid, so the dealer has less competition. Are they really losing customers, or just losing competition?
As the industry changes to hybrid or electric vehicles, dealerships will adjust. The competition will increase, the mechanic/technician will become more common and over time the "mechanic only" dealership will lose out. Plus there are other emerging technologies that are just starting to be marketed such as hydrogen fuel cells. All of which will end up being changes the industry will have to go along with.
Bingo. Over the past two decades, we've seen an aftermarket develop just for Prius batteries. The market will adjust as its always had with new technology. However, one of the big things I'm not sure mechanics are ready for are the increased understanding of software. I can see future mechanic technical courses starting to look more like computer science ones as the need to troubleshoot and debug computer software in current (and future) cars grow.
Good point about the software. Perhaps one future maintenance solution is over the air software fixes ala Tesla.
Cars already have a lot of code running them. Computers have been running engines, transmissions, and brakes for decades now. There is a right to fix movement out there that wants to keep companies from locking out people from repairing their own stuff through non-company sources. I think it started with farm equipment using coding that only dealers could access.
The market will adjust, but repair skills will both become more specialized and become obsolete sooner. We are already seeing a kind of "Future Shock" in the shops with the loss/obsolescence of expertise and increase in costs for diagnostics and repair of specialized systems. I believe that is what is driving much of the DIY that you see here at PC. At some point though, the customers will have to consider the increased cost of maintenance when they buy new cars. The "cost of ownership" is already becoming significantly greater than the sticker price (almost double, if not greater, if you are buying a used hybrid or EV). Social media and DIY can only do so much.
