Astronomical Price Increases. Independent Workshops Will Fight for Survival.
The results of a study published during the Automechanika fair in Frankfurt shed light on the future of the vehicle repair market in Europe. Although it sounds like a topic for experts, it actually concerns each of us – because practically everyone has had to take their car to a workshop at some point. And now imagine that such a visit will be much more expensive.
Car Repairs Increasingly Expensive
Let’s put ourselves in a typical situation – something in the car breaks down. For most of us, repair usually means a few days without a car and a specific, though manageable, expense. Unfortunately, the situation may worsen. According to a study prepared by Alix Partners and Berylls together with Brussels organizations CLEPA and FIGIEFA, repair prices may rise sharply, all due to the possible dominance of authorized services and increasing barriers faced by independent workshops.
Why? Modern cars are increasingly more “digital” than “hardware”. In addition, there are new regulations that are supposed to improve safety, but at the same time limit independent workshops’ access to key data, technical information, and spare parts. The effect for the driver? Greater dependence on authorized services, which are not always affordable.
The Future of Independent Workshops
The study analyzed the situation in the repair market up to 2035 in seven countries (Germany, France, UK, Poland, Italy, Norway). Two potential scenarios were shown. In the first, car manufacturers become even more dominant, leading to a drastic increase in prices. In this case, by 2035, repair costs could reach an astronomical 197.9 billion euros. That’s 35 billion more than in the baseline scenario, which will certainly affect drivers’ wallets.
The second scenario is a more optimistic vision, where the market remains balanced, and access to parts and technical data is equal for both authorized services and independent workshops. In this case, repair costs may even fall to 159.8 billion euros, which in turn will accelerate the development of electric cars and favor ecology and sustainable transport.
Parts Only for the Chosen Ones?
One of the most important challenges for independent workshops is access to spare parts. More and more components are available only from car manufacturers, and their installation requires specialized software, which further increases repair costs. New cybersecurity regulations introduced in July 2024 will likely make this situation even more difficult. On the other hand, access to technical information, which theoretically should be guaranteed by law, is often limited or provided in complicated formats, which delays repairs and generates unnecessary costs. In the case of software updates, independent workshops often have to use outdated tools instead of modern solutions.
“For consumers to continue to have the freedom to choose where they want to service their cars, solid regulations are needed that take into account cybersecurity, access to technical data, and spare parts,” says Frank Schlehuber, Senior Market Consultant at CLEPA. This sounds quite technical, but it’s about simple things: we have the right to choose where we repair our cars, and service prices shouldn’t surprise us.
Car manufacturers are gaining an increasing advantage, thanks to laws protecting their interests. However, this puts consumers in a difficult situation. Therefore, it is necessary for lawmakers to react and create a legal framework that will ensure equal access to spare parts and technical data, regardless of whether we use an authorized service or an independent workshop.
Key in this context is the extension and revision of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation (MVBER), which after 2028 should guarantee the availability of spare parts for independent services. Changes in type-approval regulations are also important, which must take into account new threats related to cybersecurity and access to repair and service data.
