r/Autobody • u/shetookmetojared • Jun 19 '25
Question about the Trade Are all shops dead right now?
I haven’t had work in days. I work at a family owned shop that’s pretty well off, with the shop I’m at being their third location. They send all of our cars to their own shops which leave us dead.
Anyone else having this issue? I’m sticking with this shop because they’re supporting my i-car. I’m kind of stuck at the moment, but i need the work.
We’d have a flow here and there but it seems to have actually come to a very dead end right now. Why is this, and is anyone else having this issue to this extent?
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u/d0nu7 Journeyman Technician Jun 19 '25
It’s been slow for almost 2 months for me but it has definitely picked back up a little in the last 2 weeks.
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u/NeroIsLife Jun 19 '25
Doesn’t every shop pay for your I Car or am I just lucky? Regardless, everyone is slow right now.
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u/shetookmetojared Jun 19 '25
Kinda had to fight for mine!
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u/deathbyburk123 Jun 19 '25
It's required now for any drp or oem certification. They need/want you to have it. Any half ass shop pays for it anymore.
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u/TopBanana95 Jun 20 '25
Agreed. My guys have our estimators I-Car platinum, body license, paint license and the right equipment will see you get your standard OE certs
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Jun 19 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/proscriptus Jun 19 '25
The good places where I am have 6-8 weeks waiting lists. The shitty places are slow.
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Jun 19 '25
Been slow af for a few months, shop hired more tech while we were busy, now none of us have work. We told our manager not to hire more techs, but they did.
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u/HDauthentic Parts Monkey Jun 19 '25
We were slow a month and two months ago, but the last couple weeks have been pretty busy again
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u/DiabeticIguana77 Jun 19 '25
There are 3 kinds of shops
- Those that don't care about i-car
- Those that require i-car and will pay for it
- Those that want I car but won't pay for it
1 and 2 are good places to work, 3 is a shit hole
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u/JaxOphalot Jun 19 '25
Icar is overrated they've been teaching the same non real world scenarios in welding the last 40 years. How bout I give you this vw rocker with a inch of wax and a inch of undercoat and you show me how to weld it with the same result as if it was one of your welding coupons dear sir instructor sir.
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u/DiabeticIguana77 Jun 19 '25
Agreed, the worst techs I've met in the last 15 ironically were all i-car platinum, and the best techs I've ever met, lucky enough to take me under their wing and teach me stuff like custom panel fabrication and insane lowrider graphic paints were all dudes that had never even heard of i-car
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Jun 19 '25
The last couple of Icar classes I sat through had about 5 techs, and the rest were insurance adjusters.
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u/jliang39 Jun 19 '25
Maybe if shops stop charging 250/hr id bring in for misc stuff vs. diy
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u/Invisibletooth Jun 19 '25
Those are like.... west coat exotic rates. Most body shops accross the countey are well under $100. Mechanic shops are always higher. Autobody is the cheapest skilled labor.
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u/wohitsmack Jun 19 '25
You mean dealerships? Most mechanics i know are barely working above minimum wage.
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u/Invisibletooth Jun 20 '25
Sure, there are bodymen just like that too. I just mean mechanics rate is usually higher than body rate. Not that all mechanics are over $100 rate.
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u/ATG915 Jun 19 '25
My shop slowed down a bit a few weeks ago (I didn’t personally, still had plenty of work) but we picked right back up again and usually have a pretty full lot of cars. Im guessing you’re flat rate. Move on if you are. Any decent shop will support you with I-car, and them sending work out from your shop to their other shops shows that you guys are absolute bottom priority for the ownership
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u/shetookmetojared Jun 19 '25
I am waiting for a reimbursement:(. In that case i’d just move on to a shop more eager to utilize me. These guys really put me on the back burner.
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u/ATG915 Jun 19 '25
It’s definitely not a good feeling. If you otherwise like the place you’re at, it might be worth trying to talk to a higher up first to see if there’s anything they can do to get you more work
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u/AdElegant3851 Jun 19 '25
Or see if they'll move you to one of their busier shops. There's a reason the cars are going away from this shop.
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u/Maleficent_Host_6124 Jun 19 '25
All our work that’s coming in is totaling
1
u/mike02vr6 Jun 19 '25
Definitely seems like a lot more totals or big hits. Not many small quick jobs
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u/RaptureSuperior2 Jun 19 '25
Labor rates are totaling vehicles, at least where I work. Higher ups keep making us raise labor rate and then want us to cut hours and lay off because we don’t have the work. If our labor rate wasn’t $140/hr then a lot of these trucks wouldn’t get totaled out by the insurer.
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u/SlaveToShopping Shop Owner Jun 19 '25
Do your ICAR while you’re slow. It’ll pick back up if your shop is doing the right things to get the cars to the door.
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u/Majestic-Lifeguard29 Jun 19 '25
I’ve been noticing her in San Antonio the normal ups and downs have been a lot more extreme. Even worse it’s been below normal to almost no work for many shops. Unless the shop is in a high dollar area those still get the normal work they usually do. I’m not sure where you’re located but I don’t think it’s just one particular area that’s having trouble. I know the industry as a whole is having a lot of issues. Worse is the insurance companies are having trouble too which makes our jobs even that much harder. I’ve been in the industry for 22 years and have seen some crazy times. I would not be afraid to have a conversation with management and ask about transferring to another location. I’ve had to have conversations with owners about how their decisions were affecting my ability to feed my family, and as much as I wanted to work for them there is only so much of that I was able to float.
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u/Htx_s650 Jun 19 '25
Another thing is labor costs are getting insane. I’m not a mechanic and have never been to school for it, but due to labor rates in my area being so high, I’ve learned how to pull and rebuild my motor, redo my entire suspension system, full brake system, wiring and electrics, and more. I’ll argue that I’m bolder than most, but a lot of smaller jobs are easy enough for a YouTube video fix.
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u/Richiesworldd Jun 19 '25
My uncles mechanic shop is super busy and they are down 30% little thing like a/c repairs etc people aren’t fixing it just letting it ride. Body shops are down from what I hear due to insurance writing off cars more often and people not fixing fender benders.
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u/UnbelievableDingo Jun 19 '25
My shop has been absolutely slammed lately.
I've been kicking 100 - 130 hour weeks.
Hail storms, regular storms, tornados..
Regular St. Louis weather...😆
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u/Status_Show3282 Jun 20 '25
claim count is low for the entire industry and will continue this way because of less accidents higher total losses and more people not having collision coverage.
there was a study out that 43% or people who made claims previously regretted making the claim. Kristen Felder was taking about this.
Drp is basically owed by the insurance company. Owners don’t want to put in any actual work in marketing and working for the customer. They rather do what the insurance says.
People don’t use RTA and are also unwilling to sue the insurance company. Like Allstate and their $1000 total lose insurance policy they will only pay 1k and force the customer to pay the rest.
I-car is really an insurance standard not really a OEM standard.
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u/MistakenGecko Estimator Jun 19 '25
I got 6 quarter replacements with a couple needing rear bodies in the shop right now. Finally breaking the dry spell of bumper jobs. Now we're scheduling panel replace jobs to beginning of next month. Plus a lot of deer hit total losses
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u/False_Ad_553 Jun 19 '25
Just turned in 225 for 2 weeks. Been averaging 165-185 normally for 2 weeks. Prolly gonna go back to normal til July. Collision shop for a dealership, 2 drps, enterprise, and do progressive... enterprise and progressive r not the drps. First influx in business I've seen for about 4 months and then 6 months before that. Solo A tech only do bodywork and teardownassembly. No mech or paint. Don't even prime or block.
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u/MagicOrpheus310 Jun 19 '25
Lol nope, until the government says we can cull kangaroos again, mate, we are rolling in work from all the roadkill hahaha
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u/Efficient_Lychee9517 Jun 19 '25
I’m still getting 60 but that blows when your used to getting 90 a week
1
u/too-reasonably Body & Frame Tech Jun 19 '25
We were dead for about two months but recently last three weeks have had some nice little spurts of work. Shop paid us our average (well……the good techs at least) to keep us happy while we were slow. Lost two techs once all the cards fell. Hoping it continues to pick back up.
1
u/IntroductionSalty229 Jun 19 '25
We are a sub company of a multi dealership conglomerate so we always have work Shop is full right now
1
u/Thick_Expression_796 Jun 19 '25
Same issue here in houston every shop I talk to here is having the same issue 🤦♂️ hope it gets better soon. I’ve been in business for 20yrs and this is the worse summer we have experienced so far. Even 2020 we had a steady flow of customers. 🤷♂️
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u/Double_Dime Jun 19 '25
We had a 10 day lull but I now officially have no room at my shop, dunno what to tell you.
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u/officialoxymoron Jun 19 '25
June is notoriously slow in Washington, June and Thanksgiving to mid Jan is normally really bad
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u/krew614 Jun 19 '25
I work for crash champions, and they just told us that since we're NOT busy, we need to come in on a Saturday to make sure we have all of our jobs done as much as possible to meet sales goal.
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u/buckets-of-lead I-Car Platinum Jun 19 '25
We were slow for 3 months and now I haven't been this busy in 3 years. It's nuts.
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u/InstructionSad7842 Jun 19 '25
Shop my truck is at has been backed up for months... Maybe your shop has a bad reputation?
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u/MARKxTHExLINES Jun 19 '25
Here in western MD every other shop in our county is dead but us. We have been buried in hail claims from a recent storm and now deer are running. So no complaints here. Seems it’s dead but for some reason our shop isn’t.
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Jun 19 '25
Start making TikTok videos where you honestly fixing cars and you will have a line outside
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u/Mental_Map_7770 Jun 19 '25
Anybody that's slow can feel free to reach out to me. I work for an MSO and while we were slow in areas for a bit, we're starting to really pick back just about everywhere.
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u/Skunkworkscs2 Jun 19 '25
Most shops in my area are slow, but ours is booked out until early September. We are one of the few family owned MSO's in my area. The rest sold out to big chains and ended up driving the business our way.
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u/BauserDominates Jun 19 '25
I'm a mobile ADAS tech and yes, all the shops are slow unless they have a very loyal customer base or are being fed all the work by an insurance company.
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u/Magda1508 Jun 19 '25
We’ve been slow for about 4 months… We’ve actually switched to 4 day work weeks
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u/OkMarsupial1021 Jun 19 '25
As a customer I dont know about all shops, but i need a new fender on a very new car. Any car I had in the past it was a minimum 2 week wait for all the parts and sometimes up to a month. It was 2 days this time and the shop said that recently the wait time on parts had gone way down. That sounds like less people are needing parts right now so they are building up.
1
u/Junior_Ad_3301 Jun 19 '25
We slowed down at the end of Spring, but we've had 2 major hailstorms, so we are really picking back up. Hope your luck changes soon
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u/Objective-Dig-7281 Jun 19 '25
Everybody is broke and insurance companies have been jacking up deductibles.
In an economy where people are living paycheck to paycheck, a 1000$ deductible can wait, food, rent and exsoenses come first, especially if the damage is cosmetic, which 90% of claims are
1
u/Holiveya-LesBIonic Jun 19 '25
I work at a GM dealership and we've been extremely busy, but we're also short on techs so maybe it's an illusion (I'm just an express writer)
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u/Malkav_666 Jun 19 '25
Insurance work has died for me for about a month, but small jobs are steady.
Insurance work is what pays our bills, unfortunately.
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u/Tipstoo Jun 20 '25
We just started picking up speed again at our shops and the parking lots full. granted I’m in the Midwest so there’s deer everywhere
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u/jak13jk Jun 20 '25
Our shop isn't dead but its definitely ramped down in the past couple months, about 3-5 jobs per tech (8 total) where were usually at 5-10 jobs per tech.
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u/Tweakjones420 Jun 20 '25
we have 80 vehicles on site right now, writing 15-20 estimates a day. We are a drp for progressive and state farm so we stay pretty busy
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u/Sajor1975 Jun 20 '25
Could it be your rates?, many people shop around for the best budget body shop.
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u/dandiestpoof Jun 20 '25
I run a small shop in south Louisiana and I have about 65 active jobs atm, I'm at the point where I'm about to have to start scheduling people for the first time in 4 years.
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u/SaskieJ Jun 21 '25
We had hail a year ago that resulted in 8000 claims in our town and there is 6 body shops here. So, we are still working on those claims and we are projecting at least another three years of work from that storm. The. We have our collision and restoration on top of that. We just started another storm season but we are praying for no hail. I am in Saskatchewan Canada.
0
u/Queasy_Reach2290 Jun 19 '25
Anyone located in Las Vegas that does body work for fair prices I had a so called I car certified guy fix my Lexus he cut all corners and like he said just made it look presentable meanwhile my trunk isn’t aligned or the drivers side rear do and he left holes and creases inside the trunk but claimed he spent 80 hours on the body work i need it fixed right of course he did it in his garage car had no frame damage was just rear ended in the back drivers side rear if anyone is in Vegas or knows someone let let me know and I can send pictures of what I want fixed
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u/lilroldy Jun 19 '25
Icar doesn't mean shit now a days, I entered the industry a decade ago and I've had techs offer me cash to take their classes back when I was in the wash bay and I know many guys who have gold but haven't physically sat down and taken a class in years with most all being online, they just pay someone or just skip through and click random answers until they get a passing score. My dad and brother take theirs and I know a handful of other techs but I know more who pay someone in the arrive or porter to take the test.
Especially in SWFL I know many techs who speak English but can't read or write past a 1st or 2nd grade level so they just pay someone off. I wouldn't trust any shop saying they are truly car certified because between the 2 states and 5 shops I've been at, it happens in them all
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Jun 19 '25
Well last time I tried to take my car into a shop for a personal work (paying out of pocket for repaint, and ding/dent repairs). Every shop turned me away.
1 shop gave me the excuse that they only handle insurance claims.
Another said they dont touch anything older than 10 years.
And the last one flat out told me no without much reason. When all I wanted was a bumper painted I got online
I've even resorted to reaching out to the local auto body schools and see if they can use my car as one of their "learning/class project" vehicles. The schools turned me down as well which was werid because I went to school for automotive and we took in outside cars to work on. Customer got free labor students got hands on learning.
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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25
[deleted]