Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
Welcome to Automotive Repair News today. I'm Braxton Kritcher, the National Automotive Service Task Force, or NASTIF, the equipment and tool Institute, ETI and law enforcement are working towards security measures for scan tools. Why? Because thieves are breaking into repair shops, stealing aftermarket scan tools to make new keys for vehicles they plan to steal. Currently, aftermarket scan tool developers have no way to validate users. Because of this, more cars are being stolen at a rate higher than any time over the last 14 years. The program that Nasdaq is working on will require service professionals to be credentialed and verify they are a known entity, not a thief. Executive director of Nasdaf Donnie Safer on what this ultimately means for tool manufacturers.

Donny Seyfer [00:00:56]:
And shop owners law enforcement has got some real struggles trying to identify high tech theft and this by doing it this way. The tool makers who are already participating and who already receive subpoenas when cars get stolen or tools show up in the hands of car thieves. This gives them a legitimate way to show their customers are legit. It allows those customers, the repair professionals, to show that they're legit and take them completely out of the equation so that law enforcement is really chasing the bad guys and not trying to differentiate from the good guys.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:30]:
Donnie also shared that their goal is to launch this new security measure by June of this year. Shopware has been acquired by Velo. Shopware, a cloud based shop management platform, provides a customer communication interface, access to digital media, live chats, online approvals and payments. It allows shops to streamline a host of technologies to better serve their customer. Shopware CEO Carolyn Coqualette will continue to manage the platform she created in 2013 as part of the leadership team at Velo. Coqualette stated in a press release that the alliance will allow Shopware to complete its long overdue digital transformation. Toyota has issued a recall on nearly 400,000 of its Tacoma trucks due to a potential rear axle shaft defect. In some cases, the defect has caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:29]:
Signs of the defect are vibration, abnormal noise or gear oil leakage in the axle's housing. The models affected are 2022 and 2023. Toyota Tacomas parts Tech just completed its state of general auto repair shops in the United States survey. The survey covered 618 shops in the US. Grabbing a pulse of the repair shop industry some of the highlights from the survey include that the auto repair industry is expected to double in value over the next ten years, from 116,000,000,000 to 215,000,000,000, the average age of a vehicle on the road. Frequenting in a repair shop now is at twelve and a half years. The average annual gross revenue per bay in a shop is just over $200,000 and shops who hire a second service advisor saw revenue increase by $35,000 per bay. Jake Benson, director of strategic accounts at parts Tech, gave his biggest takeaways consistently.

Jake Benson [00:03:32]:
Shop owners are not charging enough for parts. About two thirds, actually a little more than two thirds of the respondents fell somewhere between 30% gross profit and 49% gross profit. You need to be 55 and really up towards more like 60% of that optimal gross profit. That tells us there's a lot of folks out there leaving money on the table.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:54]:
You can read the full report by clicking on the link in the podcast Description the 32nd annual Vision High Tech training and Expo held in Kansas City, Missouri, the final day of February. In the first few days of March set an attendance record. This year, a total of 3810 automotive service professionals from 47 states and seven countries, including over 316 service facilities attending for the first time, and a record breaking 1321 1st time attendees. Vision 2025 will be March 6 through nine of next year. Late last year, the motor scholarship for diverse technicians, a collaboration between Motor and the tech Force foundation, was awarded to Armando campus Zavala and Karina Galvin. Both students are currently engaged in furthering their education with the goal of becoming skilled professional technicians. I'm Braxton Kritcher and thanks for listening to automotive repair news today. To submit a news story for consideration on this podcast, email braxton@automotiverepairnews.com that's braxton@automotiverepairnews.com to help grow the podcast, please like, comment and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform and give us a follow on social media.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:16]:
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