By NEIL WHITE, The State
Tony Nguyen doesn’t need a business analyst to tell him why major
automakers are considering cutbacks in the face of sluggish sales.
He sees it every day in his Seven Oaks Auto Repair on Piney Grove Road.
Nguyen used to have customers facing expensive repairs tell him they were going to buy a new car instead.
“But in today’s world, people are fixing their cars instead of buying them,” he said.
General
Motors is preparing to cut thousands of jobs and possibly unload one or
more of its brands, according to published reports Monday. Ford has
already taken similar measures.
In an economic downturn, the decision to repair a car as opposed to getting a new one has customers shifting gears.
“It’s
cheaper to fix a car than to buy a new car,” said Tanya Blankenship,
who has run Danny’s Automotive in Northeast Richland with her husband,
Danny, since 1999. “We’ve seen a lot more transmission repairs. We’ve
done more head gaskets this year than in a long time. In the past,
people wouldn’t fix that kind of stuff.”
Nguyen estimates an
average transmission overhaul would cost anywhere from $1,800 to
$2,800. But even a used model, such as a 2006 Ford Taurus on cars.com
at $16,000, would cost $400 a month over four years.
Faron
Waguespack of Columbia, a regular customer of Seven Oaks Auto Repair,
had his teenage son’s 1994 Dodge Ram pickup in the shop this week for
cable accelerator work. In addition to the pickup with 190,000 miles,
his family also has a 2003 Ford Expedition with 60,000 miles and a 1983
Datsun 280-ZX with 100,000 miles.
“Without a doubt, I can
maintain and fix my cars easier and quicker and cheaper than I can
paying a car note and high property taxes,” he said. “I’m all about
maintenance.”
Nguyen believes his business benefited from the
economic-stimulus package that had tax rebates coming to people in the
past couple of months.
“Rather than spend that on a $20,000 to $30,000 new vehicle, they took that $1,000 and spent it on repairs,” he said.
Danny’s
Automotive has a pair of regular customers who do what they can to keep
their cars running, even when the required repairs start to add up.
Raymond
Foster drives a 1998 Ford Explorer with more than 174,000 miles. He
recently had exhaust manifold and suspension work done on it because he
likes the idea of keeping it.
“Twice in the last four years, I’ve
put $1,400 to $1,600 in it at one time. But that’s still more
cost-effective than going out to get a new vehicle,” said Foster, who
added it’s also important to have a mechanic you can trust who knows
the car. “Four or five months of payments is better than six or seven
years of payments with interest.”
Mike Metzger of Columbia has
four cars, including a 1999 Chevy Suburban with 120,000 miles and a
2000 Cadillac Escalade with 225,000 miles. Because he has regular
maintenance done on them, he has no problems sending his daughter off
to college in a vehicle with that many miles.
“You’re looking at
$25,000-$30,000 for a decent size car,” Metzger said, “and you can
repair them for a long time for that kind of money.”
From www.thestate.com