Key Takeaways
- According to IMR Inc. 2025, parts and labor issues remain the top reported challenges for repair shops in 2026, based on open-end responses from 500 shops surveyed in December 2025.
- J.P. Morgan Global Research forecasts a 35% probability of a U.S. recession in 2026 with sticky inflation expected to persist, a combination that historically causes consumers to delay non-emergency vehicle repairs.
- Shops that clearly communicate parts timelines and pricing upfront are better positioned to retain cautious customers during periods of economic uncertainty, according to consumer transparency research in the auto repair sector.
A December 2025 survey of 500 independent and chain repair shops found that parts sourcing and labor availability are still the two problems shop owners name first when asked what keeps them up at night. According to IMR Inc. 2025, those two categories dominated open-end responses, but economic uncertainty showed up as a rising third factor that operators are only beginning to put language around.
What exactly does the survey say about parts and labor?
According to IMR Inc. 2025, the open-end responses from 500 repair shops collected in December 2025 show parts and labor issues as the clear top concerns heading into 2026. The survey used open-end methodology, meaning shop owners described their challenges in their own words rather than selecting from a preset list. That matters because it filters out survey bias and reflects what operators are actually thinking about, not what researchers expected them to say.
Parts challenges break into two familiar categories: availability and cost. Shops are still navigating inconsistent supply from certain manufacturers, longer lead times on specific components, and input costs that have not settled back to pre-2021 levels. On the labor side, the technician shortage remains a structural problem. As covered previously in reporting on the auto mechanic shortage and its shop-level impact, the pipeline of qualified technicians entering the trade has not kept pace with retirements and growing vehicle complexity.
Together, those two pressures create a familiar squeeze: more work than you can complete efficiently, at costs that are harder to absorb without passing them to customers who are already watching their budgets.
How is economic uncertainty affecting repair demand?
The survey data from IMR captures what shop owners are experiencing. The broader economic picture explains why customer behavior may shift in 2026 in ways that compound those supply and labor pressures.
According to J.P. Morgan Global Research 2025, there is a 35% probability of a U.S. and global recession in 2026, and sticky inflation is expected to persist. For repair shops, that combination does something specific: it pushes customers to delay repairs that feel optional. Brake inspections get postponed. The grinding noise that started three weeks ago gets ignored a little longer. Tires that should have been replaced in October wait until February.
That deferral pattern is not hypothetical. It is well-documented in prior downturns. The practical effect for shops is that when customers do come in, they are often coming in with more deferred work on the same vehicle, which creates scheduling and parts complications. And some customers will challenge estimates more aggressively because every dollar feels tighter.
Economic uncertainty also changes how customers choose which shop to trust with their vehicle. Shops with strong review volume, clear pricing communication, and documented histories of honest work have a real advantage when customers are being more selective. Shops with thin online profiles or unaddressed negative reviews are at greater risk of losing the close call to a competitor.
What can shops actually do about supply chain and hiring pressure?
There is no single fix for parts availability or technician shortages at the individual shop level. But there are operational choices that reduce the damage.
On parts: shops that have invested in relationships with multiple suppliers, not just a single primary vendor, tend to have more options when one source falls short. Keeping a tighter eye on which parts categories are most likely to have lead time issues, and communicating that proactively to customers at the time of estimate rather than after the vehicle is already in the bay, reduces friction and complaints. As covered in earlier reporting on how cost uncertainty is driving customer delays in auto repair, transparency at the estimate stage is one of the clearest ways shops are differentiating themselves right now.
On labor: retention beats recruiting in a tight market. That means understanding what keeps your current technicians from taking calls from competitors. Compensation is part of it, but scheduling flexibility, a functional shop environment, and a sense that the business is well-run also factor in. Shops that lose a technician in a thin hiring market often wait months to fill the role and absorb the lost capacity the entire time.
On customer communication during a slow or uncertain repair timeline: calling the customer before they call you is the simplest version of this. Customers who feel informed are significantly less likely to post a frustrated review about a delay that was outside the shop's control.
Why This Matters for Auto Repair Shops
The IMR survey is a useful reality check. Parts and labor challenges are not going away in 2026, and the economic backdrop from J.P. Morgan suggests customer price sensitivity will add pressure from the demand side at the same time. That is a two-front problem: costs are sticky, and customers are more likely to comparison shop or defer work.
The shops that manage this period well will not be the ones that solve the technician shortage or fix global supply chains. They will be the ones that communicate clearly, build enough trust through their reputation that customers do not hesitate to call, and run their operations tightly enough to absorb some cost variability without losing margin on every job.
The survey data confirms what most shop owners already know on the ground. The difference is what you do with that knowledge while the pressure is still manageable.