Automotive businesses across San Antonio, Texas, are seeing some much-needed relief in the price of parts, reports KSAT 12.
Erik Garcia is the owner of Erik’s Automotive, a repair shop located west of downtown San Antonio. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia saw the price of parts spike, with prices for oil and filters doubling.
Since then, though, Garcia has recently begun to see things settle down a bit as part availability grows.
“It’s starting to kind of level out now,” said Garcia.
This availability of parts doesn’t just translate well for repair shops, but used car lots as well. For Marc McGurren of Spotless Auto, computer chip shortages and United Auto Worker union strikes impacted the availability of new cars, leading consumers to have more interest in the used car market.
Recent reporting from Cox Automotive revealed a drop in used vehicle prices nationwide during February, which McGurren has witnessed through his business. As the price of vehicle parts continues to drop, he said it will translate to lower used vehicle prices, too.
“It has normalized,” McGurren said of the used vehicle market. “Not fully, I don’t feel we’re in a normalized market pre-COVID, but much closer than we were pre-COVID levels.”
