April 20, 2020—Auto repair shop businesses are feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, even as an essential business, due to the less travel, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
According to the report, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District says bridge traffic is down by 70 percent throughout the region. On Monday, about 68,500 vehicles crossed the Bay Bridge, about half of the number on a comparable day last year, and nearly 19,000 crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, also a 50 percent drop according to the Bay Area Toll Authority.
Among Yelp's top 50 auto repair shops in the San Francisco area, three have closed with some accepting appointment requests only. However, others are still open and are adjusting their processes accordingly.
Metric Motors in San Francisco, for example, is normally a German and European service shop, but is now accepting Ford and Toyota vehicles, as the daily average of cars serviced has dropped from 10-12 to about two or three cars per day.
“We’ll still be here in a month, but we may be at the very end of our savings,” Joel Gile, office and service manager for Metric Motors, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We know that we’ve got enough to float the two guys who are here that long. If the SBA (Small Business Administration) loans kick in, we would bring back our staff, clean the shop and repaint stuff.”
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