Bad news for motorists’ budgets. The price of repairs and maintenance soared by 11.5% last year, compared to 2022, according to the annual barometer* of idgarages.com, an online comparison site for garages and quotes.
Inflation is mainly explained by the increase in the price of spare parts, particularly brakes, clutches and even shock absorbers. Front brake disc and pad replacements represent the largest increase in a year, from 279 euros to 329 euros in 2023, a jump of 18%.
Mechanics don’t benefit from this.
“In the inflationary context, equipment and parts manufacturers have passed on the increase in production costs in their sales prices and the transition to electric motors is increasing their costs,” summarises Jonathan Bloch, CEO of idgarages.com.
It also points to less frequent promotional operations “to compensate for the increase in additional costs such as electricity.”
“The workshops were forced to adapt and were able to implement different commercial strategies focused either on maintaining the margin or on the number of workshop entries,” he continues.
The price increase is more limited for services based primarily on labour: air conditioning overhaul increases by 4.85%, descaling by 1.8% and front axle parallelism by 6.9%. In other words: the cost of labour has increased less than inflation.
Significant price differences depending on the region.
For a general overhaul, an average of 294 euros had to be paid in 2023, compared to 264 euros in 2022, an increase of 11.3%. But for this service, there is a significant difference between the cheapest region, Hauts-de-France, at 280 euros, and the most expensive, Normandy, at 327 euros on average.
Overall, Ile-de-France dethrones Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as the most expensive region for car maintenance and repair. Prices there are 4% higher than the national average. But the situation varies greatly depending on the department: prices in Paris are, for example, 10% higher than the average for the Ile-de-France region, while they are 8% lower in Seine-Saint-Denis and 5% in Val-de-Oise.
Burgundy-Franche-Comté, meanwhile, regains the most enviable title of cheapest region in 2023, with prices 2% below the national average. Centre-Val-de-Loire was the most interesting region in 2022.
*Methodology: barometer compiled by comparing average prices by region with the national average price of the seven million quotes generated in the 1st quarter of 2023 on idgarages.com carried out in more than 4,300 independent garages, brand agents, car centres, multi-brand stores, throughout France
Source: BFM TV
