WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Days, weeks, even months. If you get into a fender bender that’s how long you could be waiting to get your car repaired.
“We just had a Lincoln here and all we were waiting on was a headlight and I still couldn’t find one. We ended up having the old one work until we got the new one in, and once it comes in, we replace it. We typically don’t like doing that but yeah, they waited up to a solid month in a half, almost two months trying to get a headlight,” said Eagle Auto Body Parts Manager Bryson Noe.
The team at Eagle Auto Body said there’s one big reason these holdups are happening.
“People don’t realize that COVID affected parts that much, that everything just shut down. I mean the nation was done for so long there’s even stuff that we’re not even finding now to this day,” said Head Repair Manager Jason Foster.
There was a shortage of cars, car parts and even computer chips at the height of the pandemic. Now those in the auto repair industry are up against low stock and long shipping times.
“Typically foreign parts, especially since they are coming from overseas, they are trying to ship such big loads that a lot of ships are sinking as they are coming across to get here,” Noe said.
While wait times aren’t as bad as they were a year ago, they are still longer than what most customers are used to.
“Nationally, we’re bidding on trying to find parts. People are saving parts and not wanting to sell them because they know they are scarce and the demands are so high. So it’s really a difficult situation trying to find what we need,” Foster said.
They say the key right now is patience.
“We do understand everyone wants their vehicle. We try to get you in it as fast as we possibly can. It’s just that sometimes it doesn’t work that way as much as we would want it to,” Noe said.
Factors like the make and model of your car play a big role in how long a repair will take as well. For example, a Toyota may see a shorter repair time than a Mazda.
For more information on Eagle Auto Body, click here.