TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Whether you need your car painted or need it fixed after you get into a wreck, Hood’s Etc. Collision Center has you covered.
Rob Hood, the lead technician, said they’ve been seeing a lot more people stop by for repairs because of major collisions.
“The severity of collisions have definitely increased. We’re seeing a lot more cars total,” Hood said.
Hood said because of the crashes, they made more in profits last year compared to 2021.
“In 2022 we were probably handling every week probably almost double the customers,” he said.
While that is good for business, it’s also driving up a backlog of customers for them.
“Normally we carry about 3 to 4 weeks backlog. Right now we’re about 3 months,” Hood said.
He said they’re able to do estimates but customers have to bring back their cars in three months.
However, they’re also bumping into another challenge.
“There’s also a pretty strong labor shortage in this industry, so that coupled with a major increase in accidents, has created really long wait times,” he said.
It’s not just an increase in customers that collision centers have to deal with. It’s also a shortage of parts like airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, and diagnostic monitors.”
“A lot of the airbag pieces, what’s happening is they’re anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks out on delay,” Kevin Styer, the owner of Central Collision Center said.
Styer said that is also fueling more delays to repairs and it also the case with used parts.
“You’ll probably be waiting anywhere from 30 days to 90 days,” he said.
He said that’s just to get in the door, but it can take up to three months to repair.
Styer said with more cars coming into the shop, they’re short on space.
“We have had points where we were back to back, door to door with cars waiting,” he said.
He said they’ve also had a shortage of technicians since the pandemic started and he still needs about 5 more.
“That was actually another shop that was full running with technicians over there, but since the shortage of technicians I don’t have any technicians working there,” Styer said.
He said if you’re shopping around for collision centers, make sure to contact your insurance.
“Start looking at your policies and make sure that you have the right amount of coverage,” he said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
