This story originally aired on “Marketplace” on June 20. Listen to the “Marketplace” each weekday at 6:30 p.m. on Vermont Public.
The status of U.S. tariffs on imports seems to change by the day or even the hour. But some of the Trump administration’s import taxes have been in effect for over a month now. That includes a 25% tariff on some automotive parts.
For one small repair shop — Girlington Garage in South Burlington, Vermont — those tariffs have meant navigating between price-conscious customers and some surprise price increases.
Abbey Blankensop came into Girlington in early June because, among other issues with her 2018 Subaru Forester, she’d been hearing the car make a strange noise.
“It happens when I'm driving, like when my wheels are turning. It's like a ‘whoosh-ush-ush-ush.’ And it's really effing annoying,” she said to Nya Key, the shop’s manager. Key said she’d have her technicians look into it.
“We might say we didn't find anything, but it's worth us digging into it a little bit,” Key said.
It was a job that might require Key to order new parts — which has brought some unwelcome surprises. One recent customer, she said, had a car with a broken wheel bearing.
“We created an estimate with Volkswagen parts. We ordered the parts, and they arrived. Without any notice, they were three times the price.”
The company did not spell out the reason for the increase, she said, but Key suspects tariffs may have been a factor. The customer ultimately chose to use parts made by a third party, not VW.
They’re generally cheaper, but Key says some prices for third-party parts are rising, too. A few weeks ago, she got a notice from a battery company, “that said, ‘Hey, by this date, we have to increase our prices. This is because of tariffs, and it's increasing $5 from the original price.’”
That bump of roughly 4% takes effect near the end of this month, she said. But she can’t stockpile a bunch of batteries to get ahead of it because there’s not enough space in the shop.
Tires are stacked in the lobby. There are nuts and bolts in the back office. So, she orders many parts weekly and stores them on a few shelves in the shop. A week’s worth of parts usually fills up the space they have available.
“So, there's no way we could prepare for a month or anything like that,” Key said.
Further up the supply chain, companies that make and import auto parts have more leeway to navigate tariffs, according to Todd Campau, who analyzes the car parts and repair industries for S&P Global Mobility. Parts companies, he said, are taking a variety of approaches.
“Some are trying to hold the line and absorbing the price increase for the time being until more certainty emerges,” he said. “Some are passing them along, and then I'm sure there's some that are still just kind of in a wait-and-see.”
They’re hoping that the tariffs might not be permanent. But despite rising import costs, the parts industry is in a good position right now, Campau said. Rising new and used car prices have led drivers to hold onto their vehicles longer. The average car or pickup is now 12.8 years old, according to S&P. And older cars need more repairs.
“I think even though we're in the midst of tariff and trade concerns, which will be a headwind, that the tailwinds are actually quite a bit stronger,” Campau said.
But as those tailwinds have picked up, so have car maintenance costs. According to the Consumer Price Index, repair costs are up 39% since 2020; parts costs are up 23%.
Nya Key at Girlington Garage said the best she can do in this situation is to be transparent as the industry fluctuates.
“We just have to go probably month by month and make sure we're updating our customers as much as possible,” she said.
And, they’re giving them options. That whooshing sound that brought in the 2018 Subaru Forester was a brake problem. It needed new front pads and rotors. Key said she gave Abbey Blankensop, the customer, the choice of premium or economy replacement parts for the job. She went with the economy option.
