5 Fascinating Facts from the 2023-2024 SOHDR

Hear ye, hear ye! We’ve got a new report for you, and it is fabulous!

That’s right, Fullbay friends: the 2023-2024 edition of the State of Heavy-Duty Repair is HERE, and this year, we’re going to sing about it!

(Editor’s Note: NO WE ARE NOT.)

The hills are alive
With the sound of diesel repair
With trucks in the bay
Awaiting diagnostiiiiiiics

(Editor’s Note: STOP IT NOW SUZ.)

Yo, listen up here’s a story
About a diesel tech that works in a small shop
And all day and all night
And everything he sees is just fuel
Diesel fuel, inside and outside

I’m fuel, da-ba-dee, da-ba-die…

(Editor’s Note: THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE SUZ.)

Fine. Without further ado, we present to you five fascinating facts from the 2024 SOHDR.

Fascinating Fact #1: We Still Need to Find More Young People

Only 17% of techs surveyed had between 1 and 5 years of experience. The industry just isn’t attracting newcomers like it needs to if it wants to keep pace with retirements. This is backed up by the lack of extremely young techs in the field; only 8 percent are 25 or younger.

Fascinating Fact #2: Shops Raised Their Labor Rates By $10 In 2023

Last year, labor rates across the country went up by about 9%. The median shop labor rate was $115 in 2022; that 9% jumped it to $125 in 2023. If you’re curious about who had the biggest jump, that would be Northeastern shops, which went from $115 to $133.

Fascinating Fact #3: Shops Are Offering Better Benefits

Bennies remain a huge discussion point across almost all industries, and we’re happy to report that diesel repair shops are broadening their offerings. The top three offerings our respondents shared were uniforms (71%), health insurance (60%), and paid vacations (55%). Just behind them were perks like safety equipment, bonuses, and PTO.

Fascinating Fact #4: Safety Programs Are Important

Accidents happen. Someone forgets to turn off the power. A zerk escapes captivity. The velociraptor in the storage room feasts on a hapless parts runner. When you’re working on big, complicated pieces of heavy machinery, something going wrong can lead to a lot of bodily harm.

Repair operations know that. A full 58% of the shops that took our survey said they had some kind of safety program in place. Twenty-one percent did not—and a further 21% did not, but wanted to start one.

Fascinating Fact #5: Repair Shop Revenue Grew In 2023

We’ve got good news about money: repair shop revenue grew an average of 27% in 2023. This may look like a drop, as 2022’s average growth was 37%…but remember, 2022 was very much a recovery year as diesel (and heck, everyone else) clawed back from The Great Toilet Paper Shortage.

The Southwest and the West led the United States-specific regions, each growing about 30%. We’ve got a special shout-out for Canada, though, as shops in the Land of Maple Syrup grew 35% over 2023.

Okay, so if we actually count up all the information we just presented, that was a bit more than five facts. But that’s not even a fraction of the data we’ve compiled in the latest edition of the report. The digital version of this thing is (brace yourselves) 108 pages, and that’s…well, that’s a lot of information about the heavy-duty repair industry.

It’s full of twists and turns and revelations more shocking than Vader’s little announcement at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Okay, maybe not that shocking. But shocking enough that you should definitely read it.

Here it is again: The State of Heavy-Duty Repair. Check it out and see what you learn!