Reporting In: The Latest State of Heavy-Duty Repair Has Landed!

Well gang, we did it.

We made the impossible possible. Or at least probable.

We crunched the numbers, made the graphs, edited the copy. We worked through the night and sometimes into the wee hours and probably made plenty of enemies at the printer. But we did it, and it’s here, and now you can get it.

We’re referring, of course, to the 2024-2025 State of Heavy-Duty Repair.

This latest, bestest edition is packed with the kind of information you always wanted to know about the diesel field but were possibly too afraid to ask. And yo, it’s free, so you don’t need to pay a dime for the plethora of knowledge that’s about to land on your lap…er…on your screen.

Of course, we don’t expect you to just take our word for it. We’ve put together a sort of tasting menu of interesting facts from the current edition of the report — you know, to whet your appetite for the rest of it.

THE MEDIAN SHOP LABOR RATE IS $134

Did you know there is no integer with exactly 134 coprimes below it? Neither did we! Does that have anything to do with diesel? Not really! But the median labor rate has risen from $130 in 2024, which in turn was a boost from $125 in 2023. Hey, we like to see steady growth in rates, right? In addition, 46% of respondents told us their labor rates were in line with their competitors.

MOBILE REPAIR HAS A HIGHER LABOR RATE THAN IN-SHOP

Making a trip out to a vehicle tends to be pricier than having the vehicle brought to your shop — you’ve also got to pay for fuel, travel time, and wear and tear on your own vehicle. Mobile survey respondents reported charging a 7.2% higher labor rate than their in-shop brethren, or $149 per hour.

FRAUD IS ON THE RISE

We’ve been paying close attention to fraud over the last few months, and unfortunately it’s continuing to make its presence felt in the industry. Thirty-five percent of shops surveyed reported they’d encountered fraud of some sort; due to the way diesel shops do business (large orders are not unheard of), they unfortunately become targets.

SHOPS ARE INTERESTED IN APPRENTICES

Here’s a neat factoid: 33% of shops surveyed have an apprentice program in place, and a further 14% want to start such a program. But wait, there’s more: 15% occasionally run an apprentice program. Hey, we’ve still got a tech shortage, and training needs to start somewhere — why not at the shop?

SHOPS GET BUSY IN JULY

We wanted to know if the diesel industry had a busy season — and yes, some of you are rolling your eyes right now and saying, “It’s always busy season” or something of that nature. And yes, we know location will have an impact on when you’re most busy. But a solid 60% of respondents said July was their busiest month. Maybe aim for that vacation in September?

So! There you have it. Obviously there’s way more to the report than just those little snippets of information. How much more? Well…about 97 pages more. Yeah. It was a bit of a beast this year, but we tamed it. And now you can go see what all the fuss is about!

Download the report for FREEEEEEEE right here and get reading, and tell us what you found most interesting!