Who has been taking car of my vehicles for 15 years, and I am amazed at how busy he stays. He works by himself and honest to a fault, and has at least 5 vehicles going all the time. He said it has been nonstop for the past 2-3 years, as more people are just repairing their vehicles instead of buying new, kids of customers starting to drive, word of mouth referrals, etc. I have to wonder is there that much money in the auto repair/service business now a days that a good mechanic can make a decent living?

I know there is a lot more involved in running a business than just shade tree mechanic, but here is my experience.

I do a lot of work on my and my family members vehicles.

-Replaced a starter on Honda car for about $200, Honda wanted $900 smaller shop wanted $500-600
-Replaced front hubs and CV shafts on 2 3/4 ton 4x4 pickups. My parts cost was $440 per vehicle (both sides) using better parts, shop wanted $1500
-Worst one was on a ford escape I could have done the work for about $100 in parts, the charge was $1,200 and change and not done at a dealer.

If you treat your vehicles respectably and have just a little common sense and mechanical knowledge you can keep your vehicles out of the shop/garage/dealer quite a bit.

Most mechanic shops charge about $60-$80 an hour (1 hour minimum).

I've been told you can make a decent living on it, but you have to keep a good honest reputation and have customers keep coming back (in a good way, not bad way). The more you screw customers, the more you'll have to screw customers just to stay afloat, and word of mouth travels quickly.

I do most work myself (brakes, spark plug changes, suspension), but there's a few things that'll be beyond my reach.
Fortunately, I have a good mechanic shop that was referred to me by a friend and pretty much made me a customer for life on the first visit. He informed that all his new customers are referrals and that he's never had a slow week since he started the business (over 20 years ago).

Yes, most people nowadays would rather pay a repair bill rather than a new car note.

Would you rather pay $500 each month for a new car? That's $6,000.
Or $500 in repairs for a whole year?

if your honest anf KNOW what your doing, thers lots of money to be made IMO

YouTube and other internet resources have helped me save thousands of dollars taking care of my own vehicles.