The history of car repair
Before the care became a viable mode of transportation there was only a few rudimentary forms of slow transportation. When the car first came around before the 20th century it was only in the form of hand fitted vehicles that often were incredibly rare and incredibly expensive. This made the repair of these vehicles even more rare because the cars themselves were custom made and hand fitted. Car repair at the renaissance of the car was both rare and expensive.
The earliest car owners had no real repair business to turn to. Typically these owners repair the car themselves and looked toward other industries for the manufacture of the necessary parts that he would require.
For some wealthier car owners the chauffeurs they hired were typically also mechanics who not only drove the car but also were required to maintain the vehicle and make sure it was in working order at all times. Obviously this high degree of luxury was unsustainable for any capitalist endeavor and so when Ford Motor company released the Model T everything changed.
Mass production allowed not only the mass production of cars but also the mass production of interchangeable parts. The Model T fell from twelve building hours to one and a half and that catapulted fords production capabilities. This in turn lowered the price of cars and parts while raising the average wage of Ford’s workers. From the creation of mass production shot up the car repair industry which benefited from the introduction of standard interchangeable parts.
With the introduction of unions the car repair industry standardized as technicians now knew how much they would be getting at the end of the week and could bargain in order to maximize their returns and make car repair profitable.
Now car repair is a large industry in the United States. The US is very much an automobile culture and your mechanic is as important as your doctor or your lawyer. As Americans depend on their automobile for their work or their leisure they require better car repair practices to make sure they can continue to use their vehicles in their present form.
When you go to your mechanic now they have a whole host of new tools and equipment to utilize. With the induction of the digital age the capabilities of the car repair industry have skyrocketed making it cheaper and easier to maintain your vehicle.