30/09/2026
This is a problem we are working to navigate every single day.
A high percentage of vehicle parts are now going on back order overseas, creating extended repair delays that repairers have very little control over.
And this isn’t just affecting Chinese vehicle brands.
We’re seeing it across Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and many more — brands that once had incredibly reliable parts supply chains.
A decade ago, dealers carried generous stock locally and in major mainland warehouses. Common parts could often arrive the same day.
Now, even when a part is sitting in a mainland warehouse, we can commonly be looking at around two weeks before it reaches Tasmania. If a part has to come from overseas, the wait is generally a minimum of two months. For newer models, we have waited as long as nine months for parts to arrive.
There are also parts we are told have no estimated time of arrival and no available stock anywhere in the world. In those situations, we are expected to place the part on order, continually monitor it, and hope it is eventually manufactured and shipped to us so we can complete the repair for our customer.
But the flow-on effect is bigger than inconvenience.
As vehicle values, parts prices, freight, storage, hire car and repair costs increase, we are also seeing fully repairable vehicles declared a total loss because the overall claim cost no longer fits within the insurer’s economic threshold.
That means a vehicle doesn’t necessarily have to be beyond repair to be written off.
Parts availability and the increasing cost of repairing modern vehicles are changing the collision repair landscape significantly — and Tasmania feels these pressures particularly strongly.
Below article from the ABC.
