Rising costs of parts and labor is slowing, according to the latest quarterly benchmarking report released Sunday at the Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting and Expo in Orlando from Decisiv and the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council.
Although parts and labor costs increased 13% in 2022, that represents a 10% drop in the rate of increase.
On a quarterly basis, parts and labor costs declined in the fourth quarter of 2022 by 0.9% compared to the third quarter, including a 1.6% drop in parts costs and a slight increase of 0.4% in labor costs. Powerplant parts and labor costs totaled 35.7% of all service costs in the fourth quarter of 2022, followed by exhaust systems (14%) and brakes (5.1%).
Parts and labor costs rose 13% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Quarterly year-over-year comparisons earlier in 2022 showed a 15.3% increase.
[Related: Repair labor rates climbing, driving technician pay raises]
Decisiv Vice President Marketing Mark Wasilko noted that decreased mileage, caused by a slowing in for-hire truck tonnage and an increase in new truck production, are likely the largest factors influencing service cost declines. The data for the Decisiv/TMC report is derived from Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standard (VRMS) service and repair events of more than 7 million commercial vehicles in North America that captures a weekly average of 70,000 events at nearly 5,000 locations.
