Car Dealers Are Now Refusing to Fix Your Old Car! (Video)

In this 3 Octoner 2026 published video,  host Mark Holubetz talks about noticing how dealerships are turning away older vehicles, a massive shift in how the automotive service industry operates. 

Car dealerships are increasingly refusing to service older vehicles because their business models have shifted toward maximizing high-margin, software-driven work. Service departments generate 85 percent to 90 percent of a dealership’s total revenue, making the bay—not the showroom—the true profit center. Dealers are intentionally pushing older, purely mechanical cars out of their service bays due to several distinct operational pressures. 

Older cars frequently feature heavily rusted, seized, or corroded fittings. Mechanics must spend hours spraying penetrants and battling frozen bolts just to get to a basic part. Dealerships perceive older-car owners as more likely to mope or complain about labor times compared to customers with newer vehicles. Working on brand-new or warranty-backed vehicles is incredibly efficient. Parts are clean, easy to disconnect, and simple to swap out. Dealership technicians can complete these jobs rapidly and predictably, yielding higher turnover and effortless profit.

Franchise dealerships invest upwards of $15,000 per diagnostic station for specialized, brand-specific software systems. They prioritize using these advanced tools to clear modern software locks, register parts via VIN-pairing, and pull proprietary data rather than letting a high-tech bay sit occupied by an analog car. Many dealerships are enforcing unofficial 8-to-10-year limits on vehicles. Some dealers have even begun refusing to sell specific parts for older cars, even if those parts are technically still available higher up in the global manufacturing supply chain. 

The frustration among car owners and independent mechanics has led to a major pushback against dealership practices. 

“Dealers have gotten increasingly aggressive about getting older cars off the road, and it’s a major problem… They are actively trying to remove as many paths as possible to keep your vehicle on the road, instead of buying a new one…”.

“You shouldn’t take anything more than 8-10 years old to a dealership. You shouldn’t take anything without an OBD-2 port to an independent shop.”

This widespread refusal—combined with automakers trying to lock out independent shops via restricted telematics and vehicle data—has triggered a massive “Right to Repair” movement. While corporate lobbyists argue that safety and cybersecurity dictate dealer-only access, the federal government recently pushed back. President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum expanding the freedom to repair vehicles, aimed directly at lowering regulatory barriers to aftermarket parts and breaking the exclusive grip dealerships have over consumers. 

https://youtu.be/ZOQ-qiOM1sA