LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – For those who who need to get to their jobs, take their kids to school, take care of their aging parents or pick up prescriptions, those tasks are becoming increasingly difficult if their car is in need of repair. Their vehicles have been sitting in the parking lots of dealers and auto mechanics for days, weeks or sometimes much longer because of short-staffing and car parts that are unavailable.

WDIV Local 4 in Detroit reports that people who are waiting for car repairs are getting frustrated because “the parts needed to make the repairs just aren’t available.”

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Consumer Investigative Reporter Hank Winchester found a woman who said she might have to wait an entire year to get her car back. He reported that Kenyetta Womack’s 2018 Hundai went to a local dealer in June and it was still there when he interviewed her for the December 1st story. Because of a parts shortage, she was told she might not get her car back until spring of 2023.

And once the parts come in, she’ll still be waiting on the 30 other cars ahead of hers in the schedule because of short-staffing. She was renting a car the first week that she was without a vehicle, which was about $400 a week, triple the car note she still had to pay.

Winchester contacted the dealer for her and was able to get them to put her car back together and keep her place in line for the repair when the parts arrive.

In addition to Womack, Winchester has talked to many car owners who are having the same problems getting their vehicles fixed with their dealers and local mechanics. It seems to still be a problem all over the country as well as in Michigan.

The nationwide parts shortage put the brakes on a North Texas man’s hopes of fixing the $30K in damage to his new Acura RDX, a premium sports crossover SUV. His vehicle was hit in an accident before he even made his first payment. He told Fox 4 Dallas-Ft. Worth that his dealership said it would be nine months to a year to get parts for repair. They showed him a lot full of cars they can’t get parts for and told him that he was at the end of the line.

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Because parts are still being manufactured for his vehicle, the man’s insurance company wouldn’t total the vehicle and they would only cover a 30-day rental. After making eight payments at $800 a month, he decided to stop the madness and sold the car back to the dealer at a loss.

Chris Ventura of Auto Pros, a car repair shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been repairing cars for over 25 years and says he’s never seen a parts shortage this bad. He told WCPO 9, “Day by day it gets frustrating and more frustrating. Even your basic brake job can take major time to find the product.”