Behind the Tools: A sneak peek into one of Stockton’s automotive repair shops

As power tools echo from wall to wall, the smell of paint, dust and chemicals invades your nose.

Dream Finish Auto Works, a family owned and reputable business here in Stockton, works to help those in need of service.

As time goes on manufacturers make more and more new cars with different materials, different components that have more complex designs, it becomes easier, faster and more cost efficient to fully replace the broken components of a car than to repair.

“…you just do the math, if a fender cost $200 and repair is four hours on that fender, and it’s $120 an hour, it makes no sense to repair a fender, plus new cars now have metals and stuff that are so thin that one little bump here and there. It’ll just require replacing,” said Keng Vang, the owner and manager of Dream Finish Auto Works.

With vehicle components becoming more thin and using metal as material it becomes difficult to justify spending more time and workload to repair such components rather than to simply replace.

“It’s hard because all the new cars have all these extra wirings and screws that it’s just like this is not very needed or just complicated,” said Brandon Vang, the car preparer for painting and repairs.

The shop doesn’t get too many chances to repair the newest of the new cars. But due to how common Hondas and Toyotas are, getting components and repairing the car is simple and easy. This commonality allows workers to get familiar with the designs of them indirectly making these brands and models easier. 

Although the difficulty does vary between car models, with some models being simpler than others, while others are more complex due to them being made with higher quality in mind compared to quantity, such as the newer models of cars.

“It’s hard because all the new cars have all these extra wirings and screws that it’s just like this is not very needed or just complicated,” said Brandon.

But what of the more rarer cars, especially those that come from European manufacturers?

Out of all the cars that the shop works with, most of the team Dream Finish Auto Works chose European cars as the most difficult. 

“I think the most challengings are European models, for example, like BMW and Mercedes. When it comes to removing them, it gets a little more complicated. You got to be more advanced in the field to touch and repair those stuff,” said Jeff Vang, the non-structural technician.

Keng explains that one of the reason European cars are challenging is due to components are being secured much more greatly, meaning an increase to the amount of nuts and bolts needed to take out when disassembling vehicles. The difficulty is also further pushed with the addition of the different nuts and bolts in needing their own specialized tools.

Not all difficulties come from how a car is built but how rare it is to find replacements for these car components and how heavy a repair may be.

A Dodge Ram 2500 with a missing afterburner has been sitting in the warehouse of the shop for nearly four months, due to the fact the component is not in stock.

“Another thing is, like big, heavy repairs. Let’s say you’re going through multiple layers of repairs. It’s not that we dislike that, it’s just, it’s more challenging. And then if you have multiple of those, let’s say you have 20 of those repairs in a month, it can really set the backlog of repair because you only have so many frame machines to pull those vehicles, you only have so many welders to weld vehicles,” said Keng.

Does this mean that challenging cars aren’t worth fixing?

Although cars are getting more challenging to repair, the service fee to repair such damage becomes more expensive. Allowing businesses like these to be only slightly affected by whatever change may come in the future.

Most Common Parts In Need Of Repair

While the business aspect of the shop is doing fine, what of the management side for this type of business?

Keng claims in noticing that the newer generation’s interest in joining blue collar jobs like these are lower than usual. He is unsure about where this side of the business is going, since the labor workforce is lower than before back when he opened his shop.

But even with the uncertainty of the future, Keng and the team are hopeful.

Keng states, “This type of industry is always in need. It is a blue collar job. With the new technology of AI and robotics, it is going to bring challenges, but makes it more exciting.”

“This industry, it will always shift to one way or another, and I will be excited to see what comes and then maybe one day we’ll be painting robots too. But we’re always, there’s always a field for us to do repairs and paint, and then I’m excited for it,” said Keng.