# Auto Shop Benchmarks: Biggest Changes, Key KPI's and Trends [E226]

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-by-the-numbers-5045738/auto-shop-benchmarks-biggest-changes-key-kpi-s-and-trends-e226
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-by-the-numbers-5045738/auto-shop-benchmarks-biggest-changes-key-kpi-s-and-trends-e226.md
Podcast: [Business By The Numbers](https://stenobird.com/podcast/business-by-the-numbers-5045738)
Published: 2026-06-11T04:15:00+00:00
Episode link: https://automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/hunt226
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/95fda4ca-69f9-4988-9165-a5ff8a3cb03a.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/business-by-the-numbers-5045738/episodes/auto-shop-benchmarks-biggest-changes-key-kpi-s-and-trends-e226
Duration seconds: 2689

## Resource

Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Your technicians got more productive in 2025. Your labor rate went up. Your parts margins improved. So why is the average shop owner keeping almost exactly the same percentage of every dollar as they did the year before? The answer is hiding in your effective labor rate — and most shop owners haven't looked at it once. In this episode, Hunt Demarest breaks down the headline findings from Paar Melis & Associates' 2026 Auto Shop Benchmark Report — the largest study of its kind, built from more than 200 real shop locations across the country. From average repair order trends to technician productivity, overhead creep, benefits adoption, pay structure breakdowns, shop management software rankings, and the labor rate shame list nobody wants to be on, this is the financial state-of-the-industry episode you didn't know you needed. And it's only Part One. What You’ll Learn (00:00) Intro — the 2026 Benchmark Report is live and how to get your free copy (03:16) Who made this report possible — methodology, participation, and what Paar Melis clients get that nobody else does (05:30) How to read benchmark numbers without misleading yourself — context, outliers, and the ARO trap (13:15) Sales are up 10-11% — but how much of that is real production vs. a labor rate increase you already gave yourself? (16:20) Productivity jumped from 47% to 55% — so why didn't net profit follow? (18:30) Effective labor rate: the silent margin killer hiding in plain sight in 2025 (27:30) Benefits adoption hits an all-time high: 73% of shops now offer health insurance (29:30) Retirement plans, tool reimbursement, Trump Accounts, and the fringe benefits arms race (30:45) Four-day work weeks and non-cash comp — how shops…

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## Transcript

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