BY MECHELE COOPER

Staff Writer

Repair shops across central Maine are reaping the benefits of the economic slowdown.

Amy Rees, part-owner of European Auto Surgeons in Gardiner, said repairs at her shop went up 40 percent in September and 60 percent in October.

Rattled by higher gas prices, turmoil on Wall Street, a string of high-level bank failures and tighter lending standards, car shoppers are shying away from buying new vehicles.

She said people are patching up their old vehicles rather than splurge on new ones.

Rees' garage is filled with early '90s to 2006 models of German-made cars, including Volkswagens, Audis and BMWs.

And although her customers have a little more disposable income, she said they are fixing mechanical problems they wouldn't have a year ago.

"We are seeing people hanging on to their cars longer rather than buying new ones," Rees said. "It used to be if I told them they were facing $1,500 worth of repairs, they would say 'I'm going to trade the car in and get something new.' They're not saying that now. They're preferring to get the car fixed so they can keep it."

Wayne Ladner of Richmond rides around in a 1998 Volkswagen Jetta that he keeps repairing. He said he likes not having a car payment in these tough times.

"What happens with a lot of people is they end up refinancing their house, and gone and done other things to make do and can't buy another car with all this debt," Ladner said. "No car payment is a beautiful thing. Even if you throw $300 or $400 at the car once in a while, it's not a car payment, and you can ride around debt-free for the next six months."

Tom Hachey, one of the owners of Arbo's Towing & Repair Service in Waterville, said he's seeing people pay to have big-ticket items repaired, such as transmissions and engines.

"Normally, people would trade them in, but now they're putting more money into their cars rather than going out and buying another vehicle," Hachey said. "And I've heard that from my regular customers. They'd rather do that than ending up with a car payment. They're biting the bullet one time instead of 48 times."

Over in China, at China Lake Auto Sales & Service, owner Jim West said he's seeing cars being towed into his shop because people have put off repairs for so long. He said he always looks at the book value of those cars to determine if they're worth fixing, and most of the time they are.

His business has increased 40 percent over the past three months, which has kept his three full-time technicians busy.

"People are holding on to what they have," West said. "Credit is tight. I've had a lot of people say they tried to get credit and couldn't. Plus they don't want the additional car payment."

"We also sell used cars," West said. "The used-car price range people are buying is down. The under-$5,000 market has been pretty hot, but that has slowed down to a crawl."

U.S. auto sales fell to 838,156 in October, down 31.9 percent from the year-ago month, according to AutoData Corp. Car and light-truck sales fell to their lowest level in 25 years last month, according to industry figures from AutoData.

John McEleney of the National Automobile Dealers Association said U.S. dealerships are under stress.

"Volumes are down, and underwriters are more cautious when it comes to extending credit," McEleney said.

"In a few cases, customers were not able to get loans. It's not impossible for people to get credit, but it's certainly more expensive now because of higher interest rates and stricter terms."

Between the credit crunch and car lots full of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles that aren't selling, auto dealerships are struggling. At least 700 -- about 2 percent of the nation's dealerships -- are likely to go out of business this year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com