🚙 Axios PM: Repair sticker shock

🦈 Plus: Shark surveillance | Friday, July 07, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By The American Bankers Association   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Jul 07, 2023 ⛱ Happy summer Friday. Today's PM — edited by Dave Lawler — is 565 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the copy edit.     1 big thing: Car repairs take longer, cost more Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The next time your car breaks down, expect to fork over more money — and wait longer — for repairs, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes. Multiple shortages — a lack of mechanics, parts and new vehicles — combined with higher prices on all types of goods have hiked repair costs, experts say. Why it matters: Americans already face record-high debt after a long battle with inflation. What's happening: Americans are keeping their vehicles longer than ever because sticker prices for new cars are rising. Existing vehicles are lasting longer. Older cars mean more repairs, Chris Sutton, VP of automotive retail at J.D. Power told Axios: "So you look at a staffing shortage that is compounded with people needing to get their vehicles fixed." A growing shortage of automotive technicians is also driving longer waits. Customers are waiting an average of 4.8 days for repairs to mass-market vehicles like Hondas and Fords, up from 1.3 in 2021, according to J.D. Power data. For premium vehicles like Teslas or BMWs, the average wait has nearly tripled from 2021 to 5.6 days. 👀 What to watch: Sutton says the availability of car parts and new cars should improve, easing the situation somewhat. But the "staffing shortage on technicians — that is not an easy solution." Go deeper.     2. 🦈 Drones on patrol as shark bites rise Cary Epstein, lifeguard supervisor, launches a drone for a shark-patrol flight at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, N.Y., yesterday. Photo: John Minchillo/AP We told you in May that shark-spotting drones could be coming to a beach near you. Now, beaches on Long Island are stepping up their shark surveillance after five people reported being bitten by sharks this week at some of New York's most popular beaches, AP reports. Shark attacks were extremely rare on Long Island until very recently, but eight people were bit last year. "This year, we've already had five bites, and the season has kind of just begun," said George Gorman, the local parks director. How it works: "If a drone has spotted a shark, we won't alert the patrons until they're all out of the water because we don't want them to freak out," said lifeguard Carl Nowicki. "We'll be very transparent once everyone's on the sand. We don't want to cause a panic at a beach." Photo: John Minchillo/AP Above: What officials see when a shark drone is over the water.     A message from The American Bankers Association Don't let Congress take away your credit card rewards     Americans love their credit card points and cash back rewards, but now some in Congress want to take them away. The Durbin-Marshall-Lofgren-Gooden credit card bill is a gift to big-box retailers at the expense of consumers and small businesses.   Join the fight to save your hard-earned rewards.       3. Catch me up Community members pray during a gathering at the site of Sunday's mass shooting in Baltimore. Photo: Nathan Howard/AP 🚔 A 17-year-old was arrested on weapons charges in connection with a mass shooting at a block party on Sunday in Baltimore that left two dead and 30 injured, the Baltimore Sun reports. ⚖️ The man convicted of killing 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in a mass shooting, directly targeting people of Mexican descent, received 90 consecutive life sentences today, Axios' Astrid Galván reports. 🇺🇦 The U.S. is sending Ukraine cluster bombs. The highly controversial munitions could help Ukrainian forces break through Russian defenses. But they're banned in most of the world because dud bombs can kill civilians decades after being dropped, Axios' Ivana Saric writes.     4. 🦦 1 smile to go: Meet Rocket and Slinky Otter pups at the Denver Zoo. Photo: Denver Zoo The Asian small-clawed otter pups named Rocket and Slinky are among the newest residents of the Denver zoo, Axios Denver's Esteban L. Hernandez writes. Other new arrivals include: Two bongos (an antelope species) named Clementine and Fiddle (below). A Rocky Mountain goat named Salix. A sloth called Wicket, whose name was picked with help from the public. .Photo: Denver Zoo Above: Fiddle, a young bongo at the Denver Zoo.     A message from The American Bankers Association Don't let Congress take away your credit card rewards     Americans love their credit card points and cash back rewards, but now some in Congress want to take them away. The Durbin-Marshall-Lofgren-Gooden credit card bill is a gift to big-box retailers at the expense of consumers and small businesses.   Join the fight to save your hard-earned rewards.     Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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