THE PARTS ARE ON BACK ORDER!


Article by Rob Finlayson City Cars Glasgow rob@citycarsglasgow.co.uk


Ask any operator what keeps them awake at night and you’ll hear tales of woe around driver shortages, rideshare, rising costs etc. etc. Now go ask the fleet or workshop manager for that same operator and you’ll get a much simpler answer.


The parts are on back order!


Whilst I don’t want to focus on any particular model or manufacturer (my local taxi dealer is still talking to me - just), we’ve never really managed to get away from the supply issues that ravaged every industry since Covid.


Speak to any fleet operator and they’ll be able to wax lyrical about that one car that’s been parked up for six weeks awaiting parts, and I’m not talking niche models, having personally experienced issues with various odds and sods not being available for Toyota Corollas, Skoda Octavias and Superbs and other genuine bread and butter fleet vehicles. And if you think the mainstream stuff is bad, try getting into purpose-built vehicles, it’s a whole other world of pain.


Twenty years ago a taxi (or private hire vehicle, dependent on your persuasion) was fundamentally a straightforward mechanical and slightly complex machine. If an alternator or starter failed, you would pop it off and recon it - no coding required, a couple of bolts, a few connectors and you were back on the road. Today’s vehicles are a very different proposition.


Modern cars are rolling computers. They’re packed full of sensors, coded modules, cameras and control units all needing dealer-level software to update, change or even interrogate. A warning light that was a quick fix and a set of oily hands on a Saturday morning on the driveway is now a two-week wait to get into the dealer and a “diagnostic fee”, only to be hit with: “I’m afraid that’s on back order...”


One phrase guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any fleet manager or operator. Whilst mainstream manufacturers will usually come good... eventually, operators running purpose-built hackneys are playing an entirely different game, with wait times measured in quarters rather than weeks for certain parts.


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But even run-of-the-mill fleet favourites have their issues. Need a set of clocks for a Corolla? Two months. Need a side panel for a Transit? Six months. The list goes on and on. Not exactly ideal if your car is now VOR and you’re not earning.


It’s just as bad for fleet operators. There’s nothing worse than when you get the question: “Is that one back on the road yet?”


Usually followed by a sharp intake of breath and a response that I can’t put on paper.


What makes this particularly frustrating is that a car in our industry earns precisely nothing whilst it’s off the road waiting for parts, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a £14 sensor or a £1,400 module, the outcome is exactly the same. The meter’s not on and turning, the bookings aren’t being covered, a radio is not being collected by the office and the direct debits for insurance and finance are still sitting waiting to be collected.


There’s a new elephant in the room though which no one’s really talking about enough. The new wave of manufacturers from China.


Now before I start getting dog’s abuse, this isn’t an attack on Chinese manufacturers. Competition is healthy and, if I’m honest, the new wave of cars arriving on our shores are, in my opinion at least, pretty darn good. Option lists that are basically “select a paint colour” as everything you could possibly want is fitted as standard. (No more subscriptions for heated seats - looking at you BMW.)


But they do raise a question that should concern every operator eyeing up the latest gadget-filled bargain off the ferry.


SEPTEMBER 2026 PHTM


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