Under Pressure Car Workshop: Rising Operating Costs, Will Service Prices Hold?

JAKARTA – Rising living costs and operating expenses are being felt across various business sectors, including the car workshop industry. Increases in raw material prices, fluctuations in the rupiah against the US dollar, and higher distribution costs are cited as drivers of higher prices for a number of automotive components. This condition forces business operators to be more careful when adjusting service prices, as consumer purchasing power has not fully recovered.

Owner of Dokter Mobil workshop, Lung Lung, said that there has been an increase in various base materials used in workshop operations, from oil, chemicals, to spare parts. ‘All base materials are rising, oil, chemicals, parts. So it is certain that prices will go up soon,’ Lung Lung told Kompas.com, on Friday (22 May 2026).

However, he stressed that at present there has been no adjustment to service prices in the workshop he runs. ‘Not yet,’ he said.

On the other hand, another workshop operator, Indra Kurniawan, owner of Quick Service, also acknowledged cost pressures due to the rise in oil prices which have reached around 20 percent. ‘For the time being we are reducing profit to keep customers,’ he said.

The situation shows a survival strategy by workshop operators amid rising production costs. Holding off service tariff increases is a temporary step so customers do not switch or delay vehicle maintenance. Although service prices remain relatively stable for now, industry players say price adjustments could occur if the trend of rising operating costs continues in the coming period.