Repair Prices Rose 5.8 Percent in the Year to September 2026
The index reached 468.491. Parts and pay moved far less. A missing month may leave the next release with no yearly change.
Story in Brief
- The repair price index rose 5.79 percent, from 442.843 in September 2025 to 468.491 in September 2026.
- All items rose 3.74 percent over the same 12 months.
- Consumer parts prices rose 0.83 percent. Average pay at repair businesses rose 2.83 percent in the year to August.
- October 2025 has no value, so the November 10 release may have no 12 month change for this series.
- The index shows what consumers pay, not what a shop keeps. Check it against your own labor rate and car count.
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The national index for car maintenance and repair reached 468.491 in September 2026, up 5.79 percent from 442.843 a year earlier, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. That number lands on every shop owner who last looked at a labor rate before last fall.
The percent is an Auto Mechanic USA calculation. It divides 468.491 by 442.843 and subtracts 1. The series is CUUR0000SETD, the U.S. city average for all urban consumers. It is not seasonally adjusted. The full history sits on the Monthly Repair Price Index page.
The index tracks what consumers pay. It does not track what a shop keeps. A shop can sit inside a 5.79 percent national rise and still lose money on the month.
What Moved in September
The index rose 0.72 percent from August 2026, when it stood at 465.136, per the same BLS series. Prices for all items rose 3.74 percent in the 12 months to September, from 324.800 to 336.940, per the BLS all items series. Repair ran 2.05 points ahead of that.
The pace has cooled from a year ago. In September 2025 the repair index stood 7.68 percent above its September 2024 value of 411.276. So prices are still rising faster than most things, but not as fast as they were.
The climb this year has been steady. The index stood at 439.752 in December 2025. It has gained 6.54 percent in the nine months since.
Repair Outran Parts and Pay
Two other BLS series help a shop read the number. Neither one is a perfect match for a shop's own books, so each row below says what it covers.
BLS figures, with the change computed by Auto Mechanic USA
| Measure | Month | Latest | Year Earlier | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repair price index | Sep 2026 | 468.491 | 442.843 | Up 5.79 percent |
| All items price index | Sep 2026 | 336.940 | 324.800 | Up 3.74 percent |
| Parts and equipment price index | Sep 2026 | 189.584 | 188.028 | Up 0.83 percent |
| Repair price index | Aug 2026 | 465.136 | 441.987 | Up 5.24 percent |
| Average hourly pay, repair shops | Aug 2026 | $30.52 | $29.68 | Up 2.83 percent |
| Jobs at repair shops, thousands | Aug 2026 | 1,034.5 | 1,042.1 | Down 0.73 percent |
The parts and equipment index rose 0.83 percent in the 12 months to September. That index measures parts sold to consumers. It does not measure what a shop pays its supplier, so check it against your own invoices.
The pay and job figures run one month behind. For the same month, August 2026, repair prices were up 5.24 percent. Average hourly pay for all employees in automotive repair and maintenance was up 2.83 percent, from $29.68 to $30.52. Jobs in the same industry fell 0.73 percent, from 1,042,100 to 1,034,500. The pay and job series are seasonally adjusted and the price series is not. BLS also revises recent pay and job months.
The pay figure covers everyone at those businesses, not only technicians. Still, the gap is plain. Prices rose about 2.4 points faster than average pay, in an industry with 7,600 fewer jobs than a year before.
What the Number Means at the Counter
A worked example shows the size of the move. A $1,000 ticket from September 2025, moved at the index pace, comes to about $1,058 today. A $150 door rate moved the same way comes to about $158.69. Those are math on the national index, not a price anyone reported.
That does not mean every shop should add 5.79 percent. The index is national. It blends oil changes, tires, brakes and big repairs. Your town, your mix and your car count can all point another way.
A shop can run its own check in one sitting. These four lines come from the shop's own records.
- Effective labor rate for September 2026 against September 2025.
- Average repair order for the same two months.
- Car count for the same two months.
- Parts cost on your 10 most common jobs, from supplier invoices.
If the labor rate rose less than 5.79 percent, the shop fell behind the national pace on price. If the rate rose and car count fell, the price may not be the win it looks like. If both fell, the problem is bigger than the rate.
The October Gap
BLS will publish October 2026 prices on November 10, 2026, per its release schedule. That release may carry no 12 month change for this series. The reason is simple. There is no October 2025 value to divide by.
The BLS record shows a blank for that month, with a note tying it to the 2025 lapse in funding. BLS says it did not collect price data from October 1 through November 12, 2025. It also says the gap affected both the October and November 2025 indexes.
So a headline next week could use a shorter or longer span. Watch the label. A shop tracking this number should use these three spans, and name each one.
- One month, October 2026 against September 2026.
- Thirteen months, October 2026 against the 442.843 value for September 2025.
- Eleven months, October 2026 against the 445.325 value for November 2025.
A 13 month change is not a yearly change. If prices keep rising, it will read a bit high next to one, and an 11 month change will read a bit low. The 12 month view can return with the November 2026 data, due December 10, 2026. It would divide by the 445.325 value, and BLS has flagged that month too, so that comparison needs care.
Reader Mail
- Does this index show what shops charge in my town?
- No. It is a national average of prices urban consumers pay for maintenance and repair. It has no shop level or town level figure in this series.
- Why does one number say 5.8 and another 5.79?
- It is the same number. The exact math gives 5.79 percent, and the headline rounds it to 5.8.
- Will the November 10 release have a 12 month change?
- It may not for this series, because October 2025 has no value. Read the label on any figure you see that week and check how many months it spans.
- Should a shop raise its labor rate by 5.79 percent?
- This number alone cannot decide that. Compare your own labor rate, average repair order and car count against September 2025 first.
Record and Data Links
- Motor vehicle maintenance and repair, series CUUR0000SETD, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- All items, series CUUR0000SA0, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Motor vehicle parts and equipment, series CUUR0000SETC, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Average hourly earnings, automotive repair and maintenance, series CES8081110003, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- All employees, automotive repair and maintenance, series CES8081110001, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Consumer Price Index release schedule, Bureau of Labor Statistics
- 2025 federal government shutdown impact on the CPI, Bureau of Labor Statistics