I also do my best to talk my customer base out of newer trucks needing computer software to diagnose or reprogram. I do agree with others that state that brake jobs, tune ups, hyd cyl rebuilding, etc still needs to be done, but having my hands tied behind my back for electronic issues is nothing short of frustrating- & not only for me.

My customers with newer trucks always cringe when I tell them the dealer needs to be called because of an electronic issue. The experiences are never pleasant- always seem to be time consuming & expensive. (Even in the HD truck market, the song's the same- independents for the "mechanical" stuff- dealer for the intellectual stuff- and as holds true with us- the dealer experiences are time consuming & expensive).

As a side note- Erik- as you say- this is what happened in the auto business years ago. Consumers are protected by "Consumer protection laws", which ultimately handled this issue for them. The "right to work" gave consumers the choice of what type of repair shop they wanted to use. Unfortunately there is no such protection law in the industrial field. We as independents have to work within the legalized monopolies that exist today.