Car prices could go even higher, shoppers could see their options restricted, and drivers of GM and Stellantis-made vehicles could have a harder time getting them repaired if the auto worker strike drags on.

The United Auto Workers Union began striking earlier this month when 13,000 workers at General Motors (GM), Stellantis (STLA), and Ford (F) walked off the job to pressure the automakers for more pay, better working conditions and the restoration of traditional pensions. The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:“stand-up” strike started with only a small fraction of the union’s members participating, giving the union more options to ratchet up the pressure as well as the ability to stay on strike longer.

The strike is the latest high-profile 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:exercise of labor power in a job market where workers aꦕre in hig🍃h demand and have a lot of leverage. Here’s how consumers could be caught up in the struggle between Detroit workers and the owners of the auto companies.

Cars Could Get Pricier, and Harder to Find

As if car prices weren’t high enough already, the strike could eventually restrict the supply of new cars entering the market and push prices higher for both new and used vehicles, said Michael Brisson, an auto economist at Moody’s Analytics.𓃲 

Used car prices would likely rise first since dealers are, in theory, not supposed to charge more than the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体🔴彩网:Ma𓃲nufacturer Suggested Retail Prices that aren’t updated until new car models come out each year, Brisson said.♚

The impact has been limited so far because only 19,000 of some 150,000 UAW workers at the Big Three are currently picketing. That could change if the strike gets bigger and lasts longer.

“There's a significant risk if it is prolonged, and if it's expanded,” Brisson said.

How high could prices go? In August, before the strike began, Brisson estimated used car prices could rise more than 10% in a widespread strike lasting 40 days.

Experts differ on whether we’ve seen an impact already.

“We've already seen some evidence that prices are moving higher since the strike was announced about a week and a half ago,” said Garrett Nelson, an analyst with CFRA, a financial research firm. 

Nelson said he suspects customers who heard about the strike in the news have gone out car-shopping sooner than they had planned, especially if they had their eye on one of the models currently not being made because of the strike.

“They've accelerated their trip to the dealership to make that purchase, so we think there's been an uptick in pricing and sales volume,” Nelson said.

Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at auto market data company Edmunds, chalked up the rise in sales volume to usual monthly patterns.

“We'll likely start seeing the first signs of real impact in October and if disruption continues, the impacts will cascade into the used market as well,” he said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday.

The potential impact of the strike is limited because GM, Ford, and Stellantis vehicles only account for 40% of the U.S. auto market, meaning consumers have plenty of other options outside of the Big Three if prices get too high, or selection too scarce, Brisson said.

It may take a while before new car dealerships start to look picked clean. As of September, the stock of Chevys on dealer lots would take about 50 days to sell out at the current pace of sales. There were more than 80 days worth of Fords, and about 100 for Stellantis-owned brands including Chrysler and Jeep, according to Cox Auto data. The stockpile of Stellantis cars may have been done deliberately, Nelson said.

“I think it was an in🍸tentional inventory build realizing that there could 🍸be a strike that might not be resolved for some time,” he said.

Getting Your Car Fixed Could Be Difficult

On Friday, UAW workers went on strike at 38 parts and di꧋stribution facilities that supplied GM and Stellantis dealerships. That means dealers won’t be able to make repairs once they run out of parts they have on hand.

“Consumers are going to have a hard time having maintenance and repairs done 🏅on their vehicles,” Nelson said. 

While some repairs can be done at independent shops, other repairs require manufacturer-made parts from dealerships, said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds.

“Your motor goes, your transmission, the big stuff, it's not like shocks where you can just go somewhere else,” Drury said, noting that this could cause some “scrambling and panic” among drivers who aren’t sure if they’ll be able to get their cars fixed. 

While the strike may have a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结♏果体彩网:limited economic impa🔯ct across the whole country, it is a hardship for the workers involved who aren’t getting paid, and the communities where auto manufacturing is the main business.

“I don't think that it's going to really pummel the U.S. economy or send us into a recession. However, I do think that this is a story about the people on the ground who are going through this on all sides,” Brisson said.