We’re moving the goalposts… Now taking on NEW clients with vehicles 20-years-old-or-newer!

October 19, 2026

For about 30 years, the Tom Dwyer Automotive older vehicle policy has been to not accept NEW CLIENTS with vehicles older than 15 years. That policy protects both you and us so we’ve stood by it even though it’s been the single biggest reason for bad reviews. We still think it’s a good idea, but times change and we’re announcing one of the biggest changes to our shop procedures in many years… we’re now taking on NEW CLIENTS WITH VEHICLES 20-YEARS-OLD AND NEWER.

What, PRECISELY, is our older vehicle policy?

Currently, we don’t accept NEW clients with vehicles that are more than 15 years old. Note that it says “NEW” clients… NO CLIENTS’ VEHICLE WILL ‘AGE OUT’ ONCE WE START SERVICING IT!

We’re widening that window to 20-years-old-or-newer as of today.

Why do we have this policy in the first place?

One of the big reasons Tom went out on his own all those years ago was because he knew most shops didn’t look at older vehicles as potential money pits for customers, but as profit centers for the shops. Older vehicles tend to gobble the most money at the end of their mechanical lives and a “smart” shop knows this. They can keep customers on the hook for months or even years trying to squeeze a few last miles out of their clunkers when, from the customers’ point of view, their money would have been much better spent on a new vehicle.

Our older-vehicle policy is critical to the way we work. Our service revolves around giving clear, prioritized advice for the longterm care of your vehicle. It requires a solid client/mechanic relationship of trust and communication, and it’s almost impossible to build that kind of relationship starting with a vehicle that’s already irreparable. If a new person comes in for the first time with an older vehicle that’s “never needed any work” and we hand them a list of needed repairs totaling thousands of dollars, would they believe we’re being straight with them? Should they?

Just prioritizing the services and repairs on an older vehicle can be almost impossible. Suppose a vehicle needs a $300 maintenance service, a $2000 service that’s critical for safety, and a $4000 re-seal to keep the engine from falling apart. How would our Service Advisors prioritize these when doing any one service alone is a waste of the clients’ money? If it was their first visit and our Advisor tells them to sell the vehicle because the needed repairs outweigh the value of the vehicle (what we call ‘economically totaled’) would they trust our opinion? Again, should they?

Why DON’T we have this policy?

Our older vehicle policy has brought us accusations of “car snobs” and more. It’s our biggest driver of bad reviews, and reviewer John R. gave us the chance to respond to several reasons we DON’T have the policy all at once…

“This business DOES NOT serve any customers with cars older than 15 years of age. Every person is taught the same script and they make an effort to make sure to not take you on as a new customer as you would take away their potential work from their loyal customers somehow? My car just needed routine maintenance and apparently they are against the right to repair what you have, prefer that you have a shiny car that you brought in from the car lot, and are afraid of any potential issues or people who are poor and can’t take on large repair bills for example. I’m perfectly fine with my repairs when necessary, but this is unacceptable behaviour and the customers here are supporting this type of business practice.”

Here’s part of our response…

“…We all use the ‘same script’ because we all understand the reasons behind this policy. Surprisingly, none of our reasons were we’re ‘against the right to repair what you have’ (we gave him a referral to a shop that could repair what he has), we ‘prefer he had a shiny car brought in from the car lot’ (we have many ongoing clients with vehicles 10, 20, 30 years old and older), are ‘afraid of potential issues’ (our ASE Blue Seal Technicians can handle anything he could throw), or that we’re ‘afraid of poor people who can’t take on large repair bills’ (we specifically explained to John how this policy protects people with vehicles that just aren’t worth pouring money into).”

Why are we changing now, after all these years?

So if we’ve had this policy for years and stand behind the reasoning on it, why change? Why now? It’s because we’ve been getting more and more people who want to care for their older vehicles, and we’ve been turning away clients who may well have had viable, care-worthy vehicles. We think there are two reasons for that…

Cars have gotten more expensive- The average American will pay $49,855 for a new vehicle in 2026. If that drives you to the used car market you’ll find the average used car price exceeded $27,000 for the first time in 2023 and is well over that now. If you’re looking for a little newer than “average” then pull out your wallet… expect to pay over $32,000 for something 3-years-old. We generally consider a vehicle “economically totaled” when the costs to repair outweigh the value of the vehicle, but the costs of a replacement vehicle factor in too. As the costs rise, the calculus for “when to part with the car” changes as well. Many older vehicles that wouldn’t have been worth repairing before may well justify the investment in today’s car market.
Cars have gotten better- In the 1930’s you could expect about 50-90K lifetime for your vehicle. By the 60’s and 70’s that had improved but most vehicles were pretty used up by 100K, and if you got 150K you were doing very, very well. Thanks to improvement in technology today’s cars are reaching their end stages around 200K, and vehicles like our favorites Toyota and Honda can hit 300K with the proper care. The point is, in the year 2000 a “15-years-old-or-newer” policy was weeding out cars from 1985, well toward the end of their lives. Today it’s excluding vehicles from 2011 that are only late-middle-aged. The vehicles are just better now and expanding our age-restriction window just recognizes that fact.

The final word goes to a client

Our maintenance programs will extend the life of your vehicle, but it’s rarely worth playing “catch up” to get an older, poorly maintained vehicle running safely and reliably. We hate to say “no” to potential new clients, but we have too much respect to start a relationship that is not mutually beneficial. But times and technology change and we have to keep up. So, we’ve moved the goalposts to 20-years-old-and-newer vehicles but the logic is the same… the policy is here to protect both us and our potential new clients.

In closing, as hard as we’ve tried to explain this policy over the years, one of our clients may have done it best. Here’s a 2012 review from Robb W. on Yelp that puts it very succinctly…

“Tom Dwyer’s is solid as hell across all fronts. They know most makes and models and bend over backwards to make your experience there the best you could ever imagine…seriously. Is your car less than 15 years old? Then they will be able to take care of you in all likelihood. Why 15 years? Their philosophy is that after 15 years, your money is better spent on a newer car…that the repairs will mount and it is no longer cost effective to continue to fix your old hooptie. And no, they don’t sell new cars as a side business…it’s just smart thinking and they’re not trying to take your money doing a bunch of avoidable repairs.

Hell, sometimes they’re not trying to take your money at all. I have been there on two separate occasions where they have put my car up on the lift, actually done some work and refused to charge me…not a single thin dime.”

Thanks, Robb!