in a garage in Vendée, customers rumble and the all-automotive industry is faltering

This article is part of our “Les focuses de franceinfo” operation, which highlights key topics that are little covered in the presidential campaign: the cost of housing, the public hospital crisis, the taboo of mental health and the carbon footprint of transport.

He bursts into the workshop with a big smile, unusual in such circumstances. Victim of a collision after a motorist refused priority, the customer called the mechanic. It’s going to need a new hubcap. The wheel has suffered, but he is delighted to be there. He is 69 years old and is none other than Daniel You, the former boss of this garage in Les Herbiers (Vendée), which he founded in 1976 and which bears his name. Ten years after handing over, the retiree still seems to have enough juice to restart a dead battery. He is fueled by the pride of seeing his old company survive him.

In this corner of the Vendée bocage, far from the coast and major urban centers, the car is perceived as a basic necessity. In Les Herbiers and in the surrounding towns (30,000 inhabitants), half of households have two vehicles, according to the latest official figures. “We have an unemployment rate of 4.1%, one of the lowest in France. Everyone needs their car to get to work”, justifies the various right mayor, Véronique Besse. The four-wheeler would even be an identity marker, according to this close friend of the sovereignist Philippe de Villiers.

“The Vendéen is very independent, he likes his freedom, and therefore his car.”

Véronique Besse, miscellaneous right mayor of Les Herbiers

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Under the shed of the garage You, however, we begin to cough. The activity is good, but the thermal car sees its reign contested. Too expensive, too polluting, it is slowly becoming outdated and must leave room for other more virtuous modes of transport. “Small garages, we are bad”, slips the only employee, Benoît Villeneuve, 35 years old. The troubles have already started.

“Happy customers like Daniel, you don’t see them every day”smiles Fabien Danard, who took over the garage from his boss in 2008. “Generally, people don’t like to come to us”, confirms Stéphanie Danard, his wife, who manages the administration. Nothing personal, just a matter of budget. Since the rise of electronics, the aces of mechanics have lost their magic and the invoices have taken on weight. “We hardly repair anymore, we replace”deplores the couple in their forties, in the front line to face the reactions of the customers.

“People come to my house and make faces. ‘It’s expensive’, ‘I’m tired of seeing you’… In the long run, it’s exhausting.”

Fabien Danard, manager of the You garage

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While fixing up a Volkswagen Polo saved from the scrapyard, the mechanic takes a look in the rear view mirror. “Until the 1990s, customers were less fussy. If you wanted a car, you would drop by, we would look around a bit and top it off. It was the good old days, there was purchasing power. Now, for the smallest odds and ends, it’s an estimate. The car becomes a luxury product.”

Sitting on a yellow leather armchair in the hall, Sophie waits to collect her volkswagen Golf. “Apparently, the tire valve would be punctured”she explained, hesitantly, entering. “Usually, it’s my husband who manages it, but he works. The car, that doesn’t interest me. For me, it’s a money pit.” No question of letting go of the car. “I need it to drop off my kids and get to work on timeexplains the 35-year-old client. I could do it on foot, we are in the city center, but we would have to get up even earlier.”

“I chose the facility rather than the exemplarity.”

Sophie, Garage You customer

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Her husband, he is passionate about mechanics and speed, is one of those who display their success at the wheel of beautiful cars. “The car remains a prestigious object, comments Fabien Danard. I always have customers who prefer to have a big car and eat potatoes all week.”

A white Audi pulls up in front of the garage. The driver ventures to the workshop for an engine light problem, when he has just bought this sedan second hand. “I stayed on diesel, since it consumes less and I travel 110 km a day to go to work, explains Christopher, a 35-year-old special education teacher. I wanted to go electric or hybrid, but it’s too expensive.”

“With rising fuel prices, like other colleagues, I started looking for work closer to home.”

Christopher, You garage customer

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Among the customers, several have taken the plunge of the electric. Cyril is about to pay 24,500 euros for a second-hand Peugeot e-208, as he explains while the mechanic is graciously patching up his trailer for him. “We made this choice in relation to the price of fuel and for ecological reasons”defends this professor of SVT, in front of Daniel You, who remained in the area, not convinced.

“I had it for 40 euros a month at the pump. With electric, it will cost me 7 euros to recharge per month.

– Yes, but how long will your battery last? You have an eight-year warranty, so what? Electricity, I don’t believe in it.”

In her glazed office, Stéphanie Danard sees disoriented motorists pass by. “People no longer know if they should buy a petrol, a diesel, a bioethanol kit… We just know that we can’t afford to switch to an electric vehicle for ourselves.” The managers, who live 20 km away, cling to their old diesels, one per head. Together with their 16 and 18 year old boys, they now have four cars at home.

With a smirk glued to his face, Benoît Villeneuve grabs a paper towel and wipes his forehead. The first rays of spring warm the roof of the workshop. Oil change break before the big chunk of the afternoon: replacing the hood and bumper of a vehicle that crashed into a planter. On the radio, between two songs, a car advertisement ends with one of the terms now imposed on manufacturers: “For short journeys, favor walking or cycling.”

A lover of bicycles, the mechanic would pedal well to work, a dozen kilometers from his home. “But the road is an old national, a long straight line with trucks sucking you in. It’s too dangerous.”

“If I lived in town, it’s clear, I wouldn’t have a car. Driving is not a pleasure for me.”

Benoît Villeneuve, employee of the garage You

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Passionate about mechanics since his first bike, switched to scooters at 14 and cars at 18, the 30-year-old judges “outmoded” the cult of the car as a sign of wealth and virility. “Besides, tuning, we don’t see it anymore here. The car is less and less a pleasure expense.” Some of his friends have taken up carpooling. Him expects safe cycle paths.