Independent auto mechanics work on vehicles in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where they offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
When Cameron Chen was told it could cost about $2,200 to fix a problem with his car, he called his dad.
The price didn’t sound right. Chen, who later bought the parts himself, said they cost less than $200. And he had spent enough time driving along East Riverside Drive to know there might be another option.
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So in early August, he pulled into an AutoZone parking lot where, on most days, dozens of car repairmen arrive with floor jacks, toolboxes and vans and turn patches of asphalt into makeshift mechanic bays.
Over the years, an informal auto repair market has taken root outside the AutoZone at 2237 E. Riverside Drive — a mechanic shop with no shop.
The mechanics are not AutoZone employees, and the brick-and-mortar store employees said are unaffiliated with those outside. AutoZone’s corporate office did not immediately respond to request for comment on the practice. There is no service counter or shop roof to cover them from the scorching Texas sun. Customers pull in, describe the noise their car is making and negotiate directly with one of the men waiting outside. If they need a part, the store is steps away.
Independent auto mechanics work on vehicles in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
When he arrived at the AutoZone parking lot, Chen bought the parts in the store and paid a mechanic $200 for labor. In all, he spent less than $400 — more than $1,800 below the roughly $2,200 quote he had received from the first shop.
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“I feel like they’re not really taking advantage of how I feel that other place did,” Chen said. After one visit, he said, “I’m just gonna come here every single time.”
Mechanic Carlos Paredes said his crew can see 30 or 40 cars on a busy day, replacing brakes and rotors alongside transmissions and entire engines. He said they are there every day — “Sunday to Sunday.”
The market is built around a basic mismatch in the formal economy. People need cars, increasingly expensive cars need repairs and conventional repairs can cost more than some drivers can afford. At the same time, mechanics with a valuable skill can make money outside the traditional bounds of employment without much of the overhead of operating a traditional shop. For both groups, the savings and opportunity can outweigh the risks of doing business in the open — from extreme heat and violence to police sweeps and immigration enforcement.
Rudy, left, and Samuel, two of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, replace a CV axle on a Hyundai Santa Fe on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Samuel, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, replaces a CV axle on a Hyundai Santa Fe on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Uriver Velasquez, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, works on a vehicle on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
An independent auto mechanic works on a car in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Erwin Ramirez, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, works beneath a vehicle on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
An independent mechanic replaces a CV axle on a Hyundai Santa Fe in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Carlos Carcamo, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, replaces a taillight assembly on a Toyota RAV4 on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Carlos Carcamo, left, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, works on a vehicle on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Air conditioning manifold gauges hang from the back of an independent mechanic’s van in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Marlo uses an angle grinder on an automotive part in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Tools rest on the hood of an independent mechanic’s car in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
A Honda engine sits on the pavement in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent auto mechanics work, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
An independent auto mechanic searches through a collection of fasteners and other hardware while repairing a vehicle in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Uriver Velasquez, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, works on a vehicle on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Independent auto mechanics work on vehicles in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Independent auto mechanics work on vehicles in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
In June, the cost of motor vehicle maintenance and repair was 7% higher nationally than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, twice the 3.5% increase in consumer prices overall.
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But in the AutoZone parking lot, Joseph Gaitan, a professional wrestler in training who moved to Austin from the Dallas area, said other shops wanted $500 to $800 in labor to replace an axle on his 2013 Hyundai. In the parking lot, he was quoted $100, so long as he brought the part.
“I just can’t do that right now,” Gaitan said of the higher prices. “I got a lot of other things going on.”
Cheaper in the open
The arrangement slashes costs at nearly every step.
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Customers often buy their own parts. Some mechanics have commercial accounts that allow them to purchase at lower prices and pass at least some of the savings along. There is no waiting room, receptionist or garage. Repairs are first come, first serve. Cars are lifted on jacks in parking spaces while their owners stand nearby and watch.
Allan Steer, who has worked at the lot for six years, said that visibility is part of why customers trust them. At a traditional shop, he said, a customer may drop off a car and return later. Here, people seeking repairs can see the damaged part and watch as it comes out.
“They are watching us what we do,” Steer said. “It’s not blind.”
Gaitan agreed with the description of transparency. If someone doesn’t like a price or doesn’t trust a diagnosis, he said, another mechanic may be standing a few parking spaces away.
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Carlos Carcamo, right, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, accepts payment after replacing a taillight assembly on a Toyota RAV4 on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
But the low prices are possible in part because the mechanics have traded the protections of a traditional workplace for independence.
During the summer, temperatures in Austin regularly rise above 100 degrees, and sun-baked asphalt can make conditions feel even hotter. And there are no enclosed bays separating workers from the traffic moving through the lot.
But the benefits outweigh the discomfort for the mechanics. Jonathan Rivera, a young mechanic who works in the lot with his family, said his father once worked in a mechanic shop before deciding he did not want to work for someone else. A friend told his dad about the Riverside lot, where he could bring his tools and find his own customers.
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Rivera has now worked there for about five years, alongside his brother and other members of his family’s crew.
If he needs a day off, Rivera said, he takes one.
“You don’t have to tell nobody,” he said.
The mechanics have also built much of the infrastructure a formal business would normally provide. Some have regulars who recommend the lot to friends and family, others advertise their work on TikTok, and many operate mobile mechanic businesses from vans and travel to customers’ homes. If one man cannot perform a particular repair, mechanics said, he may refer the job to someone else in the lot.
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Tools fill the back of an independent mechanic’s van in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Even the parking spaces have developed an informal order.
The mechanics said workers generally respect the spaces where others have established themselves. Customers learn where to find a particular mechanic, and reputations spread through families and word of mouth. Another mechanic described fixing one customer’s car only to have the customer’s brother seek him out the next morning.
More vulnerable in the open
The parking lot also offers a place to earn money for workers who can face barriers to formal employment. The community is heavily immigrant and Spanish-speaking; mechanics described coworkers from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and elsewhere, some supporting children, parents and relatives with what they earn there. Rivera said most of his customers also speak Spanish.
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Carlos Carcamo, another mechanic, said the lot has become one of the few places some men — including some who are undocumented — can reliably find work.
There is no employer standing between the mechanics and law enforcement, no building to retreat inside and little anonymity in a workplace visible from one of East Riverside Drive’s busiest commercial corridors.
Immigration enforcement has already reached the parking lot. Social media videos from June 21 show a Texas state trooper at the Riverside AutoZone during an incident in which local accounts said a man was taken into custody by federal immigration agents.
In response to questions about the June 21 incident, ICE confirmed that it detained two Mexican nationals after the Texas Department of Public Safety requested assistance. The agency described both men as being in the country illegally but did not provide their names, the specific basis for their arrests, where they were taken or their current custody status.
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A week earlier on June 15, Jose Salgado-Amador was working in the same parking lot when a man walked up and said “mechanico,” according to an arrest affidavit — a word a customer might use to flag down someone for a repair. Then the man flashed a gun and demanded property.
Salgado-Amador, 28, complied, the affidavit says. But when the robber turned toward another man, Salgado-Amador tried to wrestle the gun away. The robber shot Salgado-Amador in the struggle and he died at a hospital about an hour later.
Police later arrested two men. Israel Medina, 19, was charged with capital murder; David Perez Jr., 26, was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery.
Several weeks later, the mechanics were still there. Cars sat with their hoods open, some with the entire engine removed. Men crawled underneath tons of metal to squeeze their hands into tight places. Customers waited under the shade from a few trees. Music played nearby.
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Juan Carlos Paredes, left, and Uriver Velasquez, two of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, work on the transmission of a Chevrolet Silverado on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Operations like this one have faced hardship before.
Steer said he previously worked around an AutoZone on North Lamar Boulevard, where a similar group of mechanics gathered. He said police repeatedly forced the mechanics out, at one point disrupting the group for roughly two months.
Eventually, he said, another community grew on Riverside. When Steer joined them six years ago, the lot had 10 mechanics. It has since grown to a least 50.
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“People come, more people come, more people come,” he said.
An independent auto mechanic works on a car in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, where dozens of independent mechanics offer vehicle repairs, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Gaitan called the scene an “AutoZone car repair shop and an all day party” — mechanics, customers, food for sale, music and chairs clustered together around working men.
The informality carries obvious risks. Customers generally do not receive the experience or protections they would expect from a conventional repair facility. Mechanics work outdoors, on someone else’s property, exposed to whatever happens in the parking lot around them.
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But each morning, the mechanics and customers keep coming back.
Marlo, one of dozens of independent auto mechanics working in the parking lot shared by AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive, works on a vehicle component on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Austin.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Sometimes the customer’s need is acute enough that mechanics say they relate to the struggle and cut prices further. Steer described customers arriving with dangerously damaged brakes and little money. In those cases, he said, he shirks the profit motive.
“If they are in need, you help them,” he said.
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A broken car can mean missing work, and a four-figure repair can be impossible. A mechanic with tools and experience needs somewhere to use them. In the Riverside AutoZone parking lot, both sides have found solutions.
And so far, even when something disrupts the work, people continue to return.