Yaneek Page | The frenzy over Chinese auto repair shops

There’s no denying it: 2025 keeps reminding us that Jamaica is grappling with a deep crisis of trust – not just in government or law enforcement, but in commerce.

This crisis came into sharp focus recently when a Chinese-owned auto repair shop quietly opened and was quickly overwhelmed by eager customers. Some waited in hours-long lines, travelled across the island, returned over multiple days, and even tried camping outside the garage gates overnight, hoping to secure one of the limited slots for repairs by the Chinese technicians.

Although the government has since closed the garage, as it resolves the work status of the employees, some questions remain open. Is this frenzy more than curiosity with the novelty of the business? Does the demand point to something bigger: such as consumers starving for reliability in a business landscape where it is too often in short supply?

The facts require introspection – this business is foreign-owned, with no proven track record, brand recognition, local roots, or marketing and promotion.

They didn’t launch a sophisticated scheduling system, just numbers handed out to would-be customers, on a first-come-first-serve basis. They had no staff member collecting potential customers’ information, which is fascinating, since conventional business acumen would demand that you document leads to build a customer database.

It seems the Chinese expected that most Jamaicans would return another day, even after being turned back in disappointment. Some customers were required to source their own parts in order to complete the service and repairs, and the workers were not fluent in English, relying on Google translate to bridge the communications gap.

Thirst for good service

Yet, what the garage did not lack was an important prerequisite for business success – trust and confidence from the public. There was an expectation, and even outspoken conviction, that they would do it better, cheaper and faster than many of our own mechanics.

The garage owner himself conceded his shock in an article published in The STAR: “I never imagined that so many Jamaicans would welcome us like this. We are still fixing up and not fully open, but they still come.”

What we should also find troubling was his disclosure that “we come to fix everything”.

Online reactions communicated one language and message in unison – Jamaicans want better service. On The Gleaner’s Facebook page, Meta AI analysed nearly 1,000 comments, and the sentiments were a mix of concern, frustration and admiration:

Commenters discussed the impact of a Chinese owned auto repair shop in Jamaica citing concerns about local mechanics being pushed out and the country’s reliance on foreign businesses. Some praised the shops quality service while others lament the lack of support for local entrepreneurs and the potential for Chinese dominance in various industries.

The top three most-liked comments echoed sentiments across all social media platforms:

• As a person in that same line of business they are doing their job in the highest level and they set up the facilities to accommodate the jobs and they have a team of employees, but we Jamaicans can’t work together we only think about tearing down each other’s business;

• This is what happens when we don’t take care of each other in the right way anyone can come in and take over; and

• The Chinese need to open more branches, local mechanics are scammers.

National intervention required

We cannot achieve economic prosperity by outsourcing problems to foreigners. We have to roll up our sleeves and face the core issues: we’re deficient in trust, professionalism and efficiency. For years we have lamented the poor quality of service across the gamut of sectors. Now we can add to that the perception of incompetence, dishonesty, and unprofessionalism that has plagued many local service providers.

The starting point is implementing stricter regulations ensuring foreign-owned businesses meet the same licensing, tax, and labour standards as local enterprises.

Foreign investors in every industry must have strict local preferential hiring requirements, as do other countries. However, for the benefit of skills and knowledge transfer, we could encourage partnerships between foreign businesses and local entrepreneurs.

Many of our mechanics could learn from the efficiency and professionalism that foreign competitors bring, improving their own standards and regaining the trust of consumers. At the same time, government must assist locals to modernise equipment, access better facilities, improve service and professionalism, and adopt global best practices.

We need a nationwide service quality audit: surveying customer satisfaction, turnaround times, professionalism, and trust across key industries. We need global benchmarking metrics, and a National Service Scorecard that establishes the baseline. It should be the standard, rather than an exception for small businesses to use KPIs like NPS, or net promoter score, resolution rates, certification levels, and workforce professionalism in the normal course of business, to maintain world-class customer service.

This serves as a wake-up call that Jamaica’s industry, like our social fabric, is at a crossroads. We shouldn’t wait on foreign capital to scour our island for opportunities before we innovate, improve and meet the expectations of customers.

One love!

Yaneek Page is the programme lead for Market Entry USA, and a certified trainer in entrepreneurship.yaneek.page@gmail.com