Donnie Elliott has been fixing cars and trucks for years, but he never imagined he'd have a tough time getting the parts in to make repairs.

“I’ve never seen where the things that were so readily available, that there was a dime a dozen, it’s not there anymore," said Elliott, the co-owner of Elliott's Automotive.

As global supply chain issues impact a variety of industries, Elliott says getting car parts has taken a huge hit over the last 18 months. Once-readily available parts like brakes, motors and mirrors, even light bulbs, are suddenly week-long waits, or in extreme cases, even longer than that.

“During the summer months, we couldn’t get exhaust," Elliott said. "I don’t know why. To this day, I can’t figure out why we couldn’t get exhaust.”

And those issues at the shop, he says, create a domino effect that hurts drivers.

“We’re working on a truck right now and we can’t get a muffler for it," Elliott said. "There’s none in the country. They’re showing zero in the country. So what’s that customer do? He’s going to get pulled over. He’s got a loud exhaust, he’s gonna get pulled over, he’s gonna get a ticket, but it’s not his fault.”

Elliott adds that these shortages, along with fewer people driving during the pandemic, have cost him business. In 2020, he says profits dropped by as much as 30% and come tax time this year, he’s not sure how 2021 will look.

“But in all honesty, I don’t think I really want to look," he said. "Because if I do, and it’s way down, and I’m not making the money I used to, why stay? Why keep going?”