They try block it at every turn, independents have absolutely no chance against the dealership network and the car manufacturers protecting their turf, you just don't have access to the information, hell even trying to buy a manufacturers diagnostic tool is a hassle.
Aftermarket diagnostic tools, you can't just buy one and it works with everything, some models do certain brands better than others, then if you have a car like a Falcon which is electrically an orphan in the Ford family, no one really does it too well compared to stuff from Ford Europe because of its limited market, these companies don't invest too much into catering for those models.
I was friendly with a couple of local workshops so we all bought different brands, so we could borrow each others diagnostic scanners if our own one wouldn't cut the mustard.
This all has ongoing costs, not just the up front costs but the access to the updates, its usually included in the purchase price for 1-2 years, then afterwards its four figures per year for the updates depending on which one you have.
The genuine Ford one is reasonably priced, I think the buy price was only $3800 USD + $660 USD/year for the updates.
We used to have Mercedes STAR diagnostic system we shared between us and our Sydney branch where I did my apprenticeship, they'd freight it down to us to do the programming of Mercedes Sprinter PSM
It was $20K per YEAR.
The thing with the automotive industry its a 'sunset' industry, there's not much difference between workshop pricing and someone here walking in and buying over the counter, more and more people provide their own parts, hell I still have 30 day accounts with a dealership and a major auto electrical supplier, so I also source my own parts and supply them.
You can't get repair information on cars out of manufacturers in Australia, they have no obligations to supply it, there is no 'right of repair' legislation either, when I was an apprentice, the TAFE I went to, did the training for Nissan technicians for their EV course, but it wasn't open to any other kids, was just for Nissan
Add in the costs of your ever increasing overheads unless you own the building you're in, the lack of support if you need it, the low margins, the low wages and now there's a shortage of LV mechanics and auto electricians because of the pandemic closing off 457 visas, that's why you get people who just want to do oil and filter as its an easy in/out.
Kids don't really want to work in the industry, there's also a push at a high school level for kids to go into university instead of trades. The kids who do go into trades go into construction trades - thats where the money is, a 240V electrician or a plumber has a Thailand Special and a tool trailer with a couple thousand bucks worth of tools, they don't need diagnostic scanners with yearly updates that cost 4 figures or specialist tools for this and that car to do particular jobs etc.
Also the way the industry is, company cars being serviced at dealerships, new cars financed and accessory fitment handled by the dealership so its all on one invoice etc the independent is losing out.
The guys who work at dealerships wake up wondering how many major services they're going to do today, on the same cars, day in day out.
Nugget Garage did a good video recently on getting out of the general mechanical and accessory fitment side and focusing just on tuning, he mentioned a lot of what I've covered as well.
To a degree I get people whinging about $165 inc GST hourly labour rate at work, so I take them on a tour of our production facility, point out the $300,000/year in rent, 2x $250,000 CNC machines, introduce them to the bloke who operates them, take them by the 10 people who do the assembly work, the warehouse, show them our stock on the shelves.
Plus the other 20 people they don't see who are in interstate branches.
One of our competitors closed up shop recently, they have a 100+ year history, they were sitting on over $20M worth of land - manufacturing business or sell their property and capitalise on the gains from the land?
From the perspective of an automotive workshop its a hard business to 'scale up' too.