Car self-repair and online access to spare parts: Evidence from French motorized households

Repair plays a central role in circular economy strategies, yet most studies of self-repair focus on low- or medium-involvement products, such as clothing, household appliances, or consumer electronics. This article examines car self-repair, a high-involvement product context in which repair decisions are shaped by cost, technical complexity, safety concerns, and dependence on automobility. It analyses the relationship between car self-repair and online access to spare parts using a 2019 survey of 5004 French motorized households. A bivariate probit model is used to jointly estimate two binary decisions: purchasing automotive spare parts online and engaging in self-repair, either directly or through one's close social circle. The results show that the two practices are statistically interdependent. Prior online shopping experience, vehicle mileage, the number of vehicles owned, and delayed maintenance are positively associated with both behaviours. Lower-income households are more likely to engage in self-repair, while online spare-parts purchasing is more strongly associated with prior e-commerce experience and middle-aged groups. The findings suggest that online access to spare parts should be understood as a repair-support infrastructure rather than as a direct causal trigger of self-repair. The article contributes to circular economy research by showing that, for high-involvement products, self-repair may reflect not only environmental or expressive motivations but also economic necessity, asset preservation, and unequal access to professional repair services. It highlights the limits of self-repair in digitalized vehicles and points to the need for hybrid repair services that combine online information and spare-part sourcing with professional diagnosis, assistance, and safety expertise.