You're an insightful young man...
A good comparison is what happened to collision repair, when I owned a fleet management company...
Remember when the laws swept the nation requiring everyone to carry auto insurance (you were very young). Before that, a dented fender was a $200 no brainer. Couple of hours of labor to pull/fill the dent.. and an hour of labor to paint the fender..
NOW.. that insurance pays for everything.. that same dent is $1,200 !!