>>Cars in the past were not "dead in 40k miles".
Insofar as car dealerships they 100% absolutely were dead in 40k miles. All further servicing and repairs were done by independents.
>>Thanks to the complexity of modern cars owners are becoming increasingly likely to stick with dealers for repairs and servicing.
Perhaps, but how will the dealerships cope with their enormous overheads if service only organisations spring up? I know Halfords tried it to an extent, as did others, but things have moved on.
In any case, a dealership does not build huge premises and showrooms because of servicing which in any case requires less and less workshop space and more and more capital investment.
On top of that cars require less frequent, less detailed and less manual servicing even in normal times. But during an apocalypse when mileage drops through the floor, so do servicing demands.
Further, warranty work is decreasing in frequency and the rates are now dictated. And a *dealership* cannot survive on warranty work alone, even if there was enough of it, which there isn't.
So, as I said, the business model is broken. And dealerships will die.
One would expect some kind of technical, delivery / service / warranty / recall / repair organisations to replace them. But the dealership model is dead in the gutter.
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Nov Car Sales down 27%, Private sales dow.. 
Nov Car Sales down 27%, Private sales d.. 