This already happens. The most common AC repair needed is a new capacitor. It's a $20 part.
Call your dad's business, you probably get a quote for $100-ish and it's fixed in ten minutes.
Call a PE owned shop and they are likely to tell you that your entire system needs replaced. Quote $5-$8k.
Reports like this are already common place, and the roll-ups of former small-businesses in industry like HVAC that the PE people celebrate will only make this worse for customers.
Tldr hot weather is hard on them. They have a finite lifetime and suffer most when you need the AC the most.
In HVAC world, the practical differences between a motor start cap and a motor run cap are price, physical size, and longevity.
A start cap is cheaper, but is meant only for intermittent duty and is unsuitable for use as a run cap.
Meanwhile, a run cap costs more but can serve as a run cap or a start cap.
All things (except for outliers like the McLaren F1) are built down to a price.