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Blog Entries about "car servicing"
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Servicing and repairs
The idea of analysing the type of work carried out by age of car was prompted by a recent survey completed by Gocompare. Its survey found 36% of motorists have put off routine servicing to save money and a further 6% have never had their car serviced.
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Gender differences
Between 1975 and 2011, the number of people with driving licences in the UK increased by 81% from 19.4 million to 35.2 million. The growth is principally because of a near twofold (171%) increase in women drivers. But just how different are men and women in the way they relate to motor retailing? We look at two recent consumer surveys.
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Car Servicing and Repairs Comparison Sites – the Future is Digital
We’re departing from usual Trend Tracker policy to welcome a guest blogger with some statistical insights into consumers’ habits. Ian Griffiths of Who Can Fix My Car has pioneered online sourcing and supplier comparison in the SMR sector, and urges suppliers to climb on the bandwagon. Meanwhile, he is uncovering patterns of consumer behaviour which complement Trend Tracker’s large-scale Lake Motorists Survey data.
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Independents still going strong
Trend Tracker’s longest-running question in its monthly survey of 1,000 motorists is: “Where did you last get your car serviced?” The latest results available are for January to August and these have been plotted together with the long-term trends in the graph below.
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Knock-on effects
We hear a lot about ‘interconnectivity’ these days. What happens in one part of the world can have a knock-on effect in a completely different part of the world whether it’s a war, financial disaster, famine …. or demand for goods and services.
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The cost of motoring
Two consumer surveys in August apparently highlighted the increasing cost of motoring. The first by CarLoans4U found 40% of motorists cutting back on car usage and the second, by Green Flag, reported a similar percentage (41%) saying they will reduce the number of journeys they make.
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Independents winning in SMR battle
With the kind permission of Auto Retail Network, we are pleased to reproduce here an article written by Trend Tracker director Chris Oakham about our report - The Castrol Car Servicing & Repair Trend Tracker 2012 Update.
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Motorists keeping their cars longer
The recession that started in 2008 seems never ending. After flat-lining since late 2009, the UK economy slipped back into recession at the end of 2011. With countries around the world in a similar state, it looks like it’s going to be a long haul. Indeed if the eurozone crisis gets worse, the UK will suffer further pain.
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Ball Park Figures
A few weeks ago the phone rang and one of our clients asked: “How much was the parts market worth in 2011?” It’s a seemingly simple question and we do keep track of the sales of replacement parts sold to end purchasers in the markets for servicing and mechanical repairs and car body repairs. But for 2011? And then there is the added problem of defining and measuring parts wholesaling.
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Our crystal ball
An important feature of our reports – we are launching three new reports this year - is the forecast section where we look into our crystal ball and project future market trends. In the past, this has proved relatively easy and it was just a matter of plugging key data into a computer model. But the current situation has us scratching our heads.
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Franchised workshop retention - going the wrong way
With Trend Tracker’s consumer data about car servicing now available up to the end of September 2011, the full impact of the ageing car parc on franchised workshop retention on servicing, maintenance and repair (SMR) is emerging.
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Accessorise! New car accessories research
It goes without saying that sales executives will make at least one attempt to sell accessories to new and used car customers. And as any sales executive knows, the best time to sell accessories is when a customer signs up for a car.
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MOT test regime change
When analysing the car servicing and repair market drivers, the ‘usual suspects’ include: car parc size and age profile; average car mileages; build quality trends; service intervals and content; new car warranties; labour rates …. with political and legislative factors barely a consideration. However, that could be about to change with the government’s review of the MOT test regime.
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Driving workshop business
A large proportion of the research for the 2011 Castrol Professional Car Service and Repair Trend Tracker report is an extensive survey of motorists. We have run some elements of this consumer survey since 1994, interviewing 1,000 motorists every month.
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Losing your grip on servicing, maintenance and repair
This month we launched the 2011 edition of the Castrol Professional Car Service and Repair Trend Tracker. It has been published in various forms since 1995 based on an array of primary research including a monthly consumer survey of 1,000 motorists.
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SMR market down, petrol costs up less than you might think
A reflection on topical news was prompted by the work under way to complete the 2011 edition of the Car Service and Repair Trend Tracker report, of which more anon.
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The Weather Effect
It’s difficult to imagine how research can be affected by the weather, but we experienced two serious delays to our schedule in December. Throughout the month we had appointments to analyse service job cards at independent garages and franchised dealerships – working towards the April 2011 edition of the Car Service & Repair Trend Tracker. Quite simply, snow prevented us from driving to workshops and we have now fallen a month behind.
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And so it begins
Previously we have explained how the number of cars on the road up to four years old has a knock-on effect to the aftersales market. As new car sales fall the so-called 'four-year car parc' diminishes in size and franchised dealerships, which rely on younger cars for servicing business, start to feel the effects. Then as time passes this dearth of cars becomes a problem for independent garages targeting older cars. What is less well understood is that a falling four-year car parc impacts on the market for car body repairs too, because it is generally newer cars that are repaired after an accident.
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Small percentages add up to bigger percentages
We make no apologies for returning to the subject of parts wholesaling again because it appears, judging by our workload, that this sector is seeing a real renaissance in the franchised sector. However our work with several vehicle manufacturers, looking at network performance on their behalf, has highlighted one interesting problem – staff lacking basic knowledge.
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More power to your elbow
According to ASE (incorporating Trevor Jones), the average overall labour efficiency of dealers' service departments fell from 83% in 2008 to 80% in 2009. Our own data record a similar fall and you have to go back more than a decade to find service labour efficiencies regularly exceeding 100%. Bodyshops, too, have seen overall labour efficiencies declining over time.
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DIY job card analysis
Analysing job cards is an essential research tool for our reports on the market for servicing and repairs. It is the simplest way of deriving the average values of jobs and revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the two principal market suppliers - franchised and independent. The method, albeit arduous and boring, is relatively straightforward and it's the kind of research any franchised workshop or independent garage can do for themselves.
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Nineteenth Motor Trader Industry Awards 2009
Trend Tracker director, Chris Oakham, was amongst 830 people at the Motor Trader Industry Awards 2009 held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London yesterday evening, 8 July. The 19th Motor Trader Industry Awards celebrated the achievements of companies and individuals challenging the worst recession in the UK retail motor industry since the early 90s - and succeeding. Trend Tracker would like to add their congratulations to the winners of the 18 categories:
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New data on the German aftermarket from Trend Tracker partner
Later this autumn Trend Tracker expects to be able to offer UK customers an unrivalled new report on the European aftermarket, published by our German colleagues at Wolk & Partner following a very extensive research programme. As soon as we have more information, we'll let you know full details.
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Pre-publication offer on The Castrol Professional Car Service & Repair Trend Tracker 2008
The latest addition on our Reports page offers advance information on The Castrol Professional Car Service & Repair Trend Tracker 2008 report. Due for publication in October, this report can now be ordered at an 'earlybird' saving of £225 off the published price of £1,250 plus VAT. While we're grateful for Castrol's sponsorship which continues a long association with Trend Tracker, this latest report represents a major development of an established series. To see why we feel justified in believing this report will be THE definitive UK automotive aftersales market study, go to the Reports page on this site
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Comment on EU block exemption review and service regulation
An initial reaction to the current state of play in the run-up to the revision or abolition of the automotive block exemption: I'm inclined to agree with the European Commission's desire to simplify things, having found some of the 2002 Regulation's clauses irrelevant. It's clear that the 2002 block exemption gave vehicle manufacturers an opportunity to tear up old contracts and write new, sometimes more onerous ones. Also, that it has facilitated none of the retailing innovation or cross-border investment by dealers that the EC hoped for.
