The latest Car Service and Repair report for 2010 presents the latest dealer network retention research for car servicing and repairs in the UK

Headline findings from this latest report include:

- As in Trend Tracker’s 2008 survey, Honda drivers are still the most loyal to the dealers for the make when it comes to having their cars serviced. Honda dealers successfully retained the custom of 39.5 per cent of Honda cars of all ages for servicing in 2009. Combined, the dealers for the prestige German makes - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – retained the servicing custom of 38.8% of these brands’ drivers. Toyota dealers also recorded a well-above average performance in 2009 by retaining 35.6% of its owners for routine servicing.

- At the bottom end of the routine servicing loyalty table, only 16.1% of Rover and MG owners said they used the dealer for their make to service their car (the XPart network took on support for the brands’ dealers after the demise of MG Rover in 2005). Fiat dealers retained a lowly 16.7% and the Nissan network 22.9%.

- Most other makes surveyed were much nearer the all-marques average dealer-for-make servicing retention of 27.8%.

- Conversely, half of the Rover and MG owners surveyed had used independent garages for their last car service (50%), while at the other end of the scale only 31.7% of all Honda owners had used an independent garage. 45.2% of Fiat owners had used an independent garage. Across all brands and ages of cars surveyed, independent garages accounted for 38.4% of all services carried out.

- Since 1995, Trend Tracker’s research into the retail car service and repair market has regularly measured the popularity of DIY servicing. In 2009 only 8.2% of motorists said they carried out their last service themselves, or had it done by a friend or relative.

- Declining overall demand for car servicing is another trend tracked by this Car Service and Repair Trend Tracker Update 2010. The ever-improving build quality of new cars, and extended servicing intervals, mean that 17.5% of all motorists surveyed had not yet had their cars serviced.

Repairs

Besides being asked for information on routine servicing, the latest (2009) 17,000-strong sample of motorists was asked if they had had a repair or MOT test carried out to their car in the last month, and if so, what type of repair, and who carried out the work. Across all 14 marques surveyed, 13.3% of motorists quizzed had some type of work carried out in the previous month – a service, MOT or repair(s). Of those, 57.4% had required repairs to be completed on their car.

The variations between marques in terms of how many cars had work of any kind carried out fell within a range of six percentage points, between the low of Toyota (11.2%) and the high of the Fiat Group (17.7%). When the service/MOT/repairs figures were broken down by make of car (not by age, for reasons of sample size), Hondas required the least repairs, and Fiats the most with 73.5% of Fiat owners who had any work done in the last month needing repairs - against 37.1% of Honda owners and 39.5% of Toyota owners.

Trend Tracker director and analyst Chris Oakham commented: “Franchised dealers depend heavily on aftersales service and repairs for their profitability, while their manufacturers naturally hope to offer customers trouble-free motoring. To secure repeat custom, manufacturers need to cut dealer visits to the minimum, while their dealers need to focus relentlessly on matching the value for money offered by independents and fast-fits on the increasingly infrequent occasions when they can expect to see their customers’ cars.”

Oakham added, “Facing a dearth of young cars needing attention since the economic crisis hit new car sales, dealers will need to redouble their efforts to attract service/repair custom from owners of cars over four years old. However, last year our sample of motorists showed independents did over half (51.3%) the work, while the average dealer for the make did only 24.3% of it, and fast-fits 7.1%.

“MOT tests comprise 34.1% of all jobs our respondents had done, which, of course, often trigger repair jobs and parts replacement. Independent garages did almost half (47.6%) of our respondents’ MOT tests, while the dealers for the makes concerned did only 25.2% of them.”

Toby Procter

Trend Tracker Limited

0870 421 4350

aftermarket report bodyshop market car finance electric vehicles car servicing