Repair Shop Advice

Enough About The Future of Vehicles – What’s Going on Now?

There’s a lot of hype out there right now about the future of the automotive market.  Some analysts claim that fully automated cars, with no steering wheel, are less than five years away from being on US roads.  Despite the slow uptake of electric cars, many expect they’ll become prominent – also years from now.  Finally, 48-volt electric systems are poised to make many cars ‘hybrid-lite’, even without a lithium battery.

While you might spot a car here or there with these technologies in the coming years, they’re still rare – and it’ll be decades before they’re the norm.  The automotive market isn’t standing still while these transitions take place.   What’s happening right now, and how does it impact independent shops?  Here are three trends that will probably impact your shop in the next three years, if they aren’t already.

1. Imports are taking a larger share of the market than ever

Foreign nameplates now make up 49% of the automobiles being sold in the US today.  This is having several impacts on independents.  The biggest impact is that it’s leading to more service work going to dealers.  While there are independent shops that specialize in imports, most shops do more work on domestics in part due to the cost of software required to diagnose and service foreign nameplates.  Dealer service revenue is growing, but all of that growth can be tracked back to foreign nameplate growth.

2. Telematics are encouraging customers to visit dealerships for service

Telematics, or the sharing of data from car to auto shop, poses a major threat to independent shops – so much so that it’s one of the top lobbying goals for the Auto Care Association right now.  Currently, between 30% and 40% of cars sold have telematics systems, but this will grow rapidly.

Already, cars with telematics can transfer information about a vehicle to the dealership, such as the need for oil changes and tune-ups, and dealers can email the owner and ask to schedule an appointment.  The new Kia UVO system takes it one step further, allowing service to be scheduled directly from the car’s touchscreen.  Unless independents have access to this information, dealerships will be able to reach customers at their point of need, while independent shops will have to rely on customers contacting them – a major disadvantage.

3. Pressure in the parts supply market should benefit repair shops.

Not all of the 2018 automotive trends are bad for independent shops.  Parts suppliers are facing a tough time right now – and their stock prices reflect it.  Their do-it-yourself customers are increasingly buying parts online, because it’s cheaper and easier.  That means that the do-it-for-me market, the auto repair shop market, is more important than ever.  Parts distributors understand that the two most important factors to shops are the price of the part and how long it takes to get to their shop – but they want to be able to provide more than that to shops.  They want for you to appreciate them for more than being 10 cents cheaper or 10 seconds faster.

Part of this is being able to provide discounts on services like our own – we’re partnered with several parts distributors and are able to drop our setup fees substantially for customers who are also partnered with those suppliers.  Many also offer everything from extended warranty programs to credit programs for customers who buy a large percentage of their products from them.  You can expect for your parts suppliers to be looking for ways to offer more value to your shop over the coming months and years.

If you are a repair shop owner, it’s always a good idea to assess the current market and where you think it may go over the next few years before making any mid-term or long-term plans. These 2018 automotive trends can help you at least get a start on it.

To learn more about how Repair Shop Websites can help your shop succeed, call us at 866.665.1605 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.

Being found online is one of the most effective ways to increase your car count and/or to improve your ARO by attracting the right type of customers. Unfortunately, there’s not just one thing you need to do to be found when potential customers search for auto repair, there’s multiple things. However, one thing you definitely want to be sure you do is to claim and build out your Google My Business profile.

Google My Business is the business profile that shows up on the right side of the screen on a desktop or laptop computer when you do a search for a business. It also appears within the search results on a smartphone and on Google Maps. Here’s an example:

Claiming and managing your Google My Business profile is free, and it has been proven to affect your search results. Businesses with fully-completed Google My Business profiles will most often search better than their competitors that have not completed their Google My Business profiles.

So what do you need to do to maximize your profile:

• If you haven’t already, claim your business at https://www.google.com/business/.
• Fill out as many of the fields as you can on the profile – address, hours, phone number and website are particularly important. You want to be sure they match your listings on other digital properties like Facebook and Yelp, if applicable.
• Choose the category that best fits your business. If you offer all auto repair services then Auto Repair Shop is great. If you specialize in something, you may want to see if you fit in a specialized category, for example Engine Rebuilding Service or Transmission Shop. This is important because what you specifically search well for will be affected by your category.
• Add as many photos as you can. And keep adding them over time. Google likes this because it shows you are an active business owner.
• Encourage your customers to review your shop on Google. Those reviews will be included directly on your Google My Business profile, as you can see in the above example. Respond to those reviews. Thank those who give positive reviews. Handle negative reviews diplomatically.
• If you’ve got time, start to use Posts. Posts are a new feature Google rolled out for Google My Business in June. You can now post something on your profile for a week. You may want to post info about a special you are having, an event you may be hosting at your store or even congratulations to a pee-wee softball team you are sponsoring that got a big win. You can access posts on your Google My Business account.

A strong Google My Business profile will help your website rise in the search rankings. It will also help you pop up in the map area when potential customers search for auto repair in your area. If you have not yet claimed your Google My Business profile, or are not using it to its fullest potential, today is the time to start.

To learn more about how Repair Shop Websites can help you increase your car count with a great searching website, call us at 1-866-665-1605 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.