An Excellent Combination of Personal Vehicle Trends Although new light-vehicle sales have decreased through the first 5 months of 2019, the SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate) for May was 17.4 million, which if maintained for the remainder of the year would be another year of more than 17 million units sold. New light-vehicles sales are a long-term potential for auto repair shops, but the 40.23 million used vehicles sold during 2018 and the approximately 40 million projected for 2019 are an enormous opportunity. The forecast of a record 4.3 million leased vehicles to be returned during 2019 is another market sector for repair shops during the coming years, especially the many trucks, SUVs and crossovers that typically require more expensive repairs.

Business Opportunities Optimism In the most recent data from Motor Age’s 2018 Independent Repair Shop Study, 55% of shops said they expected their 2018 oxygen sensor sales to remain steady; 33%, to increase 1 to 10%; 9%, to increase 11 to 20+%; and 3%, to decrease. The results were similar for auxiliary lighting sales, or 52%, 36%, 9% and 3%, respectively, and for fuel pump sales, or 49%, 36%, 12% and 3%, respectively. Newsweek’s America’s Best Customer Service 2019 poll of more than 20,000 consumers found the top three automotive repair franchises were Midas, 7.91; AAMCO, 7.6; and Firestone Complete Auto Care, 7.57 (on a 10-point scale).

Collision Repair Revenues Are Projected to Increase As new light-vehicle sales have increased, so has total US collision repair sales, or $32.3 billion during 2014, $35.7 billion during 2016 and $38.5 billion forecast for 2020. The total miles Americans have traveled during recent years is another reason for collision repair shops to be confident, as the total increased from 3.18 trillion during January 2017 to 3.21 trillion for January 2018 and 3.23 trillion for March 2019. The total number of collision repair shops has decreased from 45,889 (2003) to 41,087 (2016), with the major factors causing the decrease being insurance companies’ Direct Repair Programs and more vehicles equipped with crash avoidance technology.

Consumer Costs for Check-Engine Light Warning The check-engine light warns drivers their vehicles require maintenance or repair. During 2018, they paid 6.5% more to repair whatever caused a check- engine light, or an 11% average increase in labor and a 3.5% average increase in parts. The most-common repairs required from a check- engine light during 2018 were replacing the ignition coil and spark plugs, at an average cost of $391, and replacing the oxygen sensor, at an average cost of $245. The total average repair costs in the US during 2018 were $380.85, with $157.04 for labor and $223.81 for parts; however, these were less than the highest year of the past 10 (2016), with an average total of $397.87, or labor, $162.46, and parts, $235.41.

More Marketing Savvy Needed as Competition Increases Although electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) are not yet being sold in large numbers, they will be, and independent repair shops will be facing more competition from new-vehicle dealers that will be the focus of repairs of these vehicles. The largest auto-body repair MSOs, or Multi-Shop Operations, continue to consolidate, as Caliber Collison merged with Abra Auto Body Repair during early January 2019, which will make it even more difficult for independents to compete against a 1,000-shop MSO. According to one industry expert, independent repair shops and body shops, specifically, will be in a better competitive position if they earn OE (Original Equipment) and various training certifications to acquire more of the business insurance companies control.

Advertising Strategies You have an excellent opportunity to become the trusted consultant for auto repair and collision shops, because, similar to other small, local businesses, they are experts in their professions and would rather fix cars than understand and execute advertising. Propose to your news director a vehicle-repair segment in your morning and/or noon news programs, featuring a local repair shop manager, and especially just before and during late Q3 and all of Q4 and Q1 when weather causes more accidents and needed repairs. Recommend auto repair and body shops participate in their communities by providing free inspections during appropriate events as well as involving students from a local vocational school and offering a free seminar at the school.

New Media Strategies Because the weather during late Q3 and all of Q4 and Q1 typically causes a spike in accidents, suggest that one or more body shops place ads on the weather page of your station’s Website. Repair and body shops can create more of a rapport between customers and technicians by creating and posting a series of short videos with tips from technicians about car maintenance related to each of the four quarters of the year. Repair and body shops can experiment with providing customers with a short recorded or live video report of what was discovered during the diagnosis of their vehicle’s problem(s) via a text and/or social media.