Auto

Proper Car repair and More for You Now

630Views

Faced with an increasingly competitive automotive market, automotive after-sales seem to have become a major tool for retaining customers. Through an analysis of the after-sales service sector and its tools, let’s discover how the after-sales service is today a real lever for loyalty. With car detailing Irvine you can have the best deals now.

Automotive after-sales: what is the state of the market?

To better understand the importance of after-sales service, both for loyalty and its ability to generate income; let’s first look at the state of the automotive after-sales service market.

A declining market

In recent years, the automotive repair and maintenance market has seen a steady decline. With a turnover of 21.9 billion euros in 2013, the sector has experienced a decline of more than 4% in just 3 years. The decline in volumes is even more significant since the decrease amounts to 5.6% over the same period. 

Within after-sales services, it is especially maintenance activities (oil change, technical control, overhaul, etc.) that are experiencing the greatest drop. This can be explained in particular by increasingly reliable cars, a decline in manufacturer overhauls as well as a decrease in the average annual mileage of the French (around 7% between 2010 and 2014). However, the after-sales service market seems to offer positive future prospects for the automotive sector.

But which offers good prospects for the future

Several elements may suggest that the after-sales service sector will experience difficulties in the future. We think in particular of the decrease in annual mileage and the fact that cars are always more reliable. But even despite this, there is some evidence that the market may experience a significant rise in the future. First of all, you should know that the French car fleet is made up of 94% of non-new vehicles. In addition, the average age of cars is steadily increasing every year, from 5.8 years in 1990 to almost 9 years in 2015. So, even if the annual mileage decreases, the total mileage of vehicles increases. 

It went from 59,000 in 1990 to 105,000 kilometers 15 years later. This aging of the French car fleet therefore seems to bode well for the automotive aftermarket sector. Note also that the democratization of on-board electronics does not only have virtues. Certainly, it can offer greater reliability of cars, but it generates a higher cost of intervention in the event of failure. A study by TCG Conceal for the National Council of Automotive Professions (CNPA) predicts an increase of nearly 5% in maintenance by 2018.

Competition that intensifies and a clientele that is becoming versatile

Faced with the bright promises of the future of the automotive after-sales service sector, competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In 2016, just fewer than 6,000 companies specializing in automobile maintenance and repair were created. Still according to the same study, independent garages could thus represent 65% of the after-sales service market in France. This price and service war has one major consequence: customers are becoming more and more versatile. The latter no longer hesitates to find cheaper elsewhere for any maintenance or upkeep.