Growing consumer demand for convenience, rising mobile booking volumes and advances in connected vehicle technology are prompting dealers to rethink traditional workshop-based aftersales, although widespread adoption of remote diagnostics remains several years away, writes Debbie Kirlew.
As franchised networks adjust to an emerging altered aftermarket with more widespread electric vehicle (EV) ownership and corresponding reduced servicing requirements, dealers need to explore alternative revenue streams to retain customers and profit.
Remote platforms and connected vehicle data, mobile servicing and secondary sites mean customers’ aftersales needs will be met off-site.
Currently, mobile servicing is the only trend garnering any traction, with connected data not heralding drastic change while secondary sites, involving the subcontracting of work, are barely on the radar.
In fact, Steve Young, managing director at ICDP and head of Auto West London, representing Omoda and Jaecoo in Chiswick, believes these trends will not impact the traditional aftersales model for some years.
Mobile technology, scheduling tools
As Young points out, mobile servicing is mostly less profitable due to the poor utilisation of technicians.
Where dealers have successfully integrated mobile vans, the rewards are to be found largely in commercial fleets where several vehicles can be serviced at one location on the same day.
“If the technician has to travel between every job, the efficiency will collapse,” he says.
“I can see a case for mobile technicians to be freelance, almost as another franchise, where the technician sees an opportunity to get a higher labour rate than he or she would as an independent and the dealership acts as the work provider.
“From the point of view of the dealer, they can offer the service and receive the parts revenue without the risk.”
Hendy Group launched its new mobile service van for Renault and Dacia customers across Brighton and Eastbourne in partnership with Renault UK in April.
Jess Watson, general manager for Brighton Renault Dacia, supports the initiative as it delivers flexibility and choice for customers. If managed correctly with the right equipment and with OEM-trained technicians, she believes it has the potential to be profitable and scalable.
Time management and adaptability are crucial, including maximising the number of customer vehicles worked on at one location or in relatively close proximity. One technician splits his time based on demand. When not delivering mobile servicing, he returns to the workshop.
“It’s useful to anticipate parts requirements where practicable to ensure jobs can be completed with a single visit,” she says, “and technicians need the guidance and support to upsell and to build relationships with customers to drive loyalty.”
Mobile servicing suits busy lifestyles, as Watson notes: “We operate around busy work and family routines. For example, young families struggling with nap times now have an option for servicing to come to them, while for fleets and small businesses, reduced downtime minimises potential loss of earnings. We can also adapt more easily to the needs of those with limited mobility.”
She adds: “We believe in going the extra mile for our customers, whether that’s by being flexible with appointment bookings or identifying potential amber work to reduce the need for future visits.
“While the mobile servicing option means the customer won’t be visiting, we’re adding value and building loyalty.”
Advanced scheduling tools now offer customers exact time slots while providing safe lone-working practices for technicians, although external factors such as traffic and roadworks remain a challenge.
Demand has also grown in geographical areas lacking main dealership representation.
The rise of aggregator bookings
Market data from aggregators such as BookMyGarage and FixMyCar reflects consumer appetite for convenience and, by default, mobile solutions are accelerating.
Four years ago, a consumer survey by BookMyGarage found 36% of drivers had used a mobile mechanic and 68% would consider doing so.
Today, its platform directs £150 million-worth of retail work annually to garages, franchised workshops and mobile providers, with mobile bookings on the up.
Chief marketing officer Jess Ruddick said: “Our data tells us that while mobile servicing accounts for a minority of bookings on our platform, it is an upward trend that we expect to continue.”
The ageing vehicle parc, with vehicles booked via BookMyGarage averaging 8.72 years in 2024 and rising to 9.02 years in 2025, combined with the growth of the used EV market, creates a compelling case for franchised workshops to utilise both mobile mechanic services and aggregator platforms.
BookMyGarage data shows mobile-only bookings grew by 57.2% year-on-year (YoY) when comparing Q1 2025 with the same period in 2026. Overall bookings grew by 45.4% YoY.
Historical annual data tells the same story. Mobile-only appointments accounted for 3% of BookMyGarage bookings in 2023, 4% in 2024 and 5% in 2025, representing an 81% YoY volume surge for that period.
Ruddick adds: “Volume growth has been exponential and we expect this to continue. We would urge all our garage and franchised retailer partners not to overlook this interesting development in the aftermarket.
“Our advice is simple: get in on the act. If your organisation does not have the facility to deploy this service, we would recommend partnering with a mobile mechanic to enable you to do so.”
Matt Wrankmore, chief commercial officer at FixMyCar, reports a 140% YoY increase in mobile service bookings on his platform.
“Within the past year a number of our garages have recognised this growing trend of mobile preference among drivers and expanded their offering to include mobile services in addition to their workshops, a smart and forward-thinking response to shifting consumer behaviour,” he says.
“Garages and dealerships that can adapt and incorporate mobile offerings are likely to experience nothing but benefits.”
Likewise, Simon King, CEO of Autotech, which delivers services to help plug the skills and workforce shortages in the sector, has identified mobile servicing as a growing trend with the potential to increase further and operates a mobile division.
“We support manufacturers with some warranty work they want to keep out of dealerships because of capacity pressures,” he says, “and we also undertake some insurance work. It’s not a huge part of the business at the moment, but it is growing.
“Mobile servicing could absolutely become a stronger business model in the future. Consumer behaviour has changed dramatically. Convenience expectations are now completely different and automotive servicing will continue moving in that direction too.”
Satellite connectivity, connected data
For technicians using remote diagnostics when providing mobile servicing, connectivity can sometimes prove to be an obstacle.
Kevin Cohen, vice-president of direct-to-device at global technology company Viasat, says: “A technician’s efficiency plummets if a vehicle moves into an area with no signal and they are no longer able to access diagnostic data, communicate with the workshop or update the job in real time.”
New satellite technology, known as Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), helps overcome connectivity issues by enabling devices to move between satellite and cellular networks using a single SIM.
It also removes the need for traditional, dedicated satellite terminals, making it much more cost-efficient to integrate always-connected technology into vehicles.
Beyond keeping technicians connected, ubiquitous connectivity unlocks true remote diagnostics. By shifting the responsibility of monitoring vehicle health from the driver to the dealer, retailers can transition from a reactive model to a proactive one.
“This capability would allow the dealership to contact the customer with a solution already in mind, perhaps scheduling a mobile technician or ordering a specific part in advance,” says Cohen.
“By analysing data across many vehicles, dealerships can make more accurate predictions about potential problems in specific models, allowing them to make smarter inventory decisions.”
Watson reports that Hendy’s OEM partners have already embarked on such a journey, actively integrating connected data into aftersales processes throughout 2026.
However, widespread adoption is a few years away, according to Young.
“It will be driven by the launch of new cars that have the capability and the willingness of OEMs to either manage the diagnostics and then assign the jobs to dealers or to allow dealers to do it themselves. That’s less likely in my view.
“It will be more likely on new models than retrospective on cars that might already be connected. For that reason, I think it will be a slow burn.
“My expectation would be that it is likely to be relatively common by 2030, rather than something seen overnight.”
This feature first appeared in the 2026 AM Dealer Technology Guide which brings together leading technology providers to showcase the latest innovations available to help dealerships improve performance across both customer-facing and back-office functions. Read the report HERE