Independent repairers are under pressure as OEMs are aggressively looking to grow with all-makes servicing to counteract recent years of decline in new car sales.
When many also have relationships with large fleet providers this is seen as a way to pull drivers back into franchised workshops, according to some industry observers.
It means that independent garages must get better at marketing and managing their customer relationships, at the same time as planning ways to generate incremental revenue to combat the future decline diesel and petrol engine work.
“How do you let your local customer base know what you do as a workshop? MOT is a necessity, as is a service which most people get done because the service light is annoying them. But when we go into the EV world, how do you let your customers know you work on EVs?” said Anthony McAteer, group commercial director of LKQ Euro Car Parts during a talk at the UK Garage and Bodyshop Event this month.
He warned that many households with an EV will also have an ICE vehicle still, and if they’re bringing that ICE vehicle to a local garage, but they then find another workshop or franchised dealer for their EV, the local garage could lose their ICE vehicle business.
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