Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019 - F6

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

 Risky business

A survey of 2,000 American vehicle
owners for Jiffy Lube offers these
conclusions about their maintenance
and repair behavior:
 1 of 7 owners is driving around with a
potentially serious problem in his or
her vehicle.
 2 of 5 owners say it's just a matter of
time before their car or truck breaks
down.
 The typical owner cites 3 problems
with the vehicle, such as a rattle, a
leak, squeaky brakes or a cracked
windshield.
 When the check-engine light comes
on, nearly one-third of owners say they
ignore it for a month or more before
taking their vehicle to the shop.
 About 1 of 5 owners say they don't
know how to fix a flat tire or jump-start
their vehicle.
 One-third of owners hadn't had their
brakes checked by a service technician
in more than 6 months.
Source: OnePoll survey, conducted April 12-17

SERVICE COUNTER
 Sales snapshot

Service and parts sales at franchised new-vehicle dealerships exceeded $116 billion last
year, the National Automobile Dealers Association reports. Over the past decade, those sales
have risen 5.5% a year on an average annualized basis in the average dealership.
In 2018, dealership service departments wrote more than 310 million repair orders. They
employed nearly 265,000 technicians. Parts departments' total inventory exceeded $6.67
billion. NADA offers this snapshot of the average dealership's fixed operations:
2018

$7,194,457

$6,972,698

Service, parts and body shop sales
as a percentage of total sales

12.0%

12.1%

11.7%

Service, parts and body shop gross
as a percentage of total gross

49.6%

49.0%

47.3%

Warranty work as a percentage of total
service, parts and body shop sales

18.0%

18.7%

18.2%

Source: NADA Data 2018

Pickups attracted more than one-fourth of all retail dollars spent
by consumers on vehicle improvements last year, the Specialty
Equipment Market Association estimates, followed by midrange
cars. Off-road and plus-size tires and trailer and towing products
account for a large share of truck improvements, while sports cars
offer the largest market for forced induction systems.
Consumer specialty equipment purchases by vehicle segment
(% of 2018 sales)

Source: 2019 SEMA Market Report

PAGE 6

AUGUST 2019

2016

$7,325,823

 Pimp that pickup

Pickup ..................27%
Midrange car ........16%
SUV .....................13%
Upscale car ..........11%
Crossover .............11%

2017

Service, parts and body shop sales

 Special offer

Retail sales of vehicle accessories and performance parts will
approach a record $46 billion this year, the Specialty Equipment
Market Association projects - a 23% increase since 2014.
New-vehicle dealerships account for an estimated 14% of specialty
equipment sales to consumers, trailing only brick-and-mortar auto
parts chain stores at 15%.
Specialty equipment retail sales, in billions of dollars

Sports car .............9%
Small car ...............6%
Van .......................3%
Classic car ............2%
Alternative vehicle ..2%
*Forecast

Source: 2019 SEMA Market Report
Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019
