Fixed Ops Journal - February 2020 - F11

Ready to wear

Parts that are likely to need servicing
or complete replacement after 10
years/150,000 miles
 Engine seals and gaskets
 Serpentine belt, timing belt
 Transmission seals and gaskets
 Starter, alternator and water pump
 All coolant and heater hoses
 Engine thermostat
 Shocks and struts, control arms and
bushings, tie rod ends, CV joints
 Brake rotors, calipers, master
cylinder
 Fuel pump
 Catalytic converter
 Engine sensors, fuel injectors
 Exhaust systems
Source: Automotive News research

Older cars on the road

New U.S. light-vehicle sales by year
2008
13,245,687
2009
10,430,969
2010
11,589,844
2011
12,779,576
2012
14,493,226
2013
15,601,148
2014
16,521,352
2015
17,482,841
2016
17,553,429
2017
17,238,915
Source: Automotive News Data Center

Even though the bill was likely more than
she'd pay for the same job at an independent
shop, Kacoyannakis felt the warranty covering
parts and labor, plus having her car fixed by a
pair of factory-trained hands who had performed the job before, was worth the extra
money. The repair bill totaled $707 - $448 for
labor, $259 for parts.
Kacoyannakis represents what could be a
potential gold mine in service department
profits in the years ahead as the population of
6- to 10-year-old vehicles swells to historic

proportions. Every year from 2010 to 2016,
new-car sales in the United States increased.
According to the Automotive News Data Center, just over 106 million new vehicles were
sold in those post-recession years.
Now, with the miles piling up (Americans
drive about 12,000 miles per year), wear, tear
and time are taking a toll on vehicles sold in
the immediate post-recession years. Highprofit, customer-pay repairs as a result of
worn-out transmissions,
leaking radiators, faulty
starters and alternators,
clogged fuel injectors and
bad sensors will be more
common in the nation's
aging vehicle fleet. But
without a targeted marketing plan aimed at customers of these older vehi- Roche: Word
cles, dealers are likely to not getting out
continue seeing much of
this potential business being flatbedded right
past their service drives and into the bays of
independent garages.
When a vehicle's factory warranty expires,
the nation's new-car dealers lose seven out of
every 10 customers to independent repair
shops, fast-lube businesses and tire stores, according to a 2018 Cox Automotive service industry study.
It's hard to put a dollar figure on that, but
here's what keeping customers coming back
to the dealer means to Ford: "If we can move
the average age of retention one year, it
would result in a 25 percent growth in our
business," Frederiek Toney, Ford Motor

Ford's Omnicraft
brand of parts fit other makes of vehicles.

Parts lines help
dealers be more
competitive

B

oth Ford and General Motors dealers are well positioned to go after
drivers of 6- to 10-year-old, out-ofwarranty vehicles by offering a line
of value-priced parts designed to close the
pricing gap with independent garages.
These parts may not be exact duplicates
from the same manufacturer as the originals,
but they have been tested and certified by
each company's engineers to fit perfectly and
perform safely and reliably.
Ford's Omnicraft brand of parts fit other
makes of vehicles, giving dealers the flexibility
to market service to drivers of Toyotas, Hondas and most other popular brands. Motorcraft parts are a budget line for older, higher-mileage Ford vehicles that slot under the
more expensive Genuine Ford Parts, the same
components from the same suppliers Ford uses on its production lines.
General Motors dealers also offer three
brands of parts: GM Genuine Parts, the same
components the vehicle was built with; ACDelco Gold are replacement parts manufactured to meet GM specifications; ACDelco
Silver advantage are budget parts backed by
GM and that also include components for
other brands of vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler offers Mopar brand budget
parts for older vehicles, while Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mercedes-Benz are some of the other
automakers offering lines of value-priced
parts for older cars.
- Richard Truett
FCA's Mopar brand offers budget
parts for older vehicles.

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FEBRUARY 2020

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