AMAZON’S SURVEY RESULTS EXPLAINED

Global ecommerce superstar company Amazon is renowned for the detailed consumer research they conduct in order to best understand global marketplaces.

Needing no introduction (but we will do it anyway), Amazon is an American multinational technology company that also focuses on cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence alongside its ecommerce fame.

Amazon is respected as one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world, so when it conducts research, the entire world listens. The company recently conducted its own research into the Australian motorist / road trip market, with some interesting findings.

This research study was commissioned by Amazon Australia and conducted in May 2022 by Lonergan Research, sampling 1007 Australian motorists. It found that 43% of Australians plan to travel within Australia this winter: 31% are planning a road trip, which far exceeds the 12% planning to fly domestically for their winter break. Interestingly, although 83% of Aussies love going on road trips, 39% admit to feeling stressed about the preparation required.

A welcome finding was that 84% of Australians check their cars before heading off on a long journey, with tyre pressures (58%), and oil / fluid levels (53%) being the most common checks done by Aussie motorists.

Now where all of you step in is with the finding that almost a quarter (24%) admit they don’t do basic car maintenance tasks themselves, with more than two in five (44%) going to their local garage or mechanic when needing basic car parts, with some 11% spending more than $900 a year on basic car repairs.

Other findings from the research included that parents of children are more than four times as likely to be planning a road trip (43%) than to fly domestically over winter (10%).

Responsibility comes to the fore with the Amazon research finding that parents are also spending $74.10 more than average on basic vehicle repairs and services ($518.20 against an average of $444.10).

Believe it or not, it is the wonderful millennials (born 1981 to 1996) who are the most road-trip happy generation, with nine in ten (89%) saying they love going on road trips. This compared with gen Xers (born 1965-1980) at 83%, baby boomers (born 1955-1964) at 81% and gen Zers (born 1997-2012) at 77%. Considering the latest Australian Census data, millennials have now overtaken baby boomers as a percentage of the overall population and they also out-spend their older counterparts on basic car repairs and services according to the Amazon study (millennials – $491; gen Z – $458; gen X – $430; baby boomers – $405). So this is definitely the age group for automotive service and repair professionals to target.

In terms of the stress that comes with road trips, baby boomers are the least likely to feel stressed when preparing for a road trip at just 27%, gen Zers more likely at 50%, millennials at 43% and gen Xers coming in at 40%.

When it comes to what to pack for a road trip, 50% of Aussies choose comfort items like their favourite pillow (40%), tea bags, candles, or their favourite mug (25%), but only 32% will pack essential automotive requirements like wiper or brake fluid and engine oil. This is also a reflection on the extreme reliability and lack of day-to-day maintenance required for modern computer-controlled engines compared to decades gone by.

Supporting this theory is the finding that packing snacks is considered a road trip priority for more Australians (79%) than checking the radiator coolant (69%), the windscreen (68%) and wiper fluid (67%)!

Some more food for thought from Amazon’s research: more than 70% of Australians want to learn basic car maintenance to manage car costs (74%) or to better prepare themselves for road trips (72%). This represents an opportunity for automotive businesses to consider conducting basic automotive maintenance training for their customers.

Aussie road trips remain alive and well for postpandemic escapes over winter and there is no doubt that this trend will increase as the warmer months approach.

Source data for this story can be found at: amazonau.gcs-web.com/news-releases/newsrelease-details/amazon-australia-announcesautomotive-part-finder-making-it

SPRINT CAR MAKES SPRINT CAR MAKES DREAMS COME TRUE DREAMS COME TRUE

Not everyone gets the opportunity to live out their childhood dreams. But if you work hard and, as it was in the case of Scott Chatwin, make the right friends, you might be lucky enough to make them a reality.

Scott owns Merger Contracting, an asphalt business that runs its own truck repair and service workshop. He realised his childhood dream when he got to compete in his first sprint car race in 2015. Now he has his own sprint car and team.

Scott’s passion for sprint car racing started when his mum would take him to the Claremont Speedway in Western Australia when he was about nine years old.

“It was something that we both looked forward to,” he said. “She enjoyed it, but I never thought that it would get to this point.”

So, how did his dream come true? Scott had a good mate who was running cars for Wormall who hit him up to be a driver. Scott agreed and, with only a little experience under his belt (driving a sprint car on a sponsors’ driving day), entered his first race as a Wormall driver. “I think I was pretty well overwhelmed because there’s mud flying around and you’re trying to pull a tear off your helmet and get around the track,” he said. “I remember it being pretty daunting to start with, but I’m not one to give in, so I stuck with it and I had a couple of decent crashes, but I was still determined to keep going.”

Scott eventually left Wormall to start his own team: Merger Motorsport. He managed to finish in the top 10 within two seasons.

But life got too busy for the owner of three businesses and crashes too expensive, so he bowed out of driving in 2019.

Kris Coyle now drives the purpose-built Merger Motorsport car, which runs a 410 cubic-inch motor that can produce about 950 horsepower. It weighs about 700 kg, including the driver. The car’s wings are made of light-aircraft aluminium and the panels are lightweight fiberglass and aluminium. Its power-to-weight ratio is comparable to a Formula One race car.