The customer trends of 2023
– make sure you're prepared for 2024 by Geoff Mutton
Overall, 2023 was a good year for the auto aftermarket industry. The challenges – staff shortages and parts supply – were offset by booked-out workshops and good profits. End of year is always a good time to reflect on anything learned during the past year, and perhaps this will provide a glimpse at your 2024 expectations.
Cost-of-living pressures Without a doubt, most commentators have focused on the rising cost-ofliving pressures and the expected slowdown. At this stage, my research shows that the impact on the auto industry has been mild. Many workshops started the year booked out two to four weeks in advance, but close to year’s end that had come back to two to five days. So, although the phone might have been ringing fewer times, most workshops were still fully booked out every day. With potentially another one or two interest rate rises in 2024, cost-of-living pressures are likely to remain the number one topic of concern. Motorists will most likely react to such pressures by extending the intervals of routine car services past their due dates, or they may choose to ignore a warning light on the dash until the car rego check falls due. (Vehicle inspection requirements vary from state to state). Consequently, workshops may well see more breakdowns. When customers eventually book in, they will hope that a general service will fix everything and nothing will be found wanting. This is where all workshops must maintain their standards and inform customers of any additional diagnostic or repair work that is needed and that such work will be outside the scope of the standard service and will be additional to the service invoice.
1 4 CAPRICORN IGNITION DECEMBER 2023
Another trend could well be that customers will be scrutinising quotes in more detail. Over the past couple of years, customers tended to be less fastidious about quotes, with most just giving the go-ahead for whatever needed doing, with few questions asked. I suspect customer attitudes will swing back to pre-COVID times when they spent more time going through quotes, looking for options to defer repairs or seeking a cheaper alternative. The onus will be on workshops to invest the time to explain why repairs are needed and to help prioritise repairs so that customers are clear on what should be done now and what can be left till later. Repairing older vehicles The new car shortages throughout the COVID years were great for the industry, with many customers forced to repair older vehicles rather than buy new ones – if they could find them. The availability of new cars has certainly improved, but for some popular models there are still significant wait times. I expect these wait times combined with continued cost-of-living pressures will have many consumers deferring a new vehicle purchase during 2024. They will continue to hold on to their older vehicle and repair them when
