The road trip is back – and that's a huge opportunity for workshop owners

Are you ready for another summer of road trips?

If there is any silver lining to the pandemic, it’s that Australians once again fell in love with hitting the road and exploring our own country. With costof-living pressures and international airfares still higher than the pre-Covid era, the trend for taking home-grown holidays looks set to continue.

According to research from Turo, the car sharing company:

• 75% of Aussies have travelled domestically for holiday or leisure in the past 12 months

• Those who travelled domestically in the past 12 months did so an average of 2.2 times

• Each domestic travel trip lasted an average of 4.67 days

• The average time spent actually driving a vehicle on these holidays was 2.64 days

• 77% of Australians want to use their own vehicles on a road trip

That’s a lot of time on the road and a lot of wear and tear on holidaymakers’ vehicles—especially if they’re going off the beaten track.

• 78% of Aussies said their favourite road trip is a coastal drive

• 34% prefer outback driving

• 33% seek out long stretches of road or highway

• 25% want steep and winding roads in the mountains

But whether they’re driving up the coast or going bush, making sure their vehicle is in tiptop, road trip-ready condition could make all the difference between a happy holiday and a nightmare they’d rather forget.

For workshops, a holidaymaker’s need to ensure their vehicle is fully serviced and up to the task of getting them to their destination and back safely is a sunlit upland of golden opportunity.

Here are some strategies Capricorn Members are using successfully to get customers through the door to get their car serviced before the summer holiday season.

Sending out holiday service reminders

Email reminders with headlines like “Don’t let car trouble crash your summer road trip” or “Is your car summer road trip ready?” can be effective at encouraging customers to get their car serviced before they hit the road.

Offering holiday service bundles

Market your services in special bundles for long drives. These are the usual services (oil changes, tyre rotations, brake checks, fluid top-ups, etc) but packaged and promoted in a way that solves a problem the customer might not have realised they had (a car that wasn’t road trip ready).

Offering early bird discounts

In your regular marketing, let customers know that your workshop gets busy with “pre summer holiday services” and encourage them to book early so they don’t miss out. A small discount can help convince wavering customers.

Offering a referral scheme

Incentivise your current customers to encourage the friends and family they’re going on road trips with to bring their vehicles in for a service, too. Offer small discounts or rewards (like a free wheel alignment).

Providing basic vehicle safety check

This is a complimentary and quick inspection which can lead to additional service recommendations. It’s a good way to build trust with customers.

Creating educational content

Creating Instagram or YouTube videos, or writing a blog post or email, that run through for customers the basics of how to check a car before going on a big road trip have the potential to be shared widely, potentially bringing in new customers. Include a call to action on your content encouraging people to book a full pre-road trip service and keep their family safe.

Offering follow-up services

Let your customer know you’re here for them when they get back from their holiday, with a post-trip check-up, to ensure everything is still hunky-dory with their vehicle.

Extending your operating hours

With labour shortages what they are, this might be tricky, but if you do offer extended operating hours for a couple of weeks around the holiday season to cope with demand, make sure you tell customers about it so they, a) know you’re on their side and, b) can take advantage of it.

Bringing on extra staff

If your workshop does get busy with pre-holiday servicing, consider bringing in extra staff on a casual basis for that period. Perhaps there’s someone you know who’s retired who wouldn’t mind being back on the tools for a couple of weeks to help you out? Arrange your labour early. Don’t wait for the school holidays to hit.

The road trip is back—and if it’s here to stay, then positioning yourself as a caring, responsible and reliable service partner is a great way to ensure that all that pre-holiday service work keeps coming your way in the future.