By Debbie Kirlew

The volume of service and repair work has fallen nearly 10% over the past decade. Figures show a drop from 51,435,000 transactions in 2003 to 46,500,000 in 2013, despite the car parc growing by 7.4% over the same period.

Such statistics, released by Castrol in its 2014 Professional Car Servicing & Repair Trend Tracker report, underline the increasing pressure to maximise aftersales profitability and conversion rates.

We examine the latest technologies available to dealers to achieve that and offset the decline:

 

Video

Showing customers problems such as worn brake pads or balding tyres on film is so powerful it is more likely to result in up-selling, says CitNow, whose Workshop video application integrates with most major electronic vehicle health check (eVHC) providers.

Gordon Grant, CitNow’s sales director, said: “When customers see why their vehicle needs work directly from the technician working on the vehicle, their hesitations subside and service advisers can have more meaningful conversations about the required repairs.”

Average subscription costs are less than £200 a month and dealers can request a day’s training on site. CitNow says technicians spend about 50 seconds per vehicle creating the video.

Westway Nissan piloted CitNow at 12 locations and compared its total ‘red work’ conversion revenue before and after. Westway said ‘red work’ increased 39% group-wide although one dealership enjoyed a 139% leap.

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