The European automakers' trade body, ACEA, has released a new report on consumer views of the vehicle aftermarket across the region.
The study, produced for ACEA by the Boston Consulting Group, is entitled The European Automotive Aftermarket Landscape - customer perspective, market dynamics and the outlook to 2020. It divides the aftermarket sector into Authorised and Independent channels and, in both cases, states that overall consumer satisfaction is high.
The report states that passenger car and commercial vehicle owners are discerning in their approach to repair and maintenance although, perhaps unsurprisingly, loyalty to authorised dealerships beyond vehicle warranty tends to reduce, giving them substantive market influence (although with limited financial returns) for only the first four years of vehicle life.
In general, price, convenience and the quality and age of their vehicle are all key influencing factors on consumer behaviour, with these priorities changing as vehicles become older. However, overall satisfaction with service - regardless of channel - is as high as 90%.
As for the future, the report predicts that OEMs and authorised repairers will focus on cost and price strategies to maintain market share and will need to be consistent in maintaining their current perceived strengths around quality and trust. As for the independent sector, the prediction is a slight increase in market share by 2020, helped by consumer price sensitivity. However, there is likely to be a consolidation of smaller independents into the larger service chains over the next eight years.