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Imagine this scenario: A customer receives a reminder about their upcoming maintenance visit at the workshop, along with tailored recommendations for additional services their vehicle might need. Having noticed that the air conditioning unit hasn’t been checked for over 2 years, the customer adds A/C service to the appointment.
By the time they arrive, the workshop has already planned the work and capacity in advance, ensuring all services and repairs can be completed in a single appointment, and eliminating the need to schedule a new one.
3 out of 4 workshop customers are interested in hearing about recommended repairs from their workshop.
In over a decade of experience in the automotive industry, we have spoken to hundreds of car dealers across Europe. What we’ve learned is that nearly three-quarters of their workshop customers are interested in hearing about additional recommended repairs when they bring their vehicle in for service.
This insight highlights a significant opportunity for workshops to enhance their aftersales performance. By automating the process of offering tailored recommendations for additional services, workshops can better meet the needs of each vehicle, improve workshop planning, and enhance aftersales performance.
Recommending additional repairs and services to aftersales customers with an upcoming appointment not only increases the revenue generated from each appointment but also allows the workshop to plan work and capacity in advance, thus minimising return visits.
In summary, offering additional repair recommendations to workshop visitors helps dealers:
65% of customers who receive a reminder about their upcoming appointment review recommended repairs and 15% add extra services and products to their visit.
Car dealers who offer additional repair recommendations are seeing impressive results. Marc Bauer, Partner at ag analytics, reports that “On average, 65% of customers review their recommended repairs before the visit, with 15% adding extra services and products — such as A/C service, brake service, wheel alignment, etc. — to the existing work order.” This translates into a significant increase in both revenue and customer satisfaction.
Martin Færch, Head of Aftersales at MTH Biler, a Toyota dealership with 8 locations in Denmark, shares his experience:
“I am actually impressed by the response from our customers. They add everything from rust treatment to wheel alignment, wiper blades and mats. We know it takes a long time to manually identify all the recommended repairs and products for the car when the customer comes in. So when this is done automatically before the visit, it is a huge help. We are very excited by the results already.
The biggest advantage is that we ensure all customers are contacted regarding all recommendations. And we know that what is recommended is relevant because it comes from the car’s service history.”
“Typically, the process of offering recommended repairs is very people-dependent, relying on the service advisor to review the car’s vehicle history for every repair order. Often this is done at the workshop, where there might not be enough time to go through it in the busy mornings. Hence, it becomes forgotten or skipped,” Marc Bauer explains.
In order to drive revenue and enhance the customer experience, a successful recommended repairs programme should present these characteristics:
In an industry that is undergoing rapid changes, from rising EV sales to new market entrants and disruptive retailing models like the agency model, aftersales has become increasingly important for dealerships and workshops, and leaving money on the table is a luxury only few can afford.
Recommended repairs are a goldmine hiding in plain sight. By automating this process, you can ensure that your customers receive personalised recommendations for additional services their vehicle might need. This not only enhances the customer experience but also significantly helps you grow your revenue.
With Autoflows, dealerships can automatically offer recommended repairs and additional products to customers who have booked a workshop visit. As Marc Bauer explains, “Workshops can benefit from an automatic workflow that ensures that all relevant services and additional products are highlighted and presented to the customer prior to the visit. This improves planning and efficiency in the workshop, but also creates a better customer experience by reducing the need for repeat repairs.”
Contact us today to learn how to take advantage of automatic recommended repairs to enhance your aftersales performance.
