Increases in Fuel Prices Significantly Impacts Growth of Automotive Repair and Maintenance Services Market

 

The automotive repair and maintenance services market is expected to expand significantly in the near future. Mechanical services are likely to remain the largest sector while electronic services are expected to grow the fastest. New heavy-duty vehicle dealers are expected to lead gains while independent repair shops, specialized mechanics and general automotive service companies will maintain their share of the market. The top performing providers will share the lion's share of market revenues with the top performing service providers. The gap between the two in terms of growth will widen further as traditional dealers find it difficult to survive the economic downturn. As the industry continues to reinvent itself, several factors are likely to impact the service sector.

Economic Factors: The automotive repair and maintenance services market employs a large number of skilled workers. These works for the majority of the firms that provide services for automobiles. The high inflation rate, increasing commodity prices and increasing labor costs are some of the factors limiting demand for automotive repair services.

Increases in Fuel Prices: The higher the cost of gasoline, the higher the demand for auto repair services. The automotive repair and maintenance services market is affected by increase in fuel prices as consumers focus on improving the performance of engines and cutting down on the fuel consumption of vehicles. The rising cost of insurances and maintenance for passenger vehicles is another factor influencing the cost of automotive repair services. The size of vehicles and their fuel weight also affect the cost of repairing and maintaining vehicles.

An important trend observed in the automotive repair and maintenance services market is that customers become more demanding of automotive repair services as time goes by. Customers are now demanding better quality of work at lower prices. This is due to the rising unemployment rate and growing inflation rate among other factors. Another important factor influencing the market growth and maintenance costs of vehicles is the size of the market. There are three types of markets: medium, small and large. The size of a market affects the number of service centers available for the maintenance of that particular vehicle. As the market size increases, the number of service centers and the type of dealership experience also increases.

Durability of Cars and Trucks: The longevity of cars and trucks is affected by several factors including the material used in the body structure of the vehicle. The automotive dealerships also face stiff competition from other service and repair centers. Since the dealerships have limited space for storage of vehicles, they tend to use the most affordable means to enhance the life of their vehicles. Thus, the durability of cars and trucks significantly impacts the automotive repair and maintenance services market. 

Some players in the automotive repair and maintenance services market provide specialized automotive service programs such as body rust removal, brake repair and auto detailing. Other service providers offer a wide range of maintenance and repairing services such as brake fluid replacement, transmission fluid replacement, fuel system replacement, tire rotation, spark plug renewal, and many more. Auto dealers, on the other hand, focus on general maintenance and repairing of vehicles.