Talking Cars Steer Clear Of Auto Body Shops

The day when vehicles will electronically communicate to one another to avoid collision is closer than you think.  For followers of my blog; you know this isn’t a new story for me – I’ve reported on it before.  Sources are now saying  though that this technology is just a mere five-years away. By that time, nine years would have passed from my first report to the first vehicle manufacturer integrated product offerings.  Considering the historical trend of military technology taking up to a decade to carry out (from conception to in-action service), this projection seems right on target (Did you make the military connection? If you did, you clearly read one of the above links!).

While all this wiz-bang-techno will surely benefit everyone who motors around the world, my business largely services the auto body collision repair industry that this technology will surely steer around, so as impressed as I am with this gadgetry, I can’t stop wondering how this will affect body shop repair businesses.

There are three short stories linked in the passage above (each highlighted & underlined) – take a look at those first then consider the following:

1. Clients from “The Greatest Generation”, also called Traditionalists (born 1925-1945 | 75-Million) are disappearing.
   
2. Baby boomers (born 1946-1964 | 80-Million) are turning 65 this year – prime retiring age.  As Traditionalist’s have done; it is likely that the Boomer’s will start to drive less and will hold onto their vehicles longer  when they do retire; thus increasing total losses.  Now living on a fixed-income, they will also have to make difficult repair/not-repair decisions when the inevitable accident does happen.
   
3. Insurance companies are overwhelmingly reporting 30% less auto accident claim volume.
4. Motoring clubs (like AAA) are reporting less vehicle accidents.  They are also reporting that people are driving fewer miles for both business and leisure.  To make the matter worse, as the price of fuel continues to increase -  Americans will drive even less.
5. The U.S. economy is still in the tank, so for many people; this means using their collision claim reimbursement funds to pay personal debt and basic living expenses like utilities, fuel, and food instead of repairing their car.
   
6. More crash avoidance technology will be integrated into vehicles every year, so not only will cars be engineered to avoid accidents but they will literally be steering clear of your body shop business too.

One thing is for sure – this technology will certainly be a game-changer that will for many; mean fewer cars to their collision repair center. That said, there are two ways to view this inevitable and indelible change that’s heading our way – either as an opportunity or an obstacle.  Personally, I see this as a significant opportunity – and suggest the following actions to pro-actively meet this quickly approaching challenge.  In doing so, your business will not only survive this contest but thrive because of it!

• MARKET locally
• MARKET online (online strategy should include: Website, Blog, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, + Goal of high search engine ranking)
• MARKET generationally (Generation X – born 1965-1976 | 46-Million <> Generation Y – born 1977-1997 | 76-Million)
• Build a marketing plan to DOMINATE your market and give it time to grow (the best time to plant a tree – yesterday | Chinese proverb)
• Qualify customer expectations and at the very least – meet them 100%.  Sounds simple – but it’s not, and from my experience – more businesses either fail at qualifying what their customers truly expect; or they try so hard to exceed-expectations that they ultimately miss the mark on what was truly important to the customer – even thought they did all that extra stuff the customer didn’t ask for or expect.
• Increase productivity through greater process efficiencies, not just through pushing more cars through the shop.  Running a body shop from “the estimate” only builds top-line-revenue, process efficiencies that translate into greater productivity(throughput) builds wealth.  Making money is not the same as building wealth.
• Reduce your fixed expenses

Focus on these key goals, and you will have a solid strategy to turn this seemingly business-braking challenge into a business-success story!

By: Chris Sheehy – Auto Body Consultant at Autobody Consulting Group LLC www.AutobodyConsultingGroup.com

Autobody Consulting Group, a business operations, administrative, production, estimating, management, marketing, and social media consultancy serving auto body collision repair businesses and vendors to the autobody industry.

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