Würzburg, February 21, 2008
The system headquarters of the workshop chains are continuing to expand their partner networks: In line with the motto "close ties and tight management", they are pursuing ambitious goals and increasing the demands on their partner businesses in order to qualify them for multi-brand service. According to estimates by the weekly journal "kfz-betrieb", around 9,000 companies already use the services of so-called full-service systems - and the trend is rising. However, it is not only brand-independent car repair stores that have long been part of the workshop systems. More and more contract partners of car manufacturers and importers have also discovered the multi-brand service for themselves and are joining the systems of independent parts suppliers and cooperations: 20 percent of the total of 530 ad-Auto-Dienst workshops are already authorized brand dealerships. Of the 1,000 Autofit workshops, as many as 30 percent also bear the brand name of a car manufacturer. This was reported by the trade journal "kfz-betrieb" in its current issue 8 from February 21.
Customers are looking for inexpensive alternatives
"More and more owners of older vehicles in particular are turning their backs on authorized workshops and looking for inexpensive alternatives from independent workshop systems," says Helmut Wolk from Wolk & Partner Car Consult GmbH. Wolk's statement is backed up by the DAT Report 2007: "When vehicles are between four and six years old, a third of customers switch from the car manufacturers' contract partners to independent workshops. "The increasing vehicle age and the longer holding period of vehicles is forcing the shift of maintenance and repair work to the independent service market," explains Eckhard Brandenburg, Senior Consultant at BBE Unternehmensberatung in Cologne.
Fewer brand-independent businesses
Market observers such as Wolk and Brandenburg also analyze the declining number of market participants. While there were still around 23,350 brand-independent businesses in 2000, there will probably only be 17,500 in 2010, predicts the BBE. One reason for the decline is the unbroken trend towards high-tech cars, which requires service companies to carry out maintenance and repair work at a high technical level. "Many small independent workshops in particular are no longer able to afford the high investments in expensive diagnostic equipment and are leaving the market," suspects Brandenburg. Unless they use the services and the logo of the workshop chains and qualify for the multi-brand service.
"kfz-betrieb" is a trade magazine published by Vogel Auto Medien, Würzburg. The most widely read trade magazine in the automotive industry has been informing the automotive trade and service sector for 97 years. "kfz-betrieb" is the official organ of the German automotive trade (ZDK), the professional lobby for over 40,000 car dealerships and workshops. Daily news from the entire automotive industry can be found at www.kfz-betrieb.de and in the daily newsletter.
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