Average dealer loses £92k on lost vehicle health check work

Franchised dealers are losing an average of £92,145 in workshop sales by failing to sell red work identified during customer vehicle health checks, according to research from BTC.

The automotive industry consultancy said the losses equated to more than £450m worth of revenue across the UK’s 4,900-strong franchised dealer sites.

The data was gathered using autoVHC, BTC’s electronic vehicle health check system, which recorded information from a sample of 500 UK dealers over the course of 2014. It revealed dealers sold an average of just 56% of urgent red work, such as severely worn or illegal tyres and faulty brakes, which equated to a total of £46m of missed sales across the sample.

The data also revealed that 22% of customers at the sampled dealers did not have vehicle health checks completed as part of their service.

“Dealers are letting too much urgently required work slip away. Red work is identified as faults that, if not dealt with, render the vehicle un-roadworthy. So when a customer decides not to have it done at a dealer they’re usually looking at having it carried out by an independent outfit,” said BTC chief executive Guy Allman.

“Once customers make this decision it’s hard for dealers to win them back. So it’s not just a case of losing the immediate sale, it also means missing out on future business. There is also a duty of care aspect. If the customer doesn’t have the work done there and then, they’re basically being allowed to drive off the forecourt in a car that is in a dangerous condition.”