Repair shop owner panel speaks to EVs, evolving customer experiences

Coincidence or not, weeks after General Motors launched its “EVerybodyIn” campaign in the electric vehicle race, eight entrepreneurs unfurled a vision of their own via podcast, moderated by aftermarket influencer Carm Capriotto. These independent auto repair shop owners voiced a remarkable manifesto that stakes their spot in the car park. 

With or without allies on their side while EVs and hybrids slowly go mainstream, industry stakeholders of all stripes should pay close attention to this service group's resolve to handle the latest breed of autos. Anyone who didn't watch the panel discussion is missing out. 

Trade associations, suppliers, and others invested in the aftermarket can efficiently connect the dots for the underserved parts of the industry and amplify the call to action about what these operators are doing to harness their business models. 

A summary of the podcast's brainwork follows, and with further refinement, could prove viable to a more efficient and prosperous repair segment. 

"Good news," declares Carolyn Coquillette,"we are the technologists," referring to the connected car, internal sensors and artificial intelligence. Coquillette, a thoughtful CEO of a shop management software firm and founder of a thriving hybrid service center in San Francisco, outlined the paradigm shift's contours. Techs must master new diagnostic skills to service Tesla, Apple, Nio, and Google that function closer to rolling smartphones. Traditional brands like Nissan, which makes the Leaf and Prius by Toyota, are no longer the only game in town. 

This adapt-and-thrive theme presents lucrative opportunities for the service provider community. Analysts at BloombergNEF forecast that by 2030 EVs will reach 20 percent of new vehicle registrations. To meet that trend, Greg Buckley, president and technician of Wilmington, Delaware-based Buckley's Auto Care, emphasized that there's time to build a dynamic three-to-five-year business plan. And there's space for experimentation with the creation of specialties focused on software solutions that these automated vehicles demand. "We're not buying jobs," says Buckley. "We're buying careers and legacy situations." 

This rings true at a crossroad where the panelists argue that the dealerships need independent technicians as much as they need the automakers. However, Seth Thorson, president of Eurotech Automotive Repair in Minneapolis, alleges that Tesla refuses to sell him spare parts to cut the growing backlog of dealer appointments throughout the area. Tesla drivers, he says, are at the mercy of its warranty restrictions. 

"This is an example of a poor service company," quipped Coquillette. "Their core competency is technology on their cars. Tesla is just a car manufacturer." Who, then, is better at maintaining and fixing these vehicles? Coquillette said that if the manufacturers wanted to put the independent shops out of business, they would have done so already.  

Indeed, a go-alone path brings partial advantages, says hybrid specialist Scott Brown, who runs Connie & Dick’s Service Center in Claremont, California. Network effects, however, promise exponential value through shared best practices and new trends. "With these networks, you can use it as the spyglass into the future," he said.  

Even further, industry associations are an invaluable mouthpiece for the trade. But as for legislation for Seth Thorson, who runs a multi-shop operation in the Twin Cities, he urges the governmental affairs committees to put more pressure on the manufacturers to make it easier to access their technologies and stop steering the customer away from the independent. 

Thorsons's observation is hardly groundbreaking. For years, large and small businesses, through their trade network's guidance, have diligently lobbied their state politicians to support the Right to Repair legislation like Massachusetts did in 2020. Yet, Thorson's frustration suggests a national super political action committee banded across all supply chains rather than fragmented state and national entities replicating a bigger cause. A super political action committee combined with state and industry sub-groups stands better to command the attention of Capitol Hill and vehicle-dense states like California, New York, and Texas that address the needs of 819,900 techs who want to improve the level of customer service. 

And for Frank Leutz, customer service holds an experiential meaning that he terms as COI — the cost of ignoring the customer. The marketing director of a Phoenix, Arizona car care center and former chapter president of Automotive Service Association foresees oil change specials and other mundane promos gradually falling away. With instant gratification expected by customers, he encourages managers to kick it up several more notches. 

For that reason, Leutz admires Nio, a Chinese EV maker whose value proposition worships convenience. One catalyst fueling Nio's popularity is its monthly subscription model. Motorists in China can pull into the nearest battery changing station to swap out a depleted unit for a new one, eliminating slow charging facilities in theory. Convenience-based frameworks that identify inefficiencies in the system can succeed if the next generation of shops is open-minded to move past parts and labor as its core business, says Leutz. "We can compete with Jeff Bezos. He does not need to have the only subscription out there!" 

Also in the works at Thorson's Eurotech is a lifestyle platform similar to the Doordash experience. Starting at a monthly reoccurring charge of $29.99, customers receive car retrieval and drop-off concierge treatment and discounts at roughly the same price that someone would pay for food delivery. 

Data analytics have come to age for Buckley’s Auto Care to begin selling vehicle health plans based on miles-driven for his Wilmington area clients. By inputting detail about someone's driving habits, a shop can customize a schedule that, in the long run, minimizes unforeseen, costlier repairs while extending the life of the vehicle. 

Still, much of the customer service experience boils down to top-notch skills, regardless of who is the friendliest. Brown, who manages a full-service facility off one of southern California’s highways, proposes a universal standard that incentivizes continual training. First repairers must pass a single certification exam. Over time under this self-governed mandate, the discounts and liability insurance credits flow into the business as they accrue additional course work. Parts suppliers and insurance companies that participate in Brown's vision will enable shops to compete fairly with the dealer networks. 

Thanks to social media, including Capriotto's podcast, improved awareness and activism are nudging the needle forward in the same direction to compete with the dealership market. We also agree how impactful each trade association has been, but historically the membership includes mainly the active service centers. Motivating the industry's underdeveloped repair business with fresh ideas remains the heftiest challenge to the end-user market.