Professional Distributor - 4

EDITOR'S NOTE
Published by Endeavor Business Media, LLC

Recovery in terms of
'miles traveled'

How will COVID-19 affect the aftermarket
in the days and weeks to come?

T
BY SARA SCULLIN
EDITOR

920-568-8394
Sara@VehicleServicePros.com

ne last few weeks have
been tough for business.
One way we can gauge
the impact of this COVID-19 -
from an automotive lens - is to
look at how vehicle travel has
changed, thereby affecting
every rung of the aftermarket,
from the repair shop down to the
mobile tool dealer. Car counts
are down, and it's no mystery
why that is. Fewer people are
driving to jobs, recreation, and
errands. Fewer people are driving. Period. It's a challenge for
shops, to be sure. At the same
time, automotive repair businesses may find they will rebound -
and sooner - compared with
other industries.
A research piece published by
McKinsey & Company, a global
management consulting firm that
serves businesses, governments,
and non-governmental organizations, examined how COVID19 might impact the aftermarket,
and the projection wasn't all bad.
In 'Beyond Coronavirus: The road
ahead for the automotive aftermarket' researchers tracked the
sudden and steep drop in vehicle
miles traveled (VMT) and went
on to project when and how these
miles might rev up again.
The report argues the lightvehicle aftermarket has typically
been the most recession-resistant
part of the automotive industry.
Afterall, people may stop purchasing vehicles when times are
tough. They may even stop traveling to work for a time, but it is

4 Professional Distributor I June 2020 I VehicleServicePros.com

unlikely humans will stay put in
one place for very long.
"When economic pressure
causes drivers to delay purchasing new cars, repairs on their current (and older) vehicles become
even more vital," write the article's
collective authors from the Automotive & Assembly practice. "To
appreciate the aftermarket's resilience, consider the financial crisis
from 2007 to 2009. The United
States saw GDP drop about 4 percent and the economic repercussions hit automotive purchases
hard. Sales plunged 42 percent for
new cars and 20 percent for used
cars, but the aftermarket experienced only a 1 percent decline."
The collision industry echoed
this hopeful outlook. In a recent
webinar held by 3M, detailing
the impact of COVID-19 on the
collision industry, four industry
experts predicted that the need to
get out and away will drive business back to normal by summer.
It's worthwhile, too, to consider how the pandemic might
impact other means of transportation going forward. In the days
to follow, some travelers may be
less inclined to use public transportation, rideshares, and air
travel, instead opting for their
private, enclosed cars and trucks.
If your days have been slow,
they may not be slow much longer. Are your customers consistent, even through the pandemic?
Have you struggled with sales?
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods.

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Printed in the U.S. Volume 28, Number 5; June 2020
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VP/GROUP PUBLISHER, ENDEAVOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE GROUP

Kylie Hirko
630-253-4034 Kylie@VehicleServicePros.com
EDITOR Sara Scullin

920-568-8394 Sara@VehicleServicePros.com

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