Nearly 70% of Millennials Prefer to Acquire Automotive Repair and Maintenance Services Online

Nearly 70% of Millennials prefer to buy automotive repair and maintenance services online

In a nationwide survey conducted by Lang Marketing, a leading independent consulting and marketing analysis company, nearly 70% of Millennials indicated that they would prefer to buy automotive repair services from an eSeller (e.g., Amazon or another online company) than to deal directly with a local automotive repair shop.

At Openbay, we see similar results. Digital consumers want the convenience of shopping on line for professional services, reading customer ratings and reviews, and obtaining pricing information from a curated and trustworthily network of automotive service professionals — all prior to selecting a professional to deliver the service. The Openbay marketplace was designed to meet all the needs of the digital consumer (and more) when shopping online for automotive repair services.

The Openbay automotive services marketplace delivers:

• 1,000s of automotive repair and maintenance services to select from
• Upfront and transparent pricing delivered from a curated nationwide network of automotive service professionals
• Discounts on services
• Customer ratings and reviews
• Business information on each service professional
• Ability to book service appointments online with confirmation

The Lang Marketing survey included three customer segments; Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials:

• Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort preceding Generation X. Boomers are often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, translating to people that are 58 to 76 years in age*.
• Generation X is the demographic cohort following Boomers and preceding Millennials. Generation X are generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980, translating to people that are 42 to 57 years in age*.
• Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y. They are defined as people born from 1981 to 1996, translating to people that are 23 to 41 years in age*.
• (*as of the date of this blog post, Year 2022).

According to Lang Marketing, these consumer demographic cohorts represent approximately 90% of today’s light vehicle DIFM (do-it-for-me) market.

As part of the survey, Lang asked each of the above demographic cohorts if buying local auto repair online from Amazon (or another large eSeller) had advantages over dealing directly with a local automotive repair shop.

• One-third of Boomers indicated that buying automotive repair from Amazon (or another large eSeller) had advantages over dealing in person with local repair shops
• Approximately half of Generation Xers reported that buying auto repair online would have advantages over dealing directly with local repair shops
• Millennials are nearly 2x likely as Generation Xers and Boomers to believe that Trust in eSellers is a primary advantage of purchasing auto repair online rather than dealing with a local repair shop. Millennials are very receptive to buying repair online and could be an anchor for the rapid growth of online-to-offline (o2o) automotive repair in the U.S. over the balance of the decade, according to Lang.

All three demographic cohorts rated Convenience and Price as the two top advantages of buying auto repair online compared to dealing with a local repair shop. Openbay’s new online marketplace offering, Openbay+ delivers on both of these advantages.

According to Lang, Millennials have more Trust in buying automotive repair services from eSellers than direct from local shops. Millennials rated Trust nearly equal to Price and Convenience as an advantage of purchasing auto repair online. This Trust factor allows Millennials to feel comfortable getting their vehicles serviced by a local automotive service professional that was curated and approved by an eSeller and part of the eSeller’s network.

Millennials’ Trust in eSellers makes purchasing auto repair online even more convenient by eliminating the time and effort necessary to establish a relationship with a local repair outlet.

Openbay is an a great position to capitalize on this growing trend.

About Lang Marketing — Lang Marketing Resources, Inc. is an independent consulting and marketing analysis company specializing in the vehicle products industry. Recognized as a leading source of industry information and analysis, Lang Marketing Resources, Inc. has provided information to a wide range of national news media including CBS Television, Newsweek, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. http://www.langmarketing.com