The choice of the car owner: the official dealer or an independent service station?

A survey conducted by the analytic agency AUTOSTAT together with Auto Mail.Ru in June of 2018 showed that the majority of Russian car owners (85%) prefer to service and repair cars at official dealers while cars are under warranty. Only 7% of owners apply to independent service stations during this period of operation of the car. The rest 8% do it themselves or at a private mechanic.

As soon as the warranty period ends, the ratio changes dramatically: much less car owners apply to the official dealers (only 40%), but the popularity of independent service stations, on the contrary, becomes higher (37%). Accordingly, the rest 23% of owners apply to private mechanics and demonstrate a significant increase of their share in the repair services of "not new" cars.

The survey showed that, at the end of the warranty period, owners apply more often to independent service stations than to official dealers because of a number of reasons: repair of the gearbox (50% vs. 25%, respectively), engine repair (46% vs. 23%), chassis repair (43% against 17%), and body repair (54% against 16%). Especially there is the great difference in the number of applies for repair / refueling of air conditioners and for the collapse / convergence of the wheels. In this form of service, owners apply triply more often to independent service stations.

Even the electrician and high-tech electronics are repaired at the independent service station – only 27% apply to the official dealer centers.

More details about the preferences of Russian car owners in terms of car servicing, as well as about the most current trends of the car service market, you can find by visiting the AUTOSERVICE conference - 2018, which will be held by the analytic agency "AUTOSTAT" in Moscow on August 30th.