A matter of trust
Trust matters more than anything when car owners select a garage to repair their cars – although 10% said they select a garage based on the availability of online booking.
More than half (53%) of 1,000 drivers surveyed by BookMyGarage.com said they used a garage either because they trusted it or because they had used it for years.
That is driven by a fear of being cheated by their garages, with 74% admitting that they worried about hidden costs and/or being oversold. This compared to just nine per cent who were concerned about poor customer service.
One consequence of that is that 26% of drivers questioned said a fixed price promise was incredibly important.
Meanwhile, one in 10 drivers said they made a decision based on the possibility to book online – in London 32% of booking were made online, that figure is 28% for the south east and nine per cent for the north west and Wales.
Surprisingly, only three per cent were swayed by the garage because it’s an established brand.
Other key influencers for drivers were businesses that offered collection and delivery, with 46% citing it as a valuable service.
