Half of ‘urgent’ work undone

Almost half the work identified by dealers during services as ‘urgent’ is not being carried out. This mean motorists are driving vehicles that pose safety risks, while dealers are missing out on as much £401.8m in revenue.

This is according to annual data from electronic vehicle health check provider autoVHC, which found that dealer only managed to sell 53% of red work.

Red work is identified as faults that if not addressed pose a serious safety risk and in many cases will mean the owner will be breaking the law if they continue to drive the vehicle.

autoVHC’s data, which sampled 500 UK dealers in 2018, revealed the average UK dealer failed to sell £82,000 worth of urgently required work over the 12-month period. Across the sample group this equated to £41m worth of lost sales, meaning a total lost sales figure of £401.8m across the UK’s 4,900-strong franchised dealer network.

In 2017, autoVHC’s data revealed this number stood at £420m and while the total is slightly down, the number of vehicles presenting themselves at the average dealership also declined during 2018.

In 2018, the average dealership saw 520 fewer vehicles presented to its service department – a drop of more than 2.5 million vehicles in total across the UK’s franchised dealer network.

Though the drop was not as significant as in previous years, it continues a trend that further compounds the failure to sell such significant amounts of urgently required work.

Chris Saunders, business unit director at autoVHC, said, ‘Dealerships are battling a particularly challenging market at present and this applies to the aftersales side of their business as much as it does to new and used vehicle sales. However, even when this is considered it is still disappointing to see dealers missing out on such large volumes of work.

‘With 2018 also seeing a continued reduction in the number of vehicles presented at franchised workshops it is more crucial than ever before that aftersales opportunities are maximised. The work we are talking about here is not work that should be delayed either, and when the risk to the motorist is considered, along with the potential failure in the dealership’s duty of care, the low conversion rate is particularly difficult to comprehend.

‘2019 is forecast to be another challenging year for the sector and a greater focus on converting these critical sales opportunities is therefore essential.’