Dealerships miss £17m worth of service revenue

The UK’s franchised dealers have missed out on more than £17m worth of service revenue in the final months of 2018, new data has revealed.

Data from electronic vehicle health check provider autoVHC – a business unit of Snap-on Business Solutions – has highlighted a sharp drop in the percentage of completed health checks during October and November 2018.

The average dealership completed checks on just 64% of vehicles presented in October, compared to 73% during October 2017. In November, the average dealer then completed checks on 65% of vehicles, down from 74% in November 2017.

With a completed health check creating an average invoice uplift of £72 over the two-month period, the year-on-year fall in completion rates has cost the average dealership £1,944 in October and £1,656 in November.

Across the UK’s 4,900 strong network of dealerships, this equates to missed service revenue of £17,640,000.

The drop comes at a time when many dealers are battling shortfalls in vehicle sales and preparing for the traditionally quieter Christmas period.

Chris Saunders, business unit director at autoVHC, said, ‘To see a fall in completion rates at this period of the year, given the wider challenges facing the industry, is particularly disappointing.

‘Winter presents an opportunity for dealerships to provide a range of additional services, including winter health checks for example.’