Lunchtime bookings prove popular

Lunchtime is the peak period for motorists when booking online servicing, according to new figures released by RAC Garage Compare.

The busiest single hour is between noon and 1pm although levels remain relatively high through to 4pm before slowly ebbing away as the evening continues.

Douglas Rotberg, CEO of The Motorist’s Organisation, which is the RAC’s partner for RAC Garage Compare, said that this kind of information was invaluable for garages.

He explained, ‘We advise garages to keep their status updated on our website so that they can use it to actively maximise capacity in their workshops. These figures show the times of day when it is best for them to go online and make changes to encourage traffic to generate extra business.

‘It is plausible to suggest – though we have no direct evidence to support this – that drivers start to think about sorting out their servicing or MoT arrangements and go online while they are perhaps eating a sandwich at their desk or kitchen table around about noon.’

Douglas added that it was interesting to note the difference between booking patterns for servicing and reported peak times for online car sales browsing.

He said, ‘Most of the evidence in this area suggests that people view searching for a new or used car as a leisure activity and sit on their sofa during the evening with a laptop, tablet or phone, browsing to see what is available from around 6-9pm.

‘By contrast, booking a service is obviously a more practical purchase and most people seem to want to sort out their arrangements during the day – although levels on our website remain at around two-thirds of peak level until as late as 8pm.’

More than 4,000 independent and franchised garages have signed up as suppliers to RAC Garage Compare since the project was announced in early December.