April Newsletter

PartsTech: EV Tires Burn Faster, Are You Ready?

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PartsTech surveyed 752 U.S. auto repair shops and found EV tires can wear out up to 20% faster. With fewer than a third of shops having EV-trained techs, that’s a massive gap, and a huge opportunity. Get the right training, handle EV and ICE vehicles under one roof, and watch your tire business soar.

• EV adoption could hit 46% of light-duty vehicle sales by 2030, be ready to service them all.

• Only 3% of technicians are EV-proficient, which means big upside for shops that invest now.

WrenchWay: How Bozard Ford Lincoln Hired 30+ Techs

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Bozard Ford Lincoln teamed up with WrenchWay and showcased their culture, pay, and benefits through a dedicated Top Shop page. Result? 30+ new techs hired and a great talent pipeline. The best part? New hires referring friends. If your shop wants a steady flow of qualified applicants, take a page from Bozard’s playbook. This isn’t normal so we took a deeper look at how.

• Built a Top Shop page detailing pay, benefits, and career paths to attract top talent.

• Achieved a steady stream of referral hires, slashing recruiting time and costs.

RockED + automotiveMastermind: Gamified Marketing Training

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RockED’s micro-learning and gamification meets automotiveMastermind’s predictive analytics to supercharge dealership training. Think fun, interactive modules that teach you how to target customers, improve engagement, and close deals, no fluff, just data-driven sales and marketing made simple. With more dealerships moving their marketing in house, there’s a growing need to train teams on using their data to create better campaigns.

• Combines real-time data with micro-learning to help dealerships personalize campaigns.

• Gamified approach fosters long-term skill development and keeps staff engaged.

FrikenTech: 2024 Car Dealer & Buyer Report

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This is one of the coolest reports we’ve seen covering the decision-making logic around customers deciding to trade-in or keep serving their vehicle. Alex Synder and his team at FrikenTech put a lot of effort into this and has a long history of measuring this critical part of the customer’s ownership.

After crunching 2.7 million DMS records, FrikenTech reveals:

• Retention Reality: Only 23% of customers both buy and service at the same dealership.

• Equity at Risk: 65.3% of past sold customers are in equity, down from 69.4% in 2023.

• Service Threshold: The average $515 repair order hovers near the $518 “Frustration Point,” often prompting trade-ins.

• Timing of Purchases: Buyers re-enter the market around the 18th–24th loan payment, or 27 months after paying off a loan.

More Insights:

• 63% of service-drive repairs come from “conquest customers”, people who didn’t buy from you.

• 48% of service customers return at least twice in a year.

• 7.8% of repair orders exceed $1,500, prompting many owners to consider trading in or selling.

With sales, service, and equity all in play, the key is using your data effectively to drive loyalty and conquest opportunities. FrikenTech’s breakdown highlights just how critical it is to tailor your outreach at the perfect time, before someone else does.