Cost Savings Drives DIY Behavior while Expertise and Experience Influence DIFM

Auto Care validated through recent research that do-it-yourself (DIY) maintenance is driven principally by cost savings. DIYers identify “lack of knowledge” and “complexity of repairs” as the top challenges when maintaining vehicles on their own.

Do-it-for-me (DIFM) customers value professional service providers’ expertise and experience, trust them, and personally lack the skill to maintain their vehicles. Cost concerns are the primary challenge for these consumers, though.

Ever since the pandemic affected consumer behavior (activities, driving, purchase, vehicle maintenance), our Market Intelligence Committee thought it would be helpful to reassess how vehicle owners approach the DIY vs. DIFM decision process for vehicle maintenance. With high inflation throughout 2023, and increasing cost of vehicle maintenance (Figure 1) and perhaps continued time for DIY activity (Figure 2) and accessibility to parts via e-commerce channels, we were interested to see whether cost savings was a primary reason for DIY activity, along with:

• What event/incident prompted consumers to begin the decision path?
• What information did consumers seek out while determining which path to take?
• What sources/channels of information were utilized?
• When evaluating DIY vs DIFM, what are the perceived benefits and drawbacks for each?

We engaged Hanover Research to survey U.S. adults who own a vehicle for personal use, are involved in the maintenance decision process, recently conducted maintenance or service on their vehicle, and who do not work in the automotive repair industry. The survey was administered online, and respondents were recruited through an online panel. The analysis includes a total of 1,081 respondents following data cleaning and quality control.

Maintenance Reasons and Focus

Scheduled maintenance and preventative care drive vehicle maintenance, typically for fluids and tire-related work (Figure 3). As pictured (Figure 4), scheduled maintenance is by far the most frequent reason for service, followed by regular inspections and warning lights or indicators. That the majority of service is pro-active maintenance vs. reactive is encouraging. Also, it appears that driving patterns have settled into a bit more of a regular routine with respect to commuting and vacation travel (more on this later), which complements regularly scheduled maintenance.

Regarding sources, owner’s manual, online search, and YouTube are the most frequently used (Figure 5), with the owner’s manual viewed as the most reliable (Figure 6). Access to short-form videos on TikTok has exploded as a genre in the past few years, with more than a billion views across the “Auto Repair Shops” (470 million), “Car Repair Shop” (105 million) and “Car Repairs” (569 million) channels. Relatedly, resources for various YouTube repair channels are easy to find, like this one and that one.

Drivers and Challenges

In the current economic climate of rising costs, the higher cost of auto parts and service and general inflation are certainly in the forefront of the minds of those who take their vehicles in for service. As illustrated in Figure 7, cost-savings is the primary and most-important reason for DIY activity.

Not surprisingly, attributes related to fulfillment index highly – self-reliance and independence, problem-solving satisfaction, learning and skill development, and passion/hobby resonate with a sizable portion of those who identify as DIYers.

That said, when vehicle owners engage in DIY activity, lack of expertise and complexity of vehicle repairs are the most frequently cited challenges (Figure 8).

These factors, along with limited access to tools and equipment, difficulty to diagnose and lack of information point to the “stretch” that can be associated with DIY activities and the corresponding satisfaction that can be derived from identifying solutions and implementing them, whether on a vehicle or in other aspects of life. As vehicles become even more technologically advanced, the ability to assess and access necessary information arguably becomes more challenging – more on this later in the article.

Vehicle owners who engage a dealership or mechanic for vehicle maintenance do so for the provider’s expertise / experience, convenience and timesaving, and warranty coverage (Figure 9).

near-term outlook is promising, but threats loom

Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) continues to be a leading indicator of aftermarket activity, particularly as the car parc ages. Based on telematics data from Arity, VMT in 2023 was 3.66 trillion miles, 0.65% higher than in 2022 (Figure 11). Arity VMT data is available to Auto Care members in TrendLens^TM. As mentioned in various publications (including the Factbook and this article), one advantage of Arity VMT data is its speed – we publish it a week after the end of each month. This allows you to more easily keep the pulse on driver activity and forecast its impact on your company’s performance. We’ve recently discussed with a few members some of the nuances of Arity VMT data and U.S. DOT VMT data – how comparable are they? Is one more “accurate” than the other? Can you mix and match data across the two sets? I’ll explore these and related topics in a future blog post.

Another aspect of vehicle maintenance that is worth watching is mobile service – where the service provider performs maintenance at a vehicle owner’s residence. While most consumers have not used mobile vehicle maintenance services prior to this survey, half are likely to consider this in the survey (Figure 12).