Each year Automotive Service Association (ASA) members are surveyed about all aspects of their businesses. This year’s collision survey was sent to 1,000 randomly-selected collision repairers. The survey provides a detailed picture of the independent automotive repair industry.
The survey covers the independent collision repair sector with regard to business profile, business ownership, staff, current sales and expectations for the upcoming year, advertising and marketing, customers and the impact of various industry issues. 

Nearly 30% of those replied. With such a large response rate, the survey results have a 95 percent confidence level with aconfidence interval of +/- 5. One can be 95 percent certain that the responses given are representative of the entire population within 5 points above and 5 points below the stated value.

The purpose of the survey is to provide an accurate benchmark for business owners and those interested in the industry.

Slight growth

ASA is estimating a slight growth in the collision industry - from 34,646 shops in 2003 to 34,681 shops in 2004. ASA is also estimating a slight growth in employees, from 225,625 in 2003 to 225,907 for 2004. These folks are responsible for fixing the estimated 22.5 million vehicles involved in collisions in 2004.

ASA is estimating annual sales for the independent side of the collision industry to be a conservative $23 billion. This figure is based on the actual annual sales listed by the U.S. Bureau of Economics Analysis for 2001. These figures do not include the approximate 8,444 franchised dealerships with body shops generating an estimated $9 billion in 2003, according to the National Automobile Dealership Association.

Important issues

As part of this year's survey, respondents were asked to indicate which issues currently impact their own business. With each business applying its own needs and experiences, the responses reflect the impact of the issues on the respondent, not the industry as a whole.

According to the survey, from a list of 19 issues, the top five issues cited by respondents as having a positive impact on their individual business were consumer awareness (71 percent); their relationship with insurance companies (64 percent); retaining technicians (59 percent); the availability of service information (52 percent); and cycle time (50 percent).

Issues cited as having no current impact on respondents' individual businesses include government-funded vocational schools (71 percent); recruiting middle management (64 percent); and shop consolidation (55 percent). Although individuals cited these issues as having no current impact on their own business, this does not mean these issues do not affect the industry as a whole.

Two areas cited by a majority of respondents as having a negative impact on their individual businesses are the quality of aftermarket parts (62 percent) and labor time allowances (56 percent).

For the full survey results, visit www.asashop.org.