A recent research note has confirmed, once again, that Canadians see independent aftermarket auto shops as the price leaders, while new vehicle dealers are seen as the brand knowledge leaders.

The note, from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) should come as no surprise to those in the automotive aftermarket or, frankly, the Canadian public at large.

Specifically, this was the finding of an annual Light Vehicle Study of 4,500 Canadian vehicle owners regarding their maintenance habits, incidence of repair, brand preferences, spending, and a whole host of other details that outline how Canadians interact with their vehicles and the automotive aftermarket.

It found that more than 57% of respondents put the Independent aftermarket at the top when they thought about who offered the best price, followed by Canadian Tire at over 24%, and General Repair Chains at 21%.

Remarkably—at least to this writer—14% said they New Vehicle Dealers came to mind when they considered who had the best price.

On the other side of the coin, sort of, when New Vehicles Dealers were the service provider of choice, more than 35% of respondents said Brand Expertise drove that decision. About 34% said it was Trust in Work, 23% said it was warranty work that drove there.

But only 22% said it was because they thought they had the Best Technicians, and only 20% said it was access to Genuine Parts.

While the set of questions is a bit different with every market survey out there, these results mirror closely that of previous surveys by other organizations.

These attitudes are pretty ingrained.

So, the question then for independent shop owners is where are the opportunities to shift attitudes, and customer behaviour, in their favour?

The obvious one is to lean heavily on promoting the expertise of your service. I think we can all agree that being an “all-makes service” outlet is not really a viable option, at least not in a comprehensive way.

Dedicating the time and money associated with training and equipment to be truly comfortable and competent conducting every service need of every vehicle from every brand would be literally impossible. Not hard. Impossible.

Even more traditional generalist shops – as opposed to those overtly promoting a specialty in a brand or segment — will draw the line for some service needs (e.g. transmission service, even just fluid and filters changes, on some vehicles).

It should also be noted that even New Vehicle Dealers do not necessarily have all the expertise in-house. PHEVs are a great example, where owners may have to wait for “the specialist” to make their rounds.

For independent shops, connecting with specialists such as that may rankle, but serving the customer confidently may require leaning on outside resources if there is a (hopefully temporary) gap in knowledge or equipment or both.

In the end, however, New Vehicle Dealers will always have the assumptive advantage on Brand Expertise, but this is not total, nor eternal.

Here are some potential opportunities for independents:

Specialty or Enthusiast vehicles, especially those more than 10 years old

These are rare enough that dealers’ advantages are much less, and the owners of these vehicles will treat an expert shop as a destination.

Popular brands without a local dealer

Automakers and dealer networks are continually adjusting their footprint, sometimes leaving a large customer base in the lurch. If you are prepared with training and equipment, you can become their go-to.

Combining specialty expertise with a price advantage

This is the “killer app” for the aftermarket. A strong ownership commitment to training and equipment investments combined with a price advantage will generate ongoing customer growth and trust, especially in secondary hub markets without extensive new car dealer networks.

The underlying message from this and other research is that Canadian car owners already think of independents are more affordable, there’s little or no need to lean too hard into that as marketing position.

The real opportunity is to nibble away at the perceived expertise advantage of the New Vehicle Dealer while still maintaining a degree of price advantage.