Demand trends across the general repair and service channel suggest car owners performed more preventative work and nonessential repairs in June than in the prior year’s period, according to a Northcoast Research report. 

The report is based on the results of a survey encompassing feedback from about 300 independent repair shop across the country, and is done in partnership with VehicleServicePros.com. 

For the quarter, the technicians survived indicated a noticeable improvement in overall trends compared to 1Q17. The Northcoast Research index averaged 60.1 throughout the period versus 52.8 from the first three months of the year. Improving traffic trends were the main driver of the better results, according to Northcoast. A net 14 percent of respondents reported higher traffic levels year-over-year versus a net 7 percent of respondent reporting a decline in traffic in 1Q17.    

"Many of the respondents are still speculating that the favorable pricing environment at the pumps will aid repairs and maintenance spending trends in the coming months, as the low prices should continue to translate into solid driving trends and more disposable income in consumers’ wallets, which should make it easier to fund this work," the report notes. 

The improvement in demand trends was much more moderate in pace than in the previous three months. This may be due to April and May benefiting from the  disbursement of tax refunds, and an extra operating day, the report notes. 

The data suggests, according to Northcoast Research, the positive June  results were driven by the benefits from car owners’ having a "relatively healthy attitude toward preventative maintenance"  combined with the flow through of pent-up demand that had been waiting on the sidelines, especially in many of the key cold weather markets.

“It was a weird month in June," said one anonymous survey respondent from Michigan. "Business was still great and we had a consistent amount of traffic but the mix of work was a lot different. Specifically, I can only remember a single A/C job we did during the month whereas it is usually our biggest traffic driver. I think the cool temperatures are impacting the category.”

Overall, the reports suggests that car owners performed more preventative work and nonessential repairs in June than in the prior year’s period. Specifically, a net 10 percent of the respondents indicated that their customer base opted to perform more routine maintenance in the period than they normally do. This figure is slightly better than the long-term average of a net 8 percent of the respondents indicating that their customers are doing more maintenance.