ROY Morgan has found that car owners have dramatically reduced their service visits, with barely 18 per cent of motorists now fixing their cars three or more times a year, down from 30.5 per cent 11 years ago.

In its latest vehicle servicing survey report, Roy Morgan said the prime reason was the increased reliability of cars.

“As vehicles become more reliable, the percentage of drivers requiring two or fewer services or repairs a year has correspondingly increased from 69.5 per cent to 81.6 per cent over the same period,” it said.

Roy Morgan’s industry communications director Norman Morris said the reduced vehicle servicing schedules were a problem for companies whose main revenue streams are derived from servicing work.

“This is a trend that is widely predicted to continue as the vehicle fleet gradually transitions from traditional petrol and diesel vehicles to new-generation hybrid or electric vehicles,” he said.

“For dealers, the importance of servicing has a second dimension – it is their best means of forging and maintaining a relationship with their customers.”

But the survey found that dealers are not necessarily missing out to independent operations.

It said car owners preferred visiting the dealer’s service centres when their vehicle is new or near-new, with a tendency to shift to local garage service centres as the vehicle ages.

“This transition is most pronounced at the five-year mark, when many factory warranties or lease agreements expire,” it said.

After the tenth year, less than 10 per cent of car owners remained loyal to the dealer’s service centre that sold them the car, while almost 60 per cent were using independent service outlets.

“Although there is a clear move away from dealer-run service centres when a vehicle reaches five years of age, it’s important to remember that often that vehicle will not be owned by the original purchaser,” Mr Morris said.

“Many leasehold customers, or those who value having a late-model vehicle with a dealer warranty, become the next wave of new-car buyers.”

Roy Morgan researched owner satisfaction with different service centres and found little difference between the dealers and local garages and workshops.

“Service centres that rate most highly (89.5 per cent) include those dealers that sell different brands to that owned by the survey respondent,” the survey said.

“Local garage/workshop (but not petrol stations) came in a close second at 88.7 per cent, and the dealer who sold the respondent’s car was almost identical at 88.3 per cent.”

Roy Morgan said mobile mechanics were less popular, with an average total satisfaction rating of 79 per cent, while tyre specialists and auto-electricians were less popular again, rating 77.5 per cent and 75.6 per cent respectively.

By Neil Dowling