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Impact of accident rate and technology on the auto repair business

Trends

April 13, 2021

9 MIN of Reading

How does the auto repair business adapt and differentiate itself?

The confinement rules had a natural impact on reducing automobile accidents during 2020 due to the restrictions imposed on circulation (26% fewer accidents and 18% fewer fatalities) but the overall downward trend in this indicator has been evident since 2017, according to the latest data from the ACAP observatory on the aftermarket.

Considering that the total number of claims constitutes an indicator of entry into workshops, it is foreseeable that its evolution in this direction will have more pronounced repercussions on the repair business and thus represent a warning for professionals in the sector to adapt to the functioning of the market.

Joining this trend, there is a whole set of new technologies that will be implemented starting in 2022, aiming precisely to reinforce this reality, as the European Union intends to revolutionize road safety with a range of features that help drivers become more "safety-driven".

Safety Technologies

They promise to change traditional mobility (non-autonomous or dependent on human interaction) so that automobiles become increasingly safer in circulation, through alarm mechanisms and systems, reactive or responsive, that enhance drivers' response capacity from a perspective very close to the concept of "human-augmented", allowing them to have an almost 360-degree view in terms of spatial proximity.

Safety technology embedded in the latest vehicles:

Emergency braking is extended to light vehicles.
Automobiles should integrate attention monitoring systems, detecting drowsiness and fatigue in the driver.
Vehicles must have a lane-keeping assistant and adaptive cruise control.
Among the mandatory devices are now rear cameras and sensors.
The vehicles now have a breathalyzer to prevent drunk drivers from driving.

This technological evolution, based above all on automation, data, interfaces, sensors and system interconnectivity, is designed for seamless integration, for example via the Internet of Things (IoT) with smarter cities in the future, but in the immediate future the focus is on eliminating accidents as much as possible.

All this scenario brings added challenges for the aftermarket sector, namely for the training and qualification of professionals, enabling them to handle these new technologies as they are incorporated into different vehicle models, but fundamentally when they start arriving more regularly at independent repair or maintenance workshops.

Access to knowledge about the functioning of technology is not just an option, as well as the need to keep up with the changes that the influence of this technology causes in the habits of drivers, since the aftermarket sector needs to be attentive to how it should anticipate and position itself in the value chain of its business.

Tip4y creates the best knowledge about automotive identity, from which it develops cross solutions for this sector, precisely to help its professionals stimulate an "augmented" vision regarding the competitive environment and manage their businesses in the most diverse contexts of evolution.