Customer reviews are twice as important as price when it comes to selecting a car garage, new research has found.
According to WhoCanFixMyCar.com, customer reviews carry 2.5 times more significance than cost when motorists are choosing a local business to repair their cars. Based on 30,000 jobs posted on the site in 2014 for almost 5,500 garages, the average score out of 10 was 9.2, and individual garages saw their scores improve throughout the 12 months as they addressed negative feedback.
The website, founded in 2011, caters to the growing consumer trend of conducting online searches to choose products or services. Mechanics and garages themselves can partake in online shopping of their own when it comes to getting an online motor trade insurance quote – this is a service that Bollington provides, although it is advised that individuals or businesses speak to an expert broker having got the quote to ensure it caters to their exact needs.
The findings from WhoCanFixMyCar.com’s 2014 data suggests that the UK’s car garages are working to very high standards, with 96 per cent of customers recommending their company to other customers.
Alex Rose, WhoCanFixMyCar.com marketing director, commented: “The playing field – if not level – is getting flatter.
"For generations, well-known brand names were bywords for certain attributes (value, speed, quality, reliability), creating emotional connections between brand and customer. Smaller, independent businesses couldn’t hope to compete with the brand strength of their high-street competitors.
"However, now that it’s simple to compare products and services online – irrespective of brand strength – so smaller players with good offerings have begun eating away at their better-known competitors.”
