What do car sharing fleets expect from repair garages?

One of the phenomenons linked to the development of sustainable urban mobility is car sharing. The European Union considers it to be one of the key elements in order to contribute to the compliance of the mobility decarbonization goals. More and more cities, both large and mid-sized, have companies that provide car sharing services.

These are vehicle fleets whose mobility efficiency is essential in order to ensure the profitability of the companies that manage them, so they cannot spend too much downtime due to garage work. However, these vehicles are subjected to intensive, urban use, which requires more maintenance, both electromechanic as well as body and paint, than an average private use car.

This pressure to perform maintenance work in as little time as possible requires the repair shop to have both a specific treatment and a strategy for the car sharing customer.

According to different studies, there is a clear trend towards the reduction of private vehicle ownership in favor of these types of car sharing formulas, in which a single customer, the fleet management, decides where to perform the maintenance of many vehicles.

These are customers looking to reduce the operating costs related to all the services provided by their suppliers, including garages. They also require absolute priority in the repair of their vehicles, because they are losing money every minute that they are not available. Are garages prepared to meet the needs of “car-sharing” fleets? Do they have a specific strategy for this type of client?

Some of the changes that garages might need to adopt in order to satisfy the needs of this type of customer are:

• Smooth flow within the repair shop (in order to speed up efficiency and performance).
• In some cases, setting up shop in the customer’s facilities in order to speed up the repair and avoid profit loss.
• More replacing and less repairing. It is critical to avoid mistakes
• Use the customer’s specific applications.