AKRON (Sept. 24, 2007) — When Mitch Schneider replaced the struts recently on his wife's 2004 Infiniti I35, she immediately let him know she approved.
“Her exact words were, 'It handles much better and it feels much tighter,'” Mr. Schneider said. “That is profound because she's the kind of person who just drives a car and doesn't care about anything mechanical.”
Mr. Schneider is savvier about vehicle maintenance than most consumers. Not only has he, as co-owner, operated Schneider's Auto Repair Inc., an independent automotive repair shop in Simi Valley, Calif., for 28 years, he's director of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association's Car Care Professionals Network. After 50,000 miles, Mr. Schneider admitted, his wife's sedan had gotten to the point “where I didn't want to drive it.”
Most motorists don't have a choice when it comes to driving their cars, sport-utility vehicles and trucks—they must drive them, and increasingly, much longer than 50,000 miles. Servicing struts and shocks is where too many shops are missing an opportunity to strut their stuff, delight their customers and improve their sales, experts told Tire Business.
The profit potential in replacing or upgrading shock absorbers and struts is “highly untapped,” said Bill Dennie, a manager of Monroe ride control products for Tenneco Inc. “The vast majority of cars—depending on whose numbers you read, some say over 60 percent—still have original shocks on them. The average age of a vehicle is now to 13 years.”
The problem, he explained, is that the components' seals are much better so leaks are extremely rare and the units “wear out gradually. People don't know they're going bad.”
Mr. Dennie said that Tenneco, KYB America L.L.C. and Gabriel Ride Control Products Inc. joined the Motorist Assurance Program (MAP), an automotive repair standards and communication organization, in researching shock and strut wear in 2005. The testing revealed that, in general, original equipment units showed a sharp degradation when the vehicle got to 50,000 miles.
Whenever technicians see that a vehicle has that kind of mileage, they should take the vehicle for a test drive, even observing how the front end behaves when it goes up the hoist ramp, Mr. Dennie said.
Another portion of the business that's overlooked are strut mounts, he said. “Bearings go bad. Rubber products go bad. If you don't change the bearing plates and it goes bad, the consumer will think the strut has gone bad.”
That's bad for both the consumer's wallet and the shop's reputation, since mounts sometimes can be as costly as the struts, meaning the motorist winds up paying for labor twice.
Nowadays, when replacing four worn tires can run upwards of $1,000, telling the customer he or she needs to replace suspension components is a delicate proposition.
“We tend to be very careful how we approach a customer about suspension,” Mr. Schneider said. “It's a very soft presentation because of the abuse in that area. And we make sure the customer knows there's a difference between ride comfort and safety.
“We suggest that for the benefit of keeping the wheels on the ground and tire wear where it's supposed to be, they should probably consider strut replacement. And you know what? They'll call us back afterward and thank us.”
Indeed, Mr. Dennie said that the purchase of four tires is an excellent time to assess struts, and dealers shouldn't shy away from asking for the sale. He said Monroe has found that 85 percent of customers who are told that they need new shock absorbers will come back and have the work done.
When selling needed shock absorbers and struts, shops should communicate the role the components play in handling, control and stability, said Aaron Shaffer, marketing manager at KYB America. “If you sell ride control products based on comfort and ride, you'll get returns. If a shock isn't performing its function, a vehicle won't 'ride' as well as many customers think it should.
“Everything in a vehicle suspension is ultimately designed to control the tire. It's the tire that stops that car. It's the tires that actually turn the car. The steering wheel doesn't turn the car, the tires do it. We refer to the other parts as 'tire control' to achieve the handling and control that vehicle is capable of. If the tire is not in constant contact with the road, the vehicle won't stop and turn as well as it was designed to do.”
KYB, like other companies, offers several lines of products. Its GR-2 replacement-type strut is designed to restore performance but has been tuned to work with OEM suspensions that have seen plenty of miles. Its AGX is targeted at a market that Mr. Shaffer said shops are largely missing: upgrades for increased control and handling. “This is for the vehicle that may have a hitch on it that's used for hauling or towing or a sports car for increased handling.”
What's crucial to being successful in not just selling ride control products but other services, is that a shop and its personnel need strong policies, procedures and goals, Mr. Shaffer noted. “A goal is the most important thing in selling any maintenance. The local garage should know the consumer's goal and agree with the goal. Then they can say, 'If you want this car to last, we should do a transmission flush.'
“You tell your technician, 'I can pay anyone to fix cars. Your one goal is to make sure every one of my customers' cars lasts 200,000 miles, period.' Now because there is a shared goal, instead of checking the dipstick and thinking, 'It's a little dirty,' the technician will advise the customer to have the transmission fluid flushed and feel OK about it.”
Mr. Schneider said struts and shocks are “one of our most important centers of profit. We check every vehicle that comes through the shop thoroughly to make sure the struts and the shocks are doing their job. That includes testing and inspecting steering and suspension parts to make sure there's no excessive movement or play.
“After all,” he added, “there are very few parts that work on a car 24/7. The shocks and struts suspend the vehicle every minute of every day.”