OTTAWA, Ontario—The Automotive Industry Association (AIA) of Canada has released its first analysis of automotive service bay numbers across Canada.
Highlights of the report, titled “2015 Study of Automotive Service Bays in Canada,” include:
c There were an estimated 106,193 service bays in 2014 across Canada.
c Independent operators have the largest share of locations and service bays when compared against all other channels.
c The number of vehicles per service bay is the highest in Newfoundland/Labrador, with 318 vehicles per bay.
c The supply of bays exceeds demand by about 14 percent.
The group said it produced the report—available to all AIA members free of charge—in concert with DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, using a mix of proprietary survey data, Statistics Canada information and extrapolative analysis. The report includes data on service bays operated by major chains, new vehicle dealers and independents, along with a province-by-province breakdown.
The study, which concludes with a discussion of supply-and-demand trends in the national marketplace, is not an actual count of the service bays in Canada, according to the association, but rather an estimate based on interpolated data.
Members can access the report by logging onto AIA's website—at www.aiacanada.com—with their email address and password and visiting the Publications page. The study also is available for purchase to non-members on AIA's website.