Car dealers averaged about 2.5-percent growth in such revenue between 2011-16. Tire retailers benefited as well, Lang Marketing said, ringing up more than 7 percent of the $12 billion gain in consumer purchased services over the period studied.
Auto parts stores with service bays suffered receding revenue from purchased service billing during the period, Lang said.
The Great Recession of 2008 hit car dealers hard, Lang Marketing said, as more than 3,100 dealer outlets closed, shuttering 59,000 service bays. As a result, car dealer service bay product sales declined more than $1.8 billion by 2010 before bottoming at just over $16 billion in 2012.
After that, however, car dealer service bays began rebuilding their car and light truck product volume, climbing to $16.5 billion in 2013, exceeding $17 billion in 2014 and eclipsing $20 billion last year, Lang estimated.
Lang Marketing issues a weekly report on the automotive service business in the U.S. To subscribe, go to: www.langireport.com.