Analysts of the Auto Market Research Institute, together with RemOnline , a leading developer of CRM systems for various business areas, including car service, investigated the field of car maintenance services in Ukraine.
Experts analyzed more than 200,000 records of visits by Ukrainians to service stations. The information will be of interest to owners and managers of service stations, warehouses and stores of spare parts and consumables, suppliers of equipment for car service, carriers, and it will also be of interest to car owners.
Service station occupancy by days of the week
Letʼs start the review of a considerable depersonalized array of data processed by IDA specialists with a simpler one: what is the frequency of car ownersʼ calls to service companies by day of the week? Car service workers contribute the most work, and with a high probability perform it, on Tuesday : more than 21% of them turned out to be such. A little less, but also quite a lot — 20.3%, on Monday.
The following days, from Wednesday to Friday, have a load share (of the whole week) from 15.8% to 17.5%. Saturday is the least busy — 6.6% of completed works. According to statistics, Sunday is not a day off for everyone — 1.3% of work was performed on the seventh day of the week, but most likely these are not planned, but urgent urgent orders for regular service stations, such as tire fitting facilities.
Based on this information, service center managers can adjust (balance) the load taking into account peak Mondays and Tuesdays, for example, with additional price coefficients with a plus sign. Or, on the contrary, offer slightly reduced rates from Wednesday to Friday.
For car owners, this data is no less useful: it is better to plan your visit to the service station from Wednesday to Friday, then it is most likely that your order will be fulfilled on time, without haste and postponement to the next day.
Age picture of motor vehicles
It should be noted that the data used for analytics in this review are obtained from relatively medium-sized service stations or from large car service enterprises. Private "garage" car mechanics, small workshops with 1-3 repair posts are almost not included in these statistics, as they usually do not use electronic systems for recording work and customers.
So, what is the age picture of the vehicles whose owners turned to most of the leading Ukrainian service stations in 2023? In fact, the diagram repeats the age picture of our car fleet and the car market, which is logical: the number of requests for repairs or routine maintenance should correlate with the number of cars of the corresponding age that are in operation.
However, the part of the diagram that concerns the 2019-2021 release years requires a separate explanation. Significantly higher shares of appeals in the mentioned range do not indicate the "unreliability of new cars" or their increased need for routine work. These are mostly cars from American auctions, the owners of which ordered body repairs, since most cars from American countries arrive in Ukraine with certain damages. In addition, car repair after a road accident usually requires the involvement of several positions — bodywork, painting, glass replacement specialists, electricians, etc., accordingly, each stage is calculated sequentially and separately. Also, with a high probability, cars over 20 years old visit medium and large service stations much less, giving preference to private car mechanics.
What is the average check from service stations by region?
In general, if you take a single average number for Ukraine, one average check from the service station (work plus spare parts) will amount to UAH 6,022. Yes, this is an overly generalized value, since the calculations include data on the repair of cars of various ages, classes, and even groups — there are also cars and trucks.
However, these data can be somewhat specified, for example, in the section of individual areas. We will consider those where there is a sufficient number of appeals (more than 1000). Here are the average checks that car owners left local service stations with:
The difference in numbers is considerable, and the indicators themselves should not be taken as a direct indication of where to look for a cheaper car service. The fact is that in each of the regions considered , the saturation of service stations is different, in addition, there is a different set of them by specialization — body work (car restoration after road accidents, from auctions) is more expensive, as is the maintenance of trucks, tractors or buses.
Also, certain regions have a conditional "specialization" in the auto business — in certain regions, the import of cars from abroad is popular (for example, as in Volynska ), which requires greater activity of auto service enterprises to provide relevant services. Although in the end, in connection with the sufficient demand of representatives of the auto business, one way or another, according to the rules of the open market, the price of services also increases for private customers.
How much does it cost to repair certain brands?
Before moving on to the review of average checks in this section, it should be noted that we are talking about the realities of a relatively young Ukrainian car fleet, where there is still a demand for business and luxury class cars with considerable mileage and over 15-20 years old. And in general, when the average age for the active part of our fleet is about 16 years, it should be understood that a similar study conducted for another country (with a younger fleet) may have a different look.
But letʼs return to our realities, where the leader in terms of the average check was Porsche cars, with an indicator of UAH 19,367. They managed to bypass even DAF (UAH 14,057) and MAN (UAH 11,536) heavy-duty trucks, which are more expensive to maintain, since commercial vehicles cover significantly longer distances than private vehicles, receive greater loads, require special equipment for repairs, spare parts and consumables they also cost more.
Audi is also at the top of the list with an average check for UAH 10,215, next to which BMW (UAH 10,208) is by a small margin. About the sixth place in Tesla, it could be said that such a high check is connected with a significant number of orders for bodywork and painting works for auction cars of this brand (80% of which are on the market), but we specifically checked the reasons for the appeals — and "bodywork" does not prevail among them. Air suspension, traction motors, various control units and sensors, as well as the Tegra computers installed on early Model Ss are quite expensive to maintain there.
Owners of Skoda (3,931 UAH), Daewoo (2,872 UAH), Lada (2,813 UAH), Renault (2,687) and Peugeot (2,587 UAH) received the smallest bills among brands (with a sufficient number of appeals for a sample).
It is obvious that at this stage, many people will be interested in how the frequency of visits and the average check are correlated — to build a complete picture, say, in the section of the year for this or that brand. But letʼs not overload this review, which is published in public access, with such detailed information. And when you need it (or other extended data on the car market) — contact the IDA, contacts are available at this link.
The largest and smallest average repair checks for individual models
In such cases, before starting, one should ask whether to start with the cheapest or the most expensive options. Since IDA analysts had to make a choice before publishing this review, it was decided to start with smaller price tags.
In this rating, the following models made it to the top five: VAZ 2109 (1,926 UAH), Geely MK (1,856 UAH), Peugeot 301 (1,763 UAH), Renault Logan (1,406 UAH), and Daewoo Nexia (1,151 UAH). A set of such models confirms the opinion that the simpler the car, the less likely that something will break in it. It is clear that simplicity affects comfort and other operational characteristics, but who cares about being "cheap and angry" — here are low-maintenance options.
And what about the highest price tags? Unfortunately, due to the small number of Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren or similar cars in the Ukrainian fleet, they were not included in these samples. Although there is an assumption that with a sufficient number of them, they would be able to compete for the championship not only on the race track, but also in this rating.
But we will have to return to more popular and not so famous options. Which models made it to the Top 5 most expensive cars according to the average check? Fifth — Nissan Patrol with a check for UAH 18,648. The love of its owners for off-road adventures, as we can see, often results in the need for quite serious maintenance of this off-road vehicle. The fourth is Renault Premium, which long-distance drivers often call simply "gingerbread". But, as statistics show, when it comes to the cash register, it is more like a whip, with an average check for UAH 18,830.
The third position is for the Porsche Panamera sports executive sedan — 19,687 UAH for one conditional average visit to the service station. The second place was taken by another product from Stuttgart, the Porsche Macan crossover with an average check of UAH 20,058.
The Mitsubishi L200 pickup took first place on this list — UAH 20,372 for one average repair. And here it is worth noting that most likely (this may also apply to Nissan Patrol and similar SUVs), it is not a question of the high cost of car maintenance as such, but the popularity of such models for defense purposes. At first, many cars brought in by volunteers arrive not ready for operation, which, of course, requires considerable investment. Further, after some time spent in extreme conditions, these machines require repeated deep maintenance, which again cannot be compared to civilian options, which rarely leave the boundaries of the asphalt. Without the war, this picture would look different.
Top 5 repair bills
In the end, we bring to your attention several not average, but quite real, the largest bills that some car owners received after ordering their repairs.
- UAH 339,600 was charged at the cash desk of a service station to the owner of a 2012 BMW X5, who complained about a strange knock in the engine. In the end, it was necessary to "recapitalize" the motor, which, by the way, had been "stitched" to increase power.
- 353,300 UAH was spent on the repair of an old Volkswagen Touareg 2006. which also raised the issue of the "capital" of the engine and a number of works with the chassis. Itʼs quite an investment to put this car in "full gear", considering that the early releases of the "Touareg" are asking for about the same amount as this repair cost.
- The owner of BMW 5 Series GT 2011 paid UAH 354,600. for the repair of the engine, in which problems with the liners were discovered during the replacement of the crankshaft oil seal.
- UAH 523,400 was spent to repair the engine of another BMW X5 2012 crossover.
Everyone is probably familiar with the sound of an ATM, when somewhere in its electromechanical guts it begins to count the amount you indicated on the screen. When the amount is significant, and the bills are of small denomination, the process can take quite a long time. And although we do not know how exactly the owner of the next car, which took the first place on this list, calculated, but if he did it in cash, he had to count for quite a long time, it is possible that several times.
- After all, UAH 559,800 for the replacement of four air suspension modules of a 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, agree, the amount is really quite a lot. For this money, you can buy the cheapest Chinese-made electric crossover, even a brand new one. But it is one of the most technologically advanced suspensions installed on a car and requires considerable (financial) attention to itself.
This is the picture of the Ukrainian car service, at least the part that the analysts of the Institute of Car Market Research, thanks to the partnership with the RemOnline company, were able to examine within the framework of this article.
We remind you that in order not to buy a "cat in a bag" and later not get into the rating with the highest service station bills, check the history of the car before buying it using the CEBIA service.
- If you need more information, tell us about it, here are the contacts of the Institute of Car Market Research.
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