Why there’s growing demand for independent EV repair

Tesla’s dominance in the EV market has been a double-edged sword for the company: On one hand, they have the top market share in North America; on the other, their vehicle owners are plagued by long wait times and dissatisfied customer service.

That means the automotive aftermarket has a chance to swoop in and take some of their business, noted Carolyn Coquillette, owner of Earthling Automotive in San Francisco and founder of Shop-Ware.

It’s helpful that Tesla has such dominance. The overwhelming number of EVs being Teslas means “it gives us room to actually learn one specific platform, and then be able to drive a market around that,” she said at Worldpac STX this year.

She pulled out her crystal ball and figured it’ll be around 2030 when you see EVs outpace hybrids in sales, pushing the need for the aftermarket to be on the ball and prepared.

“And this, of course, assumes that the cars are going to sell the way they think they’re going to sell them,” Coquillette added.

Nevertheless, many EVs are a decade old, such as the Tesla Model S. While that model hasn’t sold as well as the Model 3 and Model Y, both are also aging, creating a growing aftermarket demand.

“But even the 3 and the Y are now five-plus years old. So obviously, that’s when the aftermarket kicks in,” Coquillette said.

But Tesla has been a victim of its success, in a way. While Tesla has been pumping cars out of its dealerships, it hasn’t been as on the ball when it comes to service and maintenance requests from customers.

The dissatisfaction among Tesla owners with dealership services is palpable, presenting an opportunity for the aftermarket.

“They haven’t been very good at fixing cars, which means the dealership experience is terrible,” Coquillette highlighted. “Basically, you can’t get a hold of them, it takes forever to get in there, their parts are not available.”

It’s part of a trend from dealers of all stripes. There’s a reason the automotive aftermarket is a flourishing industry.

“If the dealerships could have put us out of business, they would have put us out of business already,” Coquillette said. “They obviously haven’t. They keep screwing it up, they’re going to keep screwing it up, including Tesla. So that’s great.”

Image credit: Depositphotos.com

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