Chains just overtook dealers as the primary service provider in the U.S. Five years ago, dealers held 54% of that share and chains held 20%.
A few months ago, I bought a part for my wife’s eight-year-old car online instead of taking it to the dealer. I’ve spent most of career on the OEM side of this industry, the side that’s supposed to make the case for going to the dealer first, and that was the first time in my career I’ve bought a part anywhere else.
It wasn’t just a little cheaper online. It wasn’t even close.
If that decision was easy for someone who’s spent two decades on the manufacturer side, it’s even easier to see why others are making the same calculation. The data says I’m not alone.
Dealers Are Losing Share They Used to Take for Granted
For the first time in over a decade of Ducker Carlisle’s Consumer Sentiment Survey data, chains just overtook dealers as the primary service provider in the U.S. Five years ago, dealers held 54% of that share and chains held 20%.
Today it’s 36% dealer, 42% chain. The average dealer repair order now carries a 56% premium over an independent shop doing the same work, and a growing share of customers say they’ve put off repairs because of cost.
By themselves, those numbers are uncomfortable and even more so because dealers still perform well on some of the measures customers say matter — getting the job done right the first time, trust, and perceived quality.
The problem is that customers are making the decision before the dealer has a chance to show why the service experience is worth the premium.
The Real Issue Isn’t Price, It’s Value
Before they ever pull into the lot, customers are doing the math around whether the dealer is worth it.
If nobody has explained what the premium buys, offered a practical way to manage the cost, or made the case that the dealer visit can prevent more disruption down the line, price is the only input left in that calculation.
Affordability pressure didn’t create that problem, but it is making customers less willing to give dealers the benefit of the doubt.
When a Bad Experience Becomes a Revenue Problem
A new study from SATISFYD puts a number on what happens when customer confidence drops, and the findings reach way beyond automotive.
SATISFYD analyzed 20 million transactions across more than 50,000 dealer customers and $36 billion in customer spend and found a measurable link between customer dissatisfaction and aftermarket revenue loss.
One of the most interesting findings is that price wasn’t the main factor predicting that loss, but that technician knowledge, quality of repair, and whether the job got done on time mattered more.
That should get the industry’s attention. Price may be what causes a customer to question the dealer visit, but what happens in the service bay is often what determines whether they come back.
OEMs Need to Connect the Signals
Dealers have work to do here on their own. They need to explain the value earlier, make financing easier to access, and follow up when a visit goes badly instead of hoping it blows over.
Although the dealer is the face of the customer experience, they’re not always in control of the systems and decisions behind it. Many of the factors that shape dealer retention sit upstream or across the wider network: parts availability, pricing strategy, warranty processes, stocking policies, replenishment decisions, and service standards.
While those areas are often managed separately by the OEM, to the customer, they add up to one experience and, if that doesn’t deliver, there’s only so much the dealer can do.
Take parts availability. A customer already believes the dealer costs more. If they show up and the part needed to fix their car isn’t there, or one visit turns into two, the calculation they did before walking in stops adding up.
That’s why more OEMs are implementing dedicated retail inventory management (RIM) programs and solutions to drive better stocking and replenishment decisions, helping dealers deliver the experience customers expect when they pay dealer prices: the right part, fewer delays, and a better chance of completing the job first time.
The Real Risk Isn’t the Repair. It’s Who Gets the Next One.
Every deferred repair or skipped service visit is a chance for somebody else to start building the relationship a dealer spent years earning.
Dealers already have an advantage when it comes to customer trust and perceived service quality. They still need to explain that value more clearly before the customer decides the same job looks cheaper somewhere else.
But OEMs have to make that value easier to deliver. That means helping the network become more consistent in execution and more connected in how pricing, parts availability, warranty, and service signals are managed.
When those pieces work together, the affordability conversation becomes less about defending a higher price and more about proving the value behind it.
To download the full Ducker Carlisle 2026 Consumer Sentiment Survey Report, click here. The full report from Satisfyd is available here.
Ben Groeneveld is Industry Principal for Global Supply Chain Solutions at Syncron, where he works with equipment manufacturers on aftermarket strategy and implementation. Previously at Oracle, AGCO, and Navistar, he has 20+ years of experience helping OEMs navigate supply chain disruption and optimize parts operations.
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