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From Boomers to Millennials, auto repair buying habits are changing

Three consumer generations currently total about 90% of the DIFM repair market, but Gen Z will begin to have considerable impact starting in 2026

Fort Wayne, Ind.—By the end of the decade, there will be “significant” changes in the Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) share held by each of the three consumer generations that currently total about 90% of the auto repair market: Millennials (Gen Y), Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers. Gen Z, however, will begin to have considerable impact the DIFM market starting in 2026.

According to the latest Lang Aftermarket iReport and its survey, these consumer generations differ in their changing shares of overall DIFM market and the emerging o2o (online to offline) segment of eCommerce-based DIFM repair.

The following are key takeaways from the analysis.

Generation Age Ranges

• Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, currently range in age from 60 to 78.

• Gen Xers have birth-year brackets of 1965 and 1980 and are 44 to 59 years old.

• Millennials (Gen Y) were born between 1981 and 1999 and are between 25 and 43.

• Generation Z is the generation born between 1997 and 2012. In 2024, the oldest members of Gen Z will be 27 years old, while the youngest will be 12 years old.

DIFM Market Volume Shift

Each consumer generation represents different portions of the DIFM market across the U.S. as their share of the nation’s population changes.

• Baby Boomers accounted for approximately 33% of DIFM volume in 2013, declining to 23% of the 2023 market.

• Gen Xers have expanded their DIFM market share, climbing from 32% to 35% between 2013 and 2023.

• Millennials (Gen Y) have recorded the fastest growth in DIFM share, increasing from 28% of 2013 volume to 33% by 2023.

• Consumers born before 1946 and Gen Zers represented less than 10% of 2023 DIFM volume.

Changes By 2030

Over the balance of the decade, changes will occur in each generation’s DIFM share.

• Lang Marketing estimates that by 2030, Baby Boomers’ DIFM share will fall below 12%.

• Gen Xers will have approximately a 36% share.

• Millennials will generate the largest portion of DIFM volume by 2030.

• Gen Zers will account for nearly 14% share.

Generation Differences in the Auto Repair Experience

The three generations that are currently largest in the DIFM market (Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials) were asked about their preferences for purchasing auto repair: doing it online, calling repair outlets, or visiting repair outlets. Lang Marketing notes the differences between generations for all three purchase experiences.

Online Outlet Selection

While approximately one-third of consumers across the three generations prefer to buy auto repair online, there are notable differences between the generations.

Nearly half of Millennials prefer buying auto repair online rather than calling or visiting repair outlets. In contrast, only one-fifth of Baby Boomers prefer going online to purchase auto repair and less than one-third of Gen Xers favored this approach. These differences reflect the varying contributions to o2o (online to offline) DIFM growth made by each generation.

Call Repair Outlets

Just over 30% of all consumers prefer calling repair outlets to purchase auto repair. Again, there are differences between the three generations. Calling repair outlets is the most popular option for Gen Xers (over 35%), and the second choice for Baby Boomers, just under one-third, according to Lang. However, only about one-quarter of Millennials prefer to call repair outlets.

Visiting Repair Outlets

Nearly half of Baby Boomers prefer to visit repair outlets to purchase auto repair. However, they are alone in this metric. About 30% of Gen Xers prefer to do so, and only approximately one-fifth of Millennials want to visit repair outlets as their first choice.

Visiting auto repair outlets is over twice as likely to be the top choice among Baby Boomers than Millennials. In contrast, buying auto repair online is more than twice as popular with Millennials as with Baby Boomers.

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