Choosing a garage – price vs reputation

When it comes to choosing a garage, reputation far outweighs price, according to WhoCanFixMyCar.com. To be precise, reputation was the most important factor for 57.5 per cent of people, vs 23 per cent who claimed price was their number one priority, exactly 2.5x higher. It’s a trend WhoCanFixMyCar.com says it sees on a daily basis – as garages with the highest feedback scores close the most business – even if their prices are higher than the other quoting outlets.

It’s also worth noting that distance was the key differentiator for 10.2 per cent of drivers – so ultimately even great reviews and prices won’t create a limitless catchment area. Other factors, such as immediate availability, attracted only a handful of votes each.

Women are more price-sensitive than men.

While price is the key factor for less than one quarter of the population, female owners are 19 per cent more likely to make a price-led decision. It’s a surprising one – women may take a more ‘functional’ approach while men may have more of an emotional connection to their car and are thus a little more likely to look for ‘the best man for the job’.

Older drivers still want a personal recommendation…

It’s simple: younger drivers look online to get reviews and recommendations, older drivers want to hear from friends and family.

• Drivers who are 55+ are 17 per cent more likely to choose a garage based on a personal recommendation than under-35s
• Meanwhile under-35s are a massive 74 per cent more likely to choose a garage based on online reviews than over-55s.

…while youngsters are unsurprisingly cost-conscious

This one’s of little surprise: younger drivers are 49 per cent more likely to make a price-led decision than older ones.

City-slickers and rural residents both rely on recommendations, but from different people. Urban residents were 35 per cent more likely to turn to online reviews than those in the countryside who, in turn, were 40 per cent more likely to cite a personal recommendation as the number one factor in their decision.

This could be for a number of reasons, including time-pressure and adoption of new technology – but, as much as anything else, the relatively small number of garages in rural areas may mean that a personal recommendation provides the definitive answer within a reasonable driving distance. Indeed, at WhoCanFixMyCar.com, where users rely on online reviews to select a garage with confidence, the jobs our customer post are skewed disproportionately towards urban areas – the south-east, West Midlands, north-west and north-east in particular.

…but city-slickers are more cost-conscious

This one raised a few eyebrows: almost 10 per cent more city dwellers make a price-led decision than those in the countryside. Our hypothesis: rural residents are more reliant on their car, often with no alternative transport, often travelling in worse conditions and at higher average speeds. Result? They’re happier to invest more in their cars. They’re also happier to travel further afield. City dwellers, meanwhile, may be more likely to see their car as a local ‘runaround’. Their average age will also be lower.