FIGIEFA surveys pandemic independent parts distributor impact

FIGIEFA recently conducted a survey open to independent automotive spare parts distributors to assess the impact of COVID-19 on their operations and what was needed to help them recover.

The survey questions were drafted by the FIGIEFA Secretariat and validated by the Board and covered three topics:

• Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on business
• Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on jobs
• Public measures to tackle the COVID-19 crisis

The online form was disseminated through the various FIGIEFA national associations to their member companies and in order to overcome any reluctance to answer business-sensitive questions, the entire process was fully anonymised, guaranteeing optimal confidentiality to the respondents.

COVID-19 had a fast and disruptive impact throughout Europe, on people and businesses. The unprecedented human impact was closely followed by an huge economic and social shockwave, whose magnitude can be compared with that of the 2007 financial crisis, if not greater. Necessary lockdown measures had a huge and immediate impact on domestic household consumption, which could be reinforced in the near future with job losses. SMEs with limited liquidity are particularly at risk.

The automotive aftermarket (service providers of repair/maintenance, sale of parts/accessories/fluids, car rental/leasing, dealers, etc) encompasses half a million companies, most of them SMEs, and over 4.3 million employees, which is a million more than the entire automotive manufacturing industry. As such, it is an essential ecosystem contributing to the fitness of the entire economy. In order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on such a crucial sector, the European Commission has requested European trade associations to provide figures and proposals. In order to do so, FIGIEFA, the European trade association representing independent automotive spare parts distributors (50,000 outlets operated by 30,000 companies and over 350,000 employees) launched an online survey for its sector, and drew up proposals with other stakeholders for a swift recovery of the entire independent automotive aftermarket.

Several conclusions were drawn from the responses to the survey regarding the impact of COVID-19 and what might be needed to aid the recovery of the sector. The submissions were summed up by an Irish respondent who wrote “I am a fighter, we will fight”.

The survey findings are available from the FIGIEFA website here.