How do I keep my auto repair shop busy during the slow season?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
To keep an auto repair shop busy in the slow season, work your own customer list before you buy new attention. Contact customers who are overdue for service, bring back declined work, and book the quiet weeks ahead of time. Past customers already trust the shop, so a short, honest message to them is the first move.
Why does the slow season catch shops out?
It catches shops out because the work to fill it has to happen while the shop is still busy. By the time the bays are empty, a message sent today fills next week at best. Look at last year's calendar, find the quiet weeks, and start a few weeks before them.
What steps fill a quiet month?
Work from the warmest customers outward. Each of these steps uses a list you already have somewhere in your shop records, your invoices or your phone.
- Pull a list of customers whose last visit was more than a year ago.
- List the work customers declined in the busy months, such as worn tires, fluid services or a seeping gasket.
- Send each group a short message naming their vehicle and the service that is due.
- Offer specific open days in the quiet weeks, so replying takes one word.
- Call the customers who don't reply to a text, beginning with the largest declined jobs.
- Ask everyone who comes in for a Google review, so the next slow season begins with more people finding you.
Should you discount to fill the bays?
Only if you have decided to and know what it does to the job's margin. A reminder that the car is due can be reason enough, and it doesn't teach customers to wait for a sale. If you do run an offer, put an end date on it and keep it.
How does Margin fill slow weeks for an auto shop?
Margin runs a win-back campaign to your past customers by text, and Mia, the AI receptionist, books the replies onto the portal calendar and tells your office. People who asked about a job and never booked keep hearing from her until they book or say no.
The limits are plain. Texting starts once phone carriers approve your shop's number, which takes days to a couple of weeks, so set it up before the slow season. Your customer list has to come from you. If the audit shows the list is small, ads and Google profile work come first.
What Margin sets up for this.
- A win-back campaign to past customers
- Follow-up until they book or say no
- Booking onto your calendar
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for auto shopsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
When is the slow season for auto repair shops?
It differs by region and by the work a shop does, so trust your own calendar over anyone's rule of thumb. Look at car counts by week for the last two years and the auto repair shop's quiet stretches will show.
Is it better to advertise or contact past customers when my auto shop is slow?
Contact past customers first. They know the auto shop and cost nothing to reach beyond the message. Advertising brings strangers who still have to decide to trust you, which takes longer and suits steady growth more than a quiet fortnight.
How often should an auto repair shop contact past customers?
Enough to be useful, not so much it becomes noise. For an auto repair shop, a message when service is due and one in a slow stretch is a reasonable start. Always give people a simple way to stop the messages.