A Picture of the Service and Repair Industry

The Automotive Service Association's "How's Your Business?" (HYB?) survey is in its 16th year of exploring the overall success and business practices of ASA member businesses. The annual survey provides an analysis of the independent mechanical and collision repair industries. The purpose of the survey is to provide an accurate benchmark for business owners and those interested in the industry based on feedback from ASA's membership base.

Survey Methodology

In August, the survey was mailed to 800 randomly selected mechanical and 700 randomly selected collision repair businesses. Slightly more than 15 percent of mechanical and 10 percent of collision businesses replied.

With that response rate, the survey results in a combined 94 percent confidence level with a confidence interval of +/- 6. One can be 94 percent certain that the responses given are representative of the entire population within six points above and six points below the stated value.

The 2008 HYB report is packed with pertinent industry statistics. We have incorporated more graphics into this year's report to help readers quickly identify the information most applicable to their business.

Editor's note: Karin White, research and project specialist, distributed this year's 'How's Your Business?' survey to mechanical and collision members and input the data to collect results. She also assisted in proofreading the text and verifying figures. The text for this year's article was written and compiled by Levy Joffrion, assistant editor, and Leona Dalavai Scott, editor. Special thanks to the Mechanical and Collision Division managers, Robbie Addison and Denise Caspersen, for their analysis of their respective industries as well as proofreading text. Due to rounding, some percentages may not add up to 100 percent. In other cases, percentages greater than 100 percent may result if respondents are able to select more than one answer to a particular question.

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