Survey Shows Warm Winter’s Low Sales Could Mean Strong Spring

A recent survey conducted in the U.S. by BB&T Capital Markets seems to indicate that sales in the aftermarket industry are set to rebound, after a warmer than normal winter.
January and February are historically strong months in the industry thanks in large part to extreme weather causing extra wear and tear on vehicles, a condition that was lacking this year, especially in the northeast.
While this past season was as light on service center traffic as it was on snow, many of the companies surveyed by BB&T had reported an increase in business as of the final week of February, and carrying through into March.
BB&T wrote that it “has been encouraged with our discussions with service providers and the general upbeat attitude concerning late February and March trends to date, particularly the improvement in tone of business from such a sluggish January.”
BB&T reached their conclusions through the polling of 182 national automotive service and repair shops across the southern, northeastern, western, and mid-western regions of the U.S.