April 7, 2020—FenderBender recently conducted an extensive survey of collision repairers throughout the United States, gauging their thoughts on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and how it may impact their businesses moving forward.
The biggest takeaway: although many of the 562 total survey respondents expressed concern about the immediate future, many shop operators are simply making adjustments to their business procedures, rather than throwing their hands up in dismay.
The survey asked shop operators six questions, namely gauging how collision repair businesses are reacting to a slowdown in business brought about by the trickle-down effect of COVID-19. When asked "Have you altered your business in light of what's going on?," 72 percent of respondents indicated 'yes,' with many noting that they're cleaning their facilities as diligently as ever, not allowing customers inside their facility, and offering pickup and delivery service, while others acknowledged that they had closed their business for a period of time (2 weeks, in many cases).
When asked "What has been the financial impact on your business?," understandably, 86.5 percent of respondents said 'negative,' with nearly 94 percent of respondents noting a decrease in the amount of customers coming to their business.
Still, when asked "Given the coronavirus situation, do you remain confident about the foreseeable future of your business?," 72.8 percent of respondents said 'yes.'
The final, main question posed in the survey asked shop operators if they had any unanswered questions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the respondents' queries revolved around how they could get financial assistance at this time. Such information on financial assistance can be found by visiting fenderbender.com's COVID-19 assistance page here.
