June 17, 2020—How have American body shops dealt with the COVID-19 crisis? According to a recent survey, reasonably well in many respects.
In early April, FenderBender reached out to its readers to see how the coronavirus pandemic was impacting body shop businesses and learned that many said they were feeling a negative impact.
A few months later, with stay-at-home orders largely being lifted around the U.S., the magazine checked back in again. In the beginning of June, FenderBender sent a follow-up survey and 152 shop operators responded. Here were some of the noteworthy findings from the recent survey:
- When asked if business had picked up in recent weeks, 24 percent said yes, 28 percent said no, and 11 percent noticed no change.
- When asked how much business was down compared to one year ago, 33 percent of respondents answered "50 percent or more." However, 24 percent saw business decrease less than 30 percent, and 5 percent or respondents said they actually saw an increase.
- When it comes to financial assistance, 69 percent of respondents to the survey said they have received some form of outside financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Since the pandemic started, the majority of shops (55 percent) haven't had to lay off employees.
- The majority of respondents (79 percent) also have a positive business outlook for the next five years.
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