Garages offline

3 August 2012  

ONLY 58% of independent garages currently run a website for their business the Retail Motor Industry Federation’s (RMI) Independent Garage Association (IGA) has found.

The IGA website provision report shows that while independent garages are beginning to adopt the use of websites, progress is still slow and a high percentage of its members are not taking advantage of the opportunities a website could offer.

Stuart James, Director of the RMI’s Independent Garage Association, commented:  “Recent statistics indicate that consumers are using the internet as a reliable tool to research which garage they will next use. With the increased use of internet marketing by businesses and sites such as Facebook and Twitter being used as advertising tools it is more important than ever that independent garages move into the technological age.”

“By modernising the way they portray themselves to customers, independent garages can begin to move away from more old fashioned practices to ensure they stay competitive. In order to assist those garages with no website and to help them become part of our increasing web focussed society, the IGA is providing this as an additional member benefit which will enable garages to have a website built for them.  The only additional cost they will incur will be for the hosting of the page and the website address which they will remain the owners of.  This will still cost less than placing an advert in the local press and will raise their profile substantially.”