Launched at the Congress of Automotive Repair & Service (CARS) Nov. 5-8 in Las Vegas, the new Web portal on the Automotive Service Association Web site offers key performance indicators (KPI) such as the top 10 most repaired vehicles, average repair order (R.O.) size, and average parts or labor sales per R.O., based on user selection by vehicle year/make/model, Vance said. 

 
By entering a ZIP code, aggregated data from local repair shops will be provided along with national data, Vance said.

"This is real transactional data -- type 1 data, not type 3 survey data--and it is updated monthly," he said, adding that the information is generated from repair order data of Mitchell 1 Manager customers nationwide.  "This represents thousands of shops and millions of transactions from 1994 to present."

Vance said Mitchell 1 is very sensitive to preserving the privacy of individual shops, which is why the information is only offered in aggregate form, and no personally identifiable information is ever released.  The data is derived from participating shops in the Mitchell 1 community, he said.

The KPI information is being offered as a membership benefit to ASA members, Vance said, and may be accessed from the ASA Web site at www.asashop.org.  "They will also be able to look at ASA-member performance versus that of non-ASA members," he said.  

"Our primary customer base is getting younger and is more computer savvy," he said.  "They understand the power of the Internet and want accurate information in a timely fashion and aren't interested in waiting for annual reports to be compiled.  They want to know in real time what's going on, so that is what we are offering.

"The KPI data allows you a snapshot to see how you are doing compared to shops in your area and across the country and then helps you connect to tools that can help you improve your performance," Vance said.  The portal includes a description of each KPI and why it is important so that the shop can focus on performance areas that make a difference, and there will be hot links that will connect to ASA's educational offerings and Mitchell 1's shop tools, he said.

Mitchell 1 developed the initial KPIs after a number of conversations with ASA's Mechanical Operations Committee about what information would be most useful to shops, Vance said.  Additional KPIs or sorting options will be made available as they receive comments from users, he added.

"We are really quite interested in the market's reaction, and we are prepared to make adjustments based on their feedback," he said.

More free information may be added and premium services will also be offered, for a fee, to shop owners interested in unique queries such as customized geographic areas, specific make or model information, or numerous other possibilities, Vance said. 

The free data will be based on 2007-2008 ROs, he said, but premium services could access data back to 1994.