Figures from epyx indicated that fleets in the East of England were the most likely to use independent garages for service, maintenance, and repair (SMR), while those in Wales were the least likely.
The data revealed that 62% of SMR jobs for fleets in the East of England were completed by independent garages, with the remaining 38% handled by franchise dealers. The breakdown for other regions showed that Scotland and the West Midlands each had 59% of fleet SMR jobs carried out by independents, followed by the East Midlands at 58%, London at 55%, Yorkshire and the Humber at 53%, the South West at 52%, the North West at 52%, Northern Ireland at 52%, the North East at 51%, the South East at 50%, and Wales at 46%.
The statistics were derived from epyx’s 1link Service Network SMR platform, and spanned from January 2024 to March 9, 2025.
Tim Meadows, Chief Commercial Officer at epyx, said: “These regional variations are quite wide and, to some extent, are unexpected. It would seem sensible to suggest that the high use of independents in the East of England might be due to relatively few franchise dealers being available in an area that remains largely rural – but Wales has the lowest use of independents and is a similar kind of region in those respects.”
He added: “Instead, it seems likely that the patterns being seen in the data across the UK are based not just on local factors but the preferences of fleets when it comes to their individual SMR policies, and the type and age of vehicles they operate. We know, for example, that both older vehicles and vans are more likely to be maintained at independents, while newer prestige cars are normally serviced by franchise dealers.”
Further analysis from epyx showed that 44% of company car SMR jobs were handled by independent garages, compared to 72% of vans. Additionally, 32% of hybrid vehicle SMR jobs used independents, along with 42% of electric vehicles (EVs) and 62% of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Meadows said: “Some of these trends can largely be explained by fleet policies, which are often influenced by the preferences of the used market and their influence on residual values. Used car buyers are generally reassured by the presence of a franchise dealer service history, while van buyers are much less concerned about where a vehicle has been maintained.”
He added: “It is interesting to see that 42% of maintenance jobs for EVs are being undertaken by independents. Of course, some of these will be general maintenance work that is common to all types of vehicles, but the data does suggest that the independent sector are gearing up to offer fleets a range of EV SMR services, something that we also hear in anecdotal feedback.”
