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Quick Insights with Motus: Not Maintaining Vehicles Properly Due to COVID Has Caused Drivers to Pay More for Maintenance

Headshot of a man with greenery in the background By Ken Robinson January 20, 2021

Categories: Mobile Workforce Vehicle Reimbursement

At Motus, we regularly share reports surrounding emerging trends impacting the mobile workforce. We’re able to do this because we have the world’s largest retained pool of drivers, an enterprise-scale assemblage of mobile users and unmatched living cost data. We cover a range of topics, including The Impact of Relocation and Delocation Trends on Talent Acquisition, 2020 Vehicle Depreciation Trends and more.

While we enjoy sharing these extended reports with all of you, there’s a wide swath of useful insights that don’t make it into these research compilations. With that in mind, we’re kicking off a new blog series, “Quick Insights with Motus,” which will share bite-sized research findings hyper-relevant to timely trends.

In this first post, we’re digging deeper on vehicle maintenance during COVID and the pandemic’s impact on costs.

Quarantine Cars: The Financial Impact of Not Servicing This Idle Asset

COVID has delayed a lot this year: family vacations, the friend’s wedding you were (kind of) looking forward to. In addition to these larger events, individuals have delayed regular check-ins– like visits to the doctor or hairdresser. Many have also delayed visits to upkeep belongings, including visits to the mechanic to service  vehicles.

In fact, the average person drives about 13,500 annual miles and traditionally gets their car serviced once or twice a year. As a result of stay-at-home orders, COVID shop closures and social-distancing mandates have kept many vehicles off the road. However, less time on the road doesn’t always add up to lower maintenance costs. As many vehicles sit idle, they can end up requiring additional maintenance.

Not servicing vehicles regularly or operating them at all creates a variety of issues for vehicles and their owners, including:

  • Battery replacements—these have increased more than 180% over pre-pandemic levels
  • Vehicles not starting – reports of vehicles not starting due to an unknown issue have increased by 15% since March
  • Premature brake wear – when a vehicle sits idle, rust can develop on brake rotors and cause damage to other brake components

Delivering a Solution

In the on-demand economy, drivers don’t need to visit a shop for maintenance. For vehicle maintenance during COVID, they can utilize services like YourMechanic to skip the repair shop and get their vehicle serviced through a contactless experience either at their home or their office.

We’re looking ahead at another potential round of stay-at-home orders that are anticipated to sweep various states over the coming weeks. Hopefully these insights will help, whether or not your vehicle is due for service. If it is, we hope we’ve provided an option you for repairs despite potential restrictions in your area. This will be crucial to avoiding the costs associated with not servicing your vehicle properly, as mentioned above.

Thanks for checking out the first of our “Quick Insights with Motus” blog series. Be sure to check back as we plan to continue to share these bite-sized research findings and timely trends impacting mobile workers (and beyond!).

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