BETHESDA, MD – Dec. 16, 2005 – Contrary to a perception that repair shops are buying more auto parts from new car dealerships, a new study by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) finds that independent mechanical repair shops purchased more than 72 percent of vehicle parts from traditional aftermarket sources.

The market research study, Repair Shop Parts Purchasing: Dealerships vs. Traditional Aftermarket, provides a two-part overview of the factors that influence mechanical and collision repair shops' parts purchasing decisions and includes a statistical analysis of their past and anticipated parts purchasing behavior. These statistics represent the results from a nationwide survey conducted of U.S. repair shops.

"Our members asked AAIA to study the notion that independent repair shops, in recent years, have begun to increase their parts purchases from dealerships," said Kathleen Schmatz, AAIA president and CEO. "We found that more than 56 percent of mechanical repair shops purchase the same amount of parts from dealerships now as they did last year and expect to do the same next year."

More than 83 percent of repair shops indicated that dealerships' prices are always or usually more expensive than non-dealership affiliated sources; and almost all repair shops purchase parts from traditional aftermarket sources because they have the parts needed and they deliver the parts quickly, according to AAIA.

Repair Shop Parts Purchasing: Dealerships vs. Traditional Aftermarket contains additional information on:

• Primary causes of the parts purchasing shift.
• Analysis of mechanical and electrical and collision repair shop parts purchases.
• Sources of parts purchases for import nameplate specialists.
• Average value of all repair shop parts purchases.
• Reasons for parts purchases from traditional aftermarket sources.
• Importance of factors in parts purchasing decisions.
• Comparison of dealership and traditional aftermarket prices.
• Reasons for increases in parts purchases from dealerships.
• Types of parts purchased from dealerships during the past year.

Repair Shop Parts Purchasing: Dealerships vs. Traditional Aftermarket is available in print format only. The price of the report is $295 for AAIA members and $795 for non-members. To purchase the report, contact AAIA at 301-654-6664 or visit www.aftermarket.org