Repair Sales Soar Per Bay, Changing the Number and Mix of DIFM Outlets
The size of the Do-It-For-Me (DIFM) market and the number of service bays across the country are moving in opposite directions.
Car and light truck DIFM product and labor (purchased service) volume has grown significantly over the past five years. This should have prompted the rapid expansion of service bays nationwide. However, the opposite occurred as thousands of service bays disappeared.
The average bay’s yearly repair volume has climbed much faster than total DIFM product and service sales, with annual per-bay sales (products and labor) surging by over 30 percent since 2020. This bay production challenge is reshaping the number and mix of surviving repair outlets nationwide.
Growing DIFM Product Sales
Despite COVID-19, which reduced car and light truck DIFM product volume by unprecedented double-digit levels and caused the nationwide loss of thousands of service bays, DIFM products and labor (purchased service) have rebounded by more than $22 billion since 2020.
Thousands of Service Bays Disappear
The significant loss of service bays continued even while the annual volume of the car and light truck repair market climbed at a historic pace from the depths of the 2020 U.S. aftermarket.
The service bay count in the U.S. has plunged by nearly five percent since 2020, while the VIO (vehicles in operation) has increased by over five million, and DIFM sales have recorded historic growth at user-price over the same time.
Neither the bay loss nor the repair market’s historic growth has been evenly distributed across the seven major types of light-vehicle repair outlets.
Soaring Vehicles Per Bay
As the nation’s VIO climbs and the population of light-vehicle service bays heads lower, the number of cars and light trucks per service bay in the U.S. continues to increase.
At mid-year 2025, the number of vehicles per bay in the U.S. was nearly 10 percent higher than in 2020. This trend of more vehicles per bay will continue with no end in sight.
Not All Types of Outlets Are Equal in Bay Sales Growth
The challenge of fewer bays accommodating the surging annual DIFM volume can only be met by increasing bay productivity. Over the past five years, the seven major types of auto repair outlets have not contributed equally to increased service bay output.
This difference in bay performance across DIFM outlet types determines winners and losers in the rapidly changing DIFM market, and the overall mix of major repair outlet types.
Growing Service Bay Volume
The average bay’s annual product and labor sales have risen by over 30 percent since 2020, much faster than the growth rate of the total DIFM market. The pace of bay production growth differed by repair outlet type. Not surprisingly, purchased services accounted for the majority of the surging sales per bay.
Growth by Type of Outlet
Among outlet groups expanding their DIFM market share, foreign specialists recorded the highest percentage growth in annual product and labor volume per bay.
Repair specialists also achieved significant sales growth per bay, along with dealers.
Bay Output Differences Are Changing the DIFM
Outlet Population
The continued growth and complexity of DIFM repair are making it increasingly necessary for outlets to invest in technician training, tools, equipment and management software to meet the growing challenges of the DIFM market.
Not all types of repair outlets are equally capable of making these investments, and those who fail to do so are suffering the competitive consequences.
It is generally easier and less expensive for specialists to increase bay productivity than it is for generalists. Specialists get more “bang for their buck” when investing in training, tools, equipment and software since they have a narrower focus on the repair market than repair generalists.
Among the seven major types of repair outlets, three qualify as the greatest specialists: repair specialists (limited repair menus), import specialists (focus on repair of foreign nameplates) and dealers (most repair is on the nameplates they sell new).
These three types of repair outlets are achieving the greatest increases in service bay production. They are increasing their outlet and bay shares, while the other four major types of repair outlets (especially service stations and garages) are losing outlets and bays.
This is changing not only the number of repair outlets but also the population mix across major outlet types.
Great Opportunities for
Productivity Providers
Repair outlets must increase productivity amid shrinking bay capacity and a growing repair market. This offers opportunities for companies that can develop and supply repair outlets with the means to increase their productivity.
The growth of electric vehicles on the road, while still modest, will provide future impetus for more technician training, innovative tools and equipment, creative software and other resources to increase service bay productivity.
All of this underscores the competitive advantages that will accrue to repair outlets that can and will make these investments. The result will be significant shifts in DIFM market share and volume by repair outlet type through the end of this decade and beyond.
Six Major Takeaways
• The nation’s DIFM market volume and service bay population are heading in opposite directions. The service bay population has plunged by thousands over the past five years, despite DIFM sales surging since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the same time, the number of cars and light trucks per bay in the U.S. has soared.
• With fewer bays to accommodate a surging DIFM market, the average bay’s product and labor sales climbed by more than 30 percent in the past five years, much faster than the DIFM market’s growth pace. The seven major types of repair outlets differed widely in their annual sales growth rates per bay.
• Foreign specialists achieved the highest percentage increase in annual volume per service bay since 2020, followed by repair specialists. Dealers also recorded significant gains in parts and service sales per bay. The other four major groups of repair outlets were significantly less successful in boosting their bay productivity.
• Continued DIFM volume growth and a projected decline in the service bay population will make it more necessary than ever for outlets to invest in technician training, tools and equipment, software and other resources to maximize bay production. Not all types of repair outlets are equally capable of making these investments, and those who fail to do so are suffering the competitive consequences.
• Outlets that are specialists, rather than repair generalists, have a significant advantage in meeting the challenge of boosting service bay output. Specialists get more “bang for their buck” when investing in training, tools, equipment, and software because they have a narrower focus on the repair market than repair generalists.
• The DIFM market offers unparalleled opportunities for companies that can provide repair outlets with the training and tools they need to increase bay productivity. See the all-new 2026 Lang Aftermarket Annual for a 10-year history of product and labor sales per bay by major types of repair outlets, DIFM market growth, and the changing population and mix of repair outlets and their bays. Over 95 percent of the 2026 Lang Annual’s 306 pages are packed with unique information and analysis available nowhere else.
Visit langmarketing.com/lang-auto-aftermarket-annual-report.php for more information.
Want more? Check out the May 2026 issue of AASP-MN News!