The rate of unperformed and underperformed maintenance in the United States grew to $62 billion in 2010 compared to $54 billion the previous year, according to the recently released AASA Automotive Aftermarket Status Report 2012, published annually by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA).

“The $8 billion increase came despite a strong general performance of the aftermarket and tied with the second-highest level ever recorded by AASA, which was reached during the recovery from the last economic downturn,” said Steve Handschuh, president and COO of AASA.

“This $62 billion ‘Untapped Market’ represents a significant 26% of total aftermarket potential,” added Paul McCarthy, AASA vice president, industry analysis, planning and member services.

“If consumers performed all of the maintenance recommended to keep their vehicles safe, reliable and running efficiently, the aftermarket could have totaled $245 billion.”

Tight household budgets and high unemployment caused many vehicle owners to put off maintenance and repairs unless it was unavoidable, McCarthy noted.

“Going forward, the weak economic recovery and continued high unemployment levels may continue to keep the amount of maintenance motorists postpone at a high level,” he said.

Cash-Strapped Public Puts Off Service
Vehicle owners themselves said they are knowingly postponing vehicle repairs due to financial ­reasons. According to a recent Consumer Reports poll, 40% of drivers who are involved in repair ­decisions said that they are postponing car maintenance or repairs on their primary vehicle.

And, while postponing maintenance poses a risk to their safety, the delay in servicing items such as brakes, tires, light bulbs or other internal mechanical parts, shop owners and technicians realize that this also has consumers running the risk of larger, more costly problems down the road.

The poll showed that 44% of those who deferred work in the past year admitted that they felt the value, safety or reliability of the vehicle would suffer, with some saying the car was becoming an embarrassment.

Those in lower-income households were more likely to delay necessary work, and the youngest drivers, aged 18 to 34 years, were more likely to delay work on wear items, such as brake pads or tires.

Twenty-one percent of this age group admitted to not attending to a wear item in a timely fashion, compared to 14% of those aged 55 or over.

Compounding the issue is the fact that, with the economy being so poor, drivers found themselves holding onto their vehicles longer. Many of the respondents bought their cars used, and have owned them for five years with the intent to hold on to that vehicle for another five.

The Consumer Reports survey showed that older ­drivers, residents of western states and lower-income owners go the longest before replacing their vehicles.

On average, owners have 78,000 miles on their ­current vehicle, meaning many are quickly approaching major maintenance milestones that shouldn’t be ignored.

Among those surveyed, the types of non-warranty work most commonly postponed were led by minor manufacturer-recommended scheduled service (22%); wear items (17%); and body or other exterior damage (15%). Interviewees stated that a major repair bill, costing an average of about $2,000, would become a serious financial burden to them.

Number of Recalled Vehicles Drops
While vehicle owners continued to put off repairs, the OEMs had fewer vehicles to service due to design flaws as the number of recalled vehicles dropped last year, according to a WardsAuto analysis of federal data.

Auto makers selling in the U.S. issued about 130 recall campaigns in 2011 involving nearly 13 million light vehicles. WardsAuto reported that this is a reversal of a troubling two-year trend that saw the industry’s defect woes approach record levels.

In 2010, automakers made 136 recall campaigns that affected 17.2 million cars and light trucks. And in 2009, 105 campaigns captured close to 18.4 million vehicles.

Those years marked a drastic upswing in activity after recalls in 2008 dropped to 101 campaigns affecting an estimated 7.7 million vehicles.

The industry’s worst recall year remains 2000, when roughly 24.3 million vehicles were linked to safety defects that were most notably tire-related.

Interestingly, perennial quality leader Toyota absorbed the top number of recalls with 13 campaigns in 2011, affecting more than 3.5 million vehicles — more than any other auto maker. It also marked the third consecutive year Toyota racked up the most recalled vehicles.

But most of Toyota’s recalled vehicles, some 2.1 million, were linked to first-half campaigns. The automaker’s second-half performance saw just two campaigns, one of which called for a correction to a label citing vehicle-load capacity.

According to WardsAuto, General Motors issued the greatest number of recalls in 2011 with 21 campaigns, but they had implications for a relatively modest 455,901 cars and trucks, and Ford issued 10 recall campaigns affecting some 3.2 million cars and trucks, making it second only to Toyota in the number of vehicles brought back in 2011.

Chrysler reportedly issued eight recall campaigns affecting up to 919,800 vehicles, and Honda launched 11 campaigns affecting an estimated 2 million vehicles, third behind Toyota and Ford for units recalled during the calendar year.

What Will 2012 Bring?
In early January, automotive industry analysts said the new car/light truck market was headed for full-year 2011 sales of about 12.8 million vehicles, which was about 10% higher than 2010.

In a recent Reuters article, the OEMs offered their growth forecast for 2012. GM and VW expect total U.S. industry car sales in 2012 in the range of 13.5 million to 14 million vehicles, which implies growth of between 5% and 9% over 2011. Ford sees a range of 13.2 million to 14.2 million new cars and light trucks to be sold in the U.S. And industry research firm TrueCar.com expects 2012 U.S. auto sales to hit about 13.8 million vehicles.

Industry executives have repeatedly said pent-up demand would boost U.S. new vehicle sales growth in 2012 because the average car on the road is 11 years old. Ford estimated that about 50 million vehicles, or one of every five on the road, is now 11 to 15 years old.

It will be interesting to see if drivers of older cars continue to put off maintenance and service to a point where a vehicle repair becomes so expensive that the owner opts for a new vehicle.

If so, it could be bad news for independent repair shops that are already seeing a slow down in scheduled service and maintenance.

The good news for shop owners, according to Consumer Reports, is that car owners still put faith in repair shops. Contrary to popular belief, 83% of those involved in repair decisions said they were confident that when it came time for vehicle service, they would get the right maintenance and repair work done for the right price.

According to the Consumer Reports survey, more than half of those polled said they completely trust their shop.

Results from the survey also showed independent repair shops were used more often (37%) than dealers (30%) or repair chains (11%).