Independent garages are closing the gap on franchise dealers in speeding up vehicle service, maintenance and repair work in workshops.
Statistics for the 12 months to September 2026 show vehicles spend an average of 1.73 days in franchise workshops per visit, compared with 1.97 days in independents.
But, the difference is rapidly reducing. In October 2025, it was 0.36 days (1.61 franchise, 1.97 independent), but by September 2026 had fallen substantially to 0.09 days (1.77 franchise, 1.86 independent).
The data is taken from epyx’s 1link Service Network, used by UK fleets to process almost 20,000 company car, van and truck service, maintenance and repair (SMR) job sheets every day. The network covers fleets totalling almost five million vehicles and works with more than 8,500 suppliers.
Charlie Brooks, chief operating officer at epyx, said: “Franchised dealers have in the past tended to repair vehicles faster than independents, meaning shorter VOR times – but our latest data shows this gap has narrowed, with independents becoming faster, and official repairers slowing.
“However, these two trends are far from uniform. While many independents are working hard to reduce their VOR times, not all garages in the sector are making gains. Similarly, while some franchisees are seeing their figures fall, others are improving. It’s a complex overall situation.”
He added that over the last few years, epyx had seen a general move by fleets towards greater use of independents, a shift largely driven by keener pricing and increasing professionalism.
“Fleet managers recognise that VOR brings a significant cost in terms of lost operational time, and often use our data and intelligence to help select the right repairers, balancing factors such as cost, capability and downtime. This has driven more business towards independents although again, the trend is far from uniform. Often, a franchise is the best solution.”