Are you selling headlight alignment?

Automotive accessory specialist, Ring Automotive, is urging technicians to educate customers on the importance of headlight alignment.

Although the aftermarket is a fruitful industry, full of specialists that are enthusiastic about vehicles and how to repair them, something that the industry still struggles with is making the most out of situations that should be more profitable than they currently are.

An anonymous survey carried out by Ring Automotive late last year, revealed that technicians are not making the most of the bulb business that enters the workshop, with more than three quarters (76%) of technicians not advising customers that bulbs should be replaced in pairs, or proactively following best practice advice and replacing them in pairs. Another discovery was that 50% of workshops do not charge for fitting bulbs, therefore losing out on potential profit each year.

While changing a bulb is a regular job for a technician, the headlight must be properly aligned after the job has been completed, but are technicians simply telling customers they have replaced the bulb or are they adding value by saying the bulb in both headlamps have been replaced to ensure even light output and they have been aligned correctly to ensure they are not causing glare to other road users. This is an ideal opportunity for technicians to upsell services, when a car needs a new headlamp bulb, it should be replaced as part of pair, as it’s being part of a paired system, and then it should be aligned correctly. This service takes time, and so should be charged for accordingly as part of the overall fitting service.

This is particularly relevant as there has been a lot of chatter recently about drivers being dazzled by other road users’ headlights, and many of these incidents could well be because they are not properly aligned.

Aligning headlights after replacing the bulb not only ensures that the beam pattern is correct, it also means that those lights will not dazzle others and can provide an extra income revenue for workshops.

Ring Automotive therefore encourages workshops to not only fit reputable and quality bulbs, but to also ensure headlights are aligned correctly to give maximum visibility on the road.