SITUATION:
• Vehi­cle con­nec­tiv­ity sys­tems are start­ing to play a key role in auto­mo­tive ser­vice and parts – but the big ques­tion will be: Who wins?

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• The race is on between OEMs and their dealer net­works ver­sus after­mar­ket ser­vice and parts to part­ner with the con­sumer, said Vehcon CEO Fred Blumer.

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• Blumer, a telem­at­ics expert and for­mer top exec­u­tive at Hughes Telem­at­ics, was the keynote speaker at AAIA’s 2013 After­mar­ket eFo­rum, along with execs from Del­phi, UPS, and eBay.

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• OEMs claim own­er­ship of most all the data gen­er­ated by embed­ded telem­at­ics sys­tems – deal­ers are first in line to get repair and main­te­nance data.

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• “Within the next 10 to 15 years – unless the auto­mo­tive after­mar­ket devel­ops an effec­tive response – they will be shut out of the ser­vice mar­ket sig­nif­i­cantly,” Blumer said.

SIGNIFICANCE:
 

• Blumer described how an embed­ded vehi­cle diag­nos­tics sys­tem sends data pack­ets back to the OEM’s cus­tomer rela­tion­ship man­age­ment (CRM) system.

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• CRM sys­tem ana­lyzes data – email is trig­gered on reg­u­lar main­te­nance or an emer­gency need, send­ing con­sumers directly to OEM dealers.

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• Most OEM embed­ded sys­tems come at an ongo­ing price to the consumer.

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• “The cost to the con­sumer is cash, as many of these sys­tems have monthly fees; con­trol, as con­sumers’ rights to their own data grad­u­ally are eroded; and choice, as con­sumers may have got­ten a bet­ter deal by going some­where else for ser­vice,” Blumer said.

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• Key is to part­ner with the con­sumer, accord­ing to Blumer – encour­ages after­mar­ket to pro­vide alter­na­tive, attrac­tive options to OEM systems.

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• Con­sumers will real­ize the value of their data and seek to uti­lize it to their ben­e­fit – he thinks usage-based insur­ance (UBI) is an exam­ple of a win-win for both insur­ance car­rier and consumer.