Seasonality refers to the predictable changes that occur in your business year after year.

For automotive businesses, this can have a profound impact on marketing effectiveness, customer engagement, leads, bookings and ultimately, your bottom line.

Car detailers often see increased demand in the spring and summer months as customers prepare for road trips or seek to restore their vehicles after winter.

Dealerships might experience higher foot traffic and sales during March and September, thanks to promotions and new model releases.

Understanding these patterns, can you help you understand your business better and allows us to tailor marketing strategies that align with customer behaviors. By leveraging seasonal trends, we can optimize lead generation, increase bookings, and drive sales more effectively.

During peak periods targeted campaigns can capitalise on heightened interest, while off-peak periods require more creative approaches to maintain steady business flow.

Top 3 periods of seasonality for car detailing businesses and what you can do to avoid your business freezing over

Winter (December – February)– arguably the most difficult period in the year is between December – February for car detailers, battling snow and ice, whilst trying to wash and maintain cars is no small feat. Through winter 2023 at Pyramid Car Care we literally had snow foam freezing on the surface of cars, making it nearly impossible to wash cars on the coldest days.

What you can do during the winter period?

• Winter detailing packages
• Winter maintenance content
• Promotional offers such as winter sale

Summer Holiday Season (July – August) – We all look forward to summer: holidays abroad and holidays at home, pub gardens, and soaking up the sun, the 6 weeks holidays and so on. It’s the same for your customers too which means less people will be searching for your services and actively booking them too.

What you can do during the summer holiday season?

• This is a good time of year to diversify your marketing and test new strategies and approaches
• Attend local car events – this is a great way to get outside, and build relationships with potential customers
• Create your own local events such as a summer open day and invite existing customers and prospects for a BBQ, car show or demonstrations at your premises or nearby event space if you don’t have a suitable location
• Focus on existing customers and building relationships – reach out to people by phone or email

Back To School (September) – After the summer holidays, I would love to say it’s plain sailing but every year, there’s a slow down around the back to school period, and it makes sense, it’s a big stressful change in routine, and the majority of us parents will be thinking about just getting through the first couple of weeks.

What you can do during the back to school disruption?

• It’s short lived – and we usually se things settle down within 2-3 weeks
• Focus on relationship building with existing customers
• Create fun content about going “back to school” and / or the impact this has on our cars
• Target parents with promotional offers with relatable messaging such as “Back to school is hard for us all, but let us take the pressure off cleaning your car. Freshen up your car with valeting services at ….”

The key thing to remember is that every business is different, and every business will be affected differently by seasonality – this information is not intended as a one-size-fits-all guide.