PROMOTIONAL CONTENT FROM DAYCO
Dayco’s growing aftermarket product range includes thermostats, which in keeping with its ongoing commitment to quality, are naturally designed and manufactured to meet the most stringent original equipment (OE) specifications.
The comprehensive range covers the vast majority of the UK vehicle parc and to aid their identification and ensure they align with the correct application references, Dayco thermostats carry the prefix DT followed by a four figure part number. However, they also feature a final letter – F, H or V – which refers to the thermostat’s type: flange, housing or valve.
Naturally availability is key and with a UK distribution centre and next-day delivery countrywide, this is also another vital area that Dayco has effectively covered.
Opportunity
So, where does this leave factors and are there opportunities beyond the ‘best practice’ principle of supplying an OE quality replacement?
It is unlikely that many factors analyse their thermostat sales, but as the importance of temperature control has grown, so has the sophistication of the thermostat, with integrated thermostat housings and MAP thermostats that are controlled and activated via the vehicle’s ECU.
The increasing complexity of these thermostats directly affects their predicted service life and crucially, their cost. This fundamentally changes the position in terms of where factors should source them and the profit potential they can derive from them.
Potential
To allow factors to grasp this potential, Dayco has carried out some helpful market analysis to make it clear. Using AASA 2020 report data, it has found that over a five-year period from 2014, the thermostat failure rate has steadily increased to almost five percent. At the same time, the percentage of vehicles fitted with a contemporary – integrated thermostat housing or MAP thermostat – rather than a traditional valve only thermostat design, has grown from 55% to 80%.
In the UK, there are approximately 24.5 million cars that are four years old or more, which, using the 5% thermostat failure rate, means that annually almost one-and-a-quarter million will need replacing.
As the majority of these will fall within the independent sector, the thermostat replacement market is realistically estimated to be around 850,000 units a year. Despite half of these being relatively inexpensive valve type thermostats, the contemporary designs of the other half are of significantly higher value, which means they represent £5.7 million of a total market worth £6.7 million annually.
Now that’s surely a potential to take seriously!
For more information regarding OEM quality thermostats or the power transmission products in the Dayco range, please email: info.uk@dayco.com or visit: www.daycoaftermarket.com
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