£1m of additional labour for 1,500 independent garages has been created by LKQ Car Parts’ Fit It For Me online platform, according to the company.

Launched in May 2020, the platform aims to capture the market of car owners buying their own parts, and then filter them towards a garage to fit the parts.

Drivers visit the LKQ Euro Car Parts consumer website and pick the parts, after inputting their registration number to ensure compatibility. They are then delivered directly to a Fit It For Me-member garage. The customer pays the garage directly for the installation, with no referral fee.

The service has also seen 89% of garages secure repeat visits from customers gained through the platform.

Anthony McAteer, Trading Director at LKQ Euro Car Parts, said: “Of all online parts sales in the UK, half are ultimately installed by garages anyway. Our ambition with Fit It For Me has been to simplify the process and maximise the benefits for garages and their customers, by ensuring quality repairs, first time, every time. The take-up we’ve seen so far – and the fact that we’ve reached this £1m milestone – demonstrates that both sides clearly see its value.”

Junior Nandra, owner of Fit It For Me-trusted garage All Fords in South-East London, added: “I’d encourage any garage to sign up to this service if they can – it’s a great opportunity to bring new customers to your garage who would never have considered anything other than visiting a dealership.”

Earlier this year, LKQ Euro Car Parts also introduced a labour guarantee for garages that use Fit It For Me. Any technician receiving a job through Fit It For Me will be given a repair time based on HaynesPro data, which in turn generates a booking cost for the customer. If a garage’s own data shows a higher labour cost, LKQ Euro Car Parts pays the difference.

For more information, visit: www.eurocarparts.com/fit-it-for-me-fitting-service