Van drivers spend £655m on wing mirrors

After extensive research by the after-sales team at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle, they have calculated that damage to wing mirrors has cost UK van drivers £655 million in repair costs in their lifetime with additional losses racked up due to vehicle downtime.

Analysis of the data determined a total of 62 per cent of van drivers have had their wing mirrors damaged with over a third admitting it has happened multiple times and they it also revealed the most common cause of wing mirror damage is driving down a narrow street (62%), followed by on-street parking (21%), and public car parks (15%). Of course broken and / or damaged wing mirrors can lead to expensive repairs and vehicle downtime which has a detrimental effect on the total life costs.

Why do this research?

Many people maybe asking, what’s the point of this research ? Well , of course, there is a marketing aspect to this report and this comes in the fact that the Volkswagen Transporter 6.1 and the new fifth-generation Caddy Cargo both have automatic folding mirrors as standard, making it easier for customers to fold in their mirrors in tight situations and avoid expensive repair costs.

James Allitt, Head of Aftersales for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: “As one of the most common repair jobs, we know that a broken wing mirror is all too common for van drivers and leads to frustrating downtime. “The impact of wing mirror damage on finances and business operations shows how important it is to manually fold in wing mirrors, and how cost-effective automatic folding mirrors can be to van drivers and fleet managers – that’s why they’re fitted as standard on our latest models, including Transporter 6.1 and Caddy Cargo.”

Replacement wing mirrors are the single most common repair that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles technicians handle each year, with glass and mirrors accounting for 10 times more repairs than any other part.

Mobile Service Clinic

As part of its aftersales offering, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles operates Mobile Service Clinic vans across the UK, to help minimise downtime and complete repairs quickly and efficiently. These specially converted Volkswagen Crafters are kitted out with an array of on-board tools to allow them to carry out service work, inspections and repairs, including on wing mirrors, at a safe location and time to suit the customer.

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/VT1Y3E7b9NU