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The LIFTNOW Team just got back from yet another productive visit at Hunter’s World Headquarters just outside of St. Louis. This time, we brushed up on all of Hunter’s new and existing products before SEMA in a couple of weeks. For those not familiar with SEMA, it is THE automotive aftermarket trade show that takes place in Las Vegas. For a pre-show report, click here. We’ll also have a show report a few days following the event.

In a word, the Hunter Headquarters is spectacular; walking in, the walls are lined with over 350 patents, and hundreds of awards that Hunter has received over 5 decades for excellence in Engineering. (Ask any Hunter employee and they’ll tell you Engineering is their middle name). Over the three days we were there, we were able to get a refresh on some of the existing products, along with some of the newer automotive equipment, like the completely automated Quick Check Drive.

Quick Check Drive can check a car’s vital statistics and measurements, including alignment angles. Having a quality piece of inspection equipment is important to diagnose a customer’s vehicle and finding additional repair opportunities. When over 70% of “healthy” cars on the road need alignment, it pays to check every car.

Another highlight was Hunter’s new on-the-car brake lathe, called the AutoComp Elite. The AutoComp Elite automatically compensates, calculating the perfect position of the solution to eliminate guesswork. Using a simple touchscreen interface, the user can set and vary speeds for the lathe. The AutoComp Elite also oscillates speeds automatically to prevent vibrating, which can potentially damage a rotor. All of these features make the AutoComp Elite the easiest and most efficient solution in today’s marketplace.

Another highlight of the trip was the factory tour. Hunter Equipment is “proudly made in the USA”, and they proved it. Hunter maintains three factories (two in Mississippi and one in Missouri that shares space with its corporate offices). We took an hour-long factory tour, and while pictures were prohibited to maintain confidentiality, what we can say is it was IMPRESSIVE.

The tour guide explained that whenever possible, Hunter sources, designs and assembles parts in the United States, like manufacturing their own balancer collets in-house, and sourcing the steel from a mill just 30 miles away. We were personally blown away—it’s the epitome of strong, reliable American manufacturing.

Stay tuned for more surprises from SEMA, coming up in a couple of weeks! As always, if you want to talk about something or have any comments, contact us here.

With over 160,000 attendees and 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, SEMA is one of the largest trade shows in the world. We spend over 3 full days hitting the trade show hard, looking for new trends so you don’t have to. About a week after the show, we’ll release a show report, so you get the full picture. Want us to look for something or report on something specific at SEMA 2018? Let us know here and we promise to report on it, just for you.

Here are some of our predictions:

The automotive shop equipment aftermarket remains strong and steady and has grown 4% since last year, so we expect strong products and strong interest and the show, with plenty of buying.

Unsurprisingly, 45% of consumers look for parts info on search engines like Google and Bing, and review websites. But word of mouth also dominates, with 41% of consumers asking their friends and families for recommendations. We think that SEMA 2018 will see more companies offer solutions for shop marketing but remember that search engine and good old-fashioned recommendations still reign supreme.

There’s also been a “Do-it-Yourself” trend among many consumers who think that they can repair their broken cars with parts from Amazon and videos from YouTube. While that maybe the case for certain components, like chemicals (78% of consumers doing it themselves), lighting (69% DIY) and Interior (65% DIY), certain things are still FAR from affected by this newfound trend. Wheels/tires see only 21% of consumers attempting to do it themselves, while Advanced Driver Assist-Systems are at 34%. As Hunter distributors, we already know that wheel service and driver safety systems will continue to play a large part at SEMA 2018.

Another interesting trend is purchasing parts online. It’s become more difficult for the independent repair shop to sway motorists to purchase parts from them, in addition to the actual repair. While online purchases only make up 38% of total parts purchases, this will grow. One solution for repair shops to keep profit in-house is to open their own small parts store online or offer online tools for their motorists like scheduling appointments, that come with parts included.

Young people may be online more than their older counterparts, but everyone wants a one-click solution. If you can provide a one-stop shop to buying parts and scheduling local repairs with their favorite mechanic, you’ll keep more profit. We saw them last year, and we’ll see them again: eCommerce and other tech companies promising this solution. But, the same way you scrutinize who you buy your tires and equipment from, make sure you do the same with these “soft services.”