Find shop info across Canada with new AIA tool

The Automotive Industries Association of Canada launched a new tool that plots tens of thousands of shop locations across the country.

The Auto Care Landscape in Canada tool is an online interactive map that shows locations of more than 25,000 collision repair, mechanical repair and new car facilities in Canada.

The tool is exclusively for AIA Canada members, according to the association’s announcement. Access includes everything from an overview of the auto care sector on a provincial level to a street view look at a particular business’ store front.

For every entry, members can get contact details and information on whether the business is an independent shop or part of a national or regional banner.

According to AIA Canada, information can be customized, allowing uses to identifying expansion opportunities, plan distribution networks, measure saturation and more.

AIA Canada said the landscape project was designed in response to an information gap in understanding the auto care landscape in Canada, especially in the collision, mechanical and new car dealer sectors.

“In particular, data on the number of businesses operating in each of the sectors was sparse and unverified,” the announcement said. “Secondary sources such as Statistics Canada provide an overall number of businesses but do not indicate how many are independent or belong to a regional or national banner.”

It also noted issues around understanding market dynamics and how the sectors interact with each other.

“Through a series of three reports published in 2021-2022, the landscape series provided much-needed insight into some of the trends impacting the auto care industry,” the group said. “Building on the database assets created as part of the landscape series, the Auto Care Landscape in Canada interactive map allows users to explore the data in a visual format.”