Consumer Demographics Research for the Automotive Aftermarket

Knowing who buys your product — and why — is the foundation of effective marketing, category management, and brand strategy. IMR’s CCAMS tracking study profiles automotive parts, chemicals, and service consumers at a level of detail that goes well beyond age and income, giving manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers a clear picture of who their customer actually is and how to reach them.

How IMR Builds Consumer Demographic Profiles

Every quarter, IMR interviews thousands of U.S. households about the vehicle maintenance and repair decisions they’ve made — what they bought, where they bought it, why they chose that outlet, and how they approached the repair. That data becomes the foundation for consumer demographic profiles that are actionable across brand, marketing, and sales functions.

Profiles can be built and filtered across a wide range of criteria, including:

• DIY vs. DIFM — who’s doing their own repairs vs. taking the vehicle to a shop
• Part, chemical, or service purchased — segmented by specific category
• Purchase outlet — which retailers, service outlets, or online channels consumers used and why
• Vehicle make and age — understand who owns what and how that drives purchasing behavior
• Geography — regional breakdowns to support territory-level planning
• Age, income, gender, education, ethnicity, and employment status

For deeper psychographic and lifestyle segmentation, IMR’s CCAMS data integrates with Claritas PRIZM to connect purchasing behavior with consumer lifestyle clusters.

What Consumer Demographics Reveal

The right demographic cut doesn’t just describe your customer — it tells you where opportunity exists and where you’re losing ground.

IMR’s consumer demographic data helps clients answer questions like:

• Which consumer segments are most likely to purchase my product category?
• How does my brand’s consumer base differ from a competitor’s?
• Are DIYers in a specific region skewing older or younger than the national average?
• Which retail outlets are capturing the most purchase volume from my target demographic?
• How do consumer perceptions of my brand vary by age, income, or vehicle ownership?

This level of specificity supports smarter decisions across marketing, product development, channel strategy, and category management.

Applications Across the Business

Consumer demographic profiles from CCAMS are used across the aftermarket to:

• Target marketing spend more precisely by identifying which segments index highest for a given category or brand
• Inform retail strategy by understanding which outlets over- or under-index with key consumer groups
• Support category management with a fact-based picture of who the end consumer is and how they buy
• Track demographic shifts over time as the vehicle owner population evolves — particularly relevant as EV/HEV ownership grows and younger consumers enter the market

FAQ

What consumer demographics does IMR track for the automotive aftermarket? IMR tracks automotive parts, chemicals, and service consumers by DIY/DIFM behavior, product category purchased, outlet used, vehicle make and age, region, and standard demographics including age, income, gender, education, ethnicity, and employment.

What is CCAMS? CCAMS (Continuing Consumer Automotive Maintenance Survey) is IMR’s ongoing tracking study that interviews U.S. households about their vehicle maintenance and repair behavior. It is one of the most comprehensive sources of consumer-level data in the automotive aftermarket.

Can IMR segment consumer data by specific parts category? Yes. CCAMS allows demographic profiling at the category level — so clients can build a consumer profile specific to, for example, brake purchasers or oil change customers, rather than relying on aggregate automotive consumer data.

How does IMR’s consumer demographics research differ from general market research? IMR’s data is sourced exclusively from automotive parts and service consumers and built specifically for aftermarket decision-making. It captures the full repair event — trigger, diagnosis, outlet selection, brand choice.