Consumer Parts Category Research — DIY, DIFM, and Everything In Between

Who is buying your product, where are they buying it, and what’s driving the decision? IMR’s CCAMS (Continuing Consumer Automotive Maintenance Survey) tracks parts, chemicals, and service purchases across the U.S. consumer market on a quarterly basis giving aftermarket manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers a continuous, detailed view of demand, channel share, and consumer behavior at the category level.

What CCAMS Consumer Category Research Covers

CCAMS captures the full consumer repair event — from the trigger that prompted the repair to the outlet where the purchase was made. Across nearly 200 parts, chemicals, and service categories, clients can access:

• DIY vs. DIFM behavior — who’s doing their own repairs, who’s taking the vehicle in, and how that split varies by category, vehicle type, and consumer demographic
• Channel and outlet share — which retailers, service outlets, and online channels are capturing purchase volume by category, and why consumers chose them
• Consumer demographics — age, income, education, gender, ethnicity, and employment status profiled against purchasing behavior to explain demand patterns and identify target segments
• Vehicle profile of the buyer — make, model, age, and mileage of the vehicles associated with each repair or purchase event
• Replacement and failure rates — how often repairs are made, what’s driving them (failure vs. preventative maintenance), and which vehicle makes, ages, and types are generating the most demand
• Consumer opinions of service outlets — how repair shops, dealers, retailers, and other outlets are perceived by the consumers who use them
• Regional breakdowns — geographic variation in demand, channel share, and consumer behavior

Data is collected quarterly, providing consistent trend tracking across time with large sample sizes built for category-level analysis.

For Aftermarket Manufacturers, Suppliers & Retailers

CCAMS gives commercial teams the consumer-level data needed to support brand strategy, category management, and channel planning with facts rather than assumptions.

Specific applications include:

• Comparing your category’s demand trends and channel share against the broader market
• Understanding which consumer segments over-index for your category — and which outlets are capturing them
• Identifying where DIY demand is growing or contracting within your product category
• Tracking how consumer outlet preferences shift over time, including the ongoing growth of ecommerce
• Supporting retail category management with a data-driven view of who the end consumer is and how they buy

For OEMs and Vehicle Manufacturers

IMR’s consumer category data has direct applications for original equipment manufacturers looking to understand post-sale repair behavior on their vehicles.

OEM-relevant insights include:

• How vehicles perform in the field relative to parts failure and repair frequency
• What share of repair work on OEM vehicles flows to dealer service vs. independent shops, retailers, and other channels — segmented by repair type and vehicle age
• When consumers leave the dealer service channel and what drives that transition
• DIFM consumer demographics by outlet type — who is going to the dealer vs. the independent shop vs. the retailer
• Part failure rates and replacement timing by vehicle make, model, and age
• Channel share on a part-by-part basis

Why CCAMS

• 50+ years of continuous tracking — consumer DIY and DIFM purchasing data collected since 1975, providing unmatched trend depth
• Nearly 200 categories tracked — parts, chemicals, and services covered in consistent detail each quarter
• Large quarterly sample sizes — built for reliable category-level and demographic-level analysis
• Proven methodology — consistent data collection approach enabling apples-to-apples trending across decades
• Actionable at multiple levels — supports brand, category, channel, and consumer strategy in a single study

FAQ

What is IMR’s CCAMS study? CCAMS (Continuing Consumer Automotive Maintenance Survey) is IMR’s quarterly tracking study of U.S. consumer automotive parts, chemicals, and service purchasing behavior. It has been fielded continuously since 1975 and covers nearly 200 categories.

How often is CCAMS consumer data collected? CCAMS data is collected quarterly, providing consistent, comparable data across time for trend analysis at the category and demographic level.

What is the difference between DIY and DIFM in automotive consumer research? DIY (Do-It-Yourself) refers to consumers who purchase and install parts themselves. DIFM (Do-It-For-Me) refers to consumers who take their vehicle to a shop, dealer, or other service outlet for repair. IMR tracks both segments separately across all categories.

Can CCAMS data show which retail outlets consumers prefer for a specific parts category? Yes. CCAMS tracks outlet selection by category — including which retailers, service outlets, dealerships, and online channels consumers used for a specific repair or purchase, and why they chose that outlet over alternatives.

How can OEMs use IMR’s consumer parts research? OEMs can use CCAMS to track parts failure rates on their vehicles, monitor when consumers leave the dealer service channel, measure channel share by repair type, and understand the demographic profile of consumers who service their vehicles at different outlet types.