New Zealand’s motor vehicle repair and maintenance industry has grown at a compound annual rate of 3.2% over the past five years, reaching an estimated $4.2 billion in 2025, according to industry analyst IBISWorld. The research firm expects a further 3.5% jump in 2025–’26, driven partly by improving consumer sentiment, on top of a structural driver that isn’t going away: New Zealand’s vehicle fleet keeps getting older. The average light passenger vehicle is now 15.2 years old, up from 14.3 years in 2015 and well above the European Union’s 12.5-year average, and older vehicles simply need more frequent and complex work.
A shift toward preventive servicing
The growth isn’t just about ageing vehicles needing more repairs; there’s a genuine behavioural shift happening alongside it. One market research estimate suggests 70% of New Zealanders now say they recognise the importance of regular vehicle maintenance, up from 55% in 2020 — a meaningful jump in five years. The same estimate puts the broader car care products market at around $425 million, spread across everything from cleaning and detailing products to preventative servicing.
The components drivers don’t think about
Industry attention increasingly points to drivetrain components, particularly the differential, as an area where that awareness gap still shows. Differentials distribute power between wheels and typically need fluid changes on a set service interval, but because wear develops gradually rather than suddenly, it’s an easy job to overlook until a whining noise, vibration, or difficulty handling corners signals something’s already wrong. It’s a pattern that shows up across less visible parts of a vehicle generally: the ones that don’t fail obviously until they do.
Parts retailing telling a similar story
The parts side of the industry shows a related trend. IBISWorld’s Motor Vehicle Parts Retailing data puts the New Zealand market at $930.6 million in 2026, with the number of businesses in the sector growing at nearly 6% a year since 2020, growth it attributes to the same ageing fleet, alongside rising consumer interest in DIY maintenance and expanding online retail options.
None of these point to a single cause. An older fleet needs more work by default, a more maintenance-aware public is booking more of it, and the parts supply chain is expanding to match both. Taken together, the numbers suggest New Zealand’s servicing sector is in a genuinely structural growth phase, not a short-term bounce.
