Imagine this scene: Maria brings her car in for service. The advisor walks her over to the service bay and says, “We recommend a transmission fluid exchange today—$149.” Maria’s eyes go wide. All she hears is one-hundred-and-forty-nine dollars. In her head, she’s thinking: “That’s a lot. Are they trying to rip me off?”

In that moment, Maria isn’t picturing a smoother transmission or peace of mind—she’s hearing cents, not sense. We see this happen every day in service centers all over the country. When the message leans heavily on price, the customer’s internal reaction is, “I might regret this.” They hesitate. 

Here’s a little more background and context for restructuring your customer conversations.

Price Dominates When Knowledge Is Lacking
Most vehicle owners don’t have a deep understanding of automotive systems, and the percent who do has been declining for years as vehicles have gotten more complex. When a service advisor throws out technical terms, like EGR, GDI, or timing chain, customers often zone out or mentally substitute the words with price tags. In behavioral economics, this is a kind of anchoring: the first number (price) becomes their mental anchor, and all other aspects (benefit, necessity) shrink in comparison.

In general consumer psychology, price sensitivity is the degree to which demand shifts when price changes. A consumer with little knowledge of that subject (like many vehicle owners) is especially prone to letting price drive their decisions.

Rising Repair Costs Amplify the Pain
Auto repair and maintenance costs have been climbing. For example, in 2023, repair and maintenance costs rose about 6.5% year over year. At the same time, many drivers are holding onto vehicles longer, meaning more age-related maintenance. As repair ticket averages climb, the gap between cost and perceived value widens – making it even more important for service centers to help customers see beyond the price.

Poor Communication and Trust Hurts the Bottom Line
AutoNetTV’s Automotive Service Report, a nationwide survey of vehicle owners, found that the perceived honesty of customers’ preferred service provider was nearly double that of most service providers in the industry. If a customer leaves your service center thinking, “They just wanted my money,” they’re far less likely to come back – even if your work was excellent. This can have a long-term impact on your business, as 61.7% of respondents said they only take their vehicle to one provider regularly.

Look, you can’t eliminate cents entirely – that’s the reality of pricing – but you can shift the conversation so that sense dominates. Here are a few tactics you can implement today to change the narrative and start helping your customers make more sense of your recommendations.

Lead with the Why – Then Reveal the Price
Don’t start with figures. Start with consequences, risk, and benefit. For example:
“If we don’t change your transmission fluid now, contaminants build up, your shifting deteriorates, and eventually your transmission could slip or fail entirely. That means a much bigger bill.” Once you’ve painted that picture, the $149 becomes reasonable and expected rather than overwhelming. If you’ve paid attention to any of AutoNetTV’s Car Care videos, you’ll notice a similar message pattern, setting the stage for customers to understand the problem, and then see the benefits of following your recommendations – either because of some positive outcome achieved, or a negative outcome avoided.

Storytelling & Analogies
Analogies are powerful because, like a new pair of glasses, they can really help bring things into clear focus in the minds of others. When a customer can suddenly better understand, or relate the complex vehicle part or system, to something that’s more familiar to them, their mind shifts from confusion to connection. And those connections can become lasting. Such as AutoNetTV’s comparison of synthetic oil to marbles, vs conventional oil to pencils, and asking which is more slippery.

Frame the Price Smartly
There are a few psychological pricing strategies you can use to shift perception (without being manipulative):

• Anchoring: Present a more expensive option first (e.g., “We recommend Option A at $299, but Option B is $149”). The $149 then seems more reasonable in contrast. This is similar to the Good Better Best strategy you probably already use, like so many others in the industry.
• Bundle vs. unbundle: Frame it as a package that saves money vs. listing each piece separately.
• Value framing: Say, “You’re getting 25,000 miles of protection,” or “You’re investing $149 now to avoid a possible $1,200 repair later.”

These tactics taps into how human brains compare and contrast rather than evaluate absolute numbers.

Build Trust Through Transparency
Because trust is such a barrier, do everything you can to reduce suspicion.

• Offer a walk-around: show the parts, point out wear, use a flashlight or tablet images. 

• Use inspections with photos/videos so the customer sees issues rather than just hears them. 

• Provide written explanations or take-home materials so they can re-read, think, and digest.

1. Begin with consequences: “If we don’t do this, here’s what could happen…” This helps to put the value of the service before the price.
2. Show visual proof, like using AutoNetTV’s videos. This helps to make otherwise abstract information to be more concrete in the eyes and mind of your customers.
3. Present the price as just one piece of the story, not the headline. This helps to prevent price anchoring too early in the conversation.
4. Offer any transparency tools you have available, like pictures or the removed part that shows the wear or damage requiring replacement. This aids your message and reduces skepticism.
5. Follow through with reinforcement of your message wherever the customer goes next. Additional information after the presentation can also help to solidify customer understanding and reduce the chances of buyer remorse – impacting future trust and acceptance. Think about the places and ways your customers may obtain information from you, like your website, emails, text reminders, social media, and your waiting area. Including content in each of these areas greatly increases your chances of the customer hearing your message again and increasing their trust and comfort with your message.

When customers hear “cents,” it often means we’ve failed to engage their minds first. But when they hear sense, they lean in, listen, and make informed choices.

In your next service conversation, pause before quoting a price. Lead with risk, benefits, evidence – and let the sense build the foundation. Because when the customer understands, the cents begin to feel reasonable.