Fuller bays. More regulars who come back.
XPN Marketing helps repair shops, collision centers, car washes, detailers and towing companies win the urgent "near me" search and keep customers returning. We combine local SEO, Google Ads and real video of your shop to grow car counts and ticket size.
Prefer to talk? Call (313) 878-8855
Car trouble rarely gets planned. A check engine light, a grinding brake or a flat on the Lodge sends someone to their phone, and they type "mechanic near me" or "tire shop open now". They call one of the first few shops on the map, usually the one with strong reviews and an obvious phone button.
Other services work on a slower clock. Detailing, ceramic coating, tint and wash memberships are researched and compared, often on Instagram and Facebook, where before-and-after photos do most of the convincing. Collision customers are juggling an insurance claim and want a shop that explains the process clearly.
Either way, the map pack decides a lot. Independent shops compete with dealership service departments, national quick-lube and tire chains, and the shop two blocks over with twice the reviews. Chains have brand recognition; independents win on trust, convenience and how quickly they answer the phone.
Michigan adds its own rhythm. Pothole season means alignment, suspension and tire work in spring, cold snaps kill batteries, and road salt keeps car washes busy all winter. Snowstorms bring a surge of towing and roadside calls that only the companies showing up first on a phone really catch.
The shops that grow are the ones that turn a one-time emergency into a regular customer: oil changes on a reminder schedule, seasonal tire swaps, a wash membership, a detail every spring. Marketing should bring in the first visit and then make the second one easy. That is also where most shops leave money on the table, because nobody follows up after the car leaves the lot.
XPN Marketing works with auto service businesses across Metro Detroit and Michigan on exactly that: local SEO and Google Business Profile work, Google Ads built around service and emergency searches, websites that turn visits into calls and bookings, and video filmed in your bays by our in-house team.
Listed in the order that usually matters most for a service shop. Most auto customers find you on Google first, so that is where we start.
We build out your Google Business Profile with the right primary and secondary categories (auto repair, brake shop, tire shop, auto body, detailing), list every service, add real bay photos and keep hours accurate, including holiday and after-hours towing. Then we create service pages for brakes, alignments, diagnostics, ceramic coating or collision repair, and city pages for the communities you actually serve.
Explore our local SEO servicesSearch campaigns target high-intent terms like "brake repair near me", "transmission shop" or "24 hour towing", with call ads scheduled for the hours you can actually answer. Where your trade qualifies, we can also manage Google Local Services Ads, which charge per lead. Seasonal campaigns push tire changeovers in fall and spring and AC service when the first heat wave hits.
Explore our pay-per-click advertising on GoogleMost auto visitors are on mobile and in a hurry. We build fast sites with tap-to-call at the top, online appointment requests, a clear service list, financing or warranty details if you offer them, and wash or detail packages with prices. For car washes we can feature membership sign-ups front and center, since recurring members are the steadiest revenue you have.
Explore our web design for auto shopsOur crew films what makes a shop credible: technicians at work, a clean waiting area, foam rolling through the wash tunnel, a paint correction going from swirled to glossy. Short clips work in ads, on your Google profile and on social media, and they show a nervous customer exactly who will be working on their car.
Explore our video productionPaid social is less useful for emergency repairs but strong for planned services. We run before-and-after detailing ads, ceramic coating and tint promotions, wash membership offers to drivers within a few miles, and retargeting for people who visited your site but did not book. Offers are timed around salt season, spring cleanup and the run-up to the holidays.
Explore our Facebook and Instagram advertisingDetailers and wash owners live and die by their photos. We plan and post transformation shots, customer cars, team spotlights, quick maintenance tips and seasonal reminders, then answer the messages asking "how much for an interior detail on a Tahoe?" quickly. For repair shops, steady posting builds familiarity so you come to mind before the breakdown happens.
Explore our social media marketingYour brand shows up on signs, uniforms, invoices, wash menu boards and the side of every tow truck on the road. We design logos, service menus, membership cards, vehicle wraps and ad templates that look consistent everywhere, so a customer who saw your truck on the highway recognizes your listing when they search later. Consistency is a small thing that adds up to trust.
Explore our logo and brand designAuto service is one of the most map-driven categories on Google. Proximity matters, but so do reviews, categories, hours and how complete your profile is, which is where many shops quietly lose calls to competitors.
Correct categories for every service line, real photos of your bays and equipment, services with descriptions, and accurate hours. A profile that says "open" when nobody answers the phone costs you the customer and the review.
The three map results above the organic listings take most of the clicks for "near me" searches. We work on the signals that influence them: relevance, profile activity, reviews and consistent information across the web.
People worry about being overcharged by a mechanic. Reviews that mention honest quotes, fair prices and quick turnaround answer that fear directly. We help you request reviews after each job and reply to them professionally.
A single "services" page cannot compete for brake repair, diagnostics, collision and ceramic coating all at once. Dedicated pages for profitable services give Google and customers a clear, specific match to what they typed.
Your shop name, address and phone should match on Google, Apple Maps, Yelp, Bing and auto directories. Old addresses and tracking numbers left behind on listings send drivers to the wrong place.
Tap-to-call, text-to-book and short appointment forms make it easy to act. We track calls by source so you can tell which channels bring real repair orders and which only bring price shoppers.
We work to improve your visibility and win more of the searches that matter. No honest agency can promise a specific ranking, and we won't.
Shop owners want to know we have done this before. We have, for over 10 years and for every kind of local business, from contractors, clinics and law firms to restaurants, dealerships and online stores. Here is what that looks like in numbers.
Results come from live Google Ads accounts we manage, shown on our case studies page with client names and account IDs cropped out. The numbers are untouched.
Every review here is public on our Google Business Profile. We do not write testimonials for ourselves.
“They ran amazing ads for us and their videos are amazing I truly recommend them to any real estate agents looking for marketing”
“Excellent experience with the whole XPN team. They were quick to respond, easy to work with, and was always available to answer questions or provide feedback with ideas. I would recommend them to any business owner for getting real results and growing their business.”
“Their marketing is amazing. Their team is great to work with and the process was very smooth and simple”
“Love the team at XPN. They helped develop and launch a new website for my business. They [took] all the guesswork out of marketing as well. I would recommend them to any business looking to start or grow.”
“I had a great experience with XPN! The team was very professional and answered all of my questions, 10/10 would recommend for anyone that is trying to accomplish their goals!”
“The XPN team did an exceptional job with videography and marketing for my business and were great to work with”
Auto service marketing has a split personality. Part of it is emergency response, where the shop that is visible and answers fastest gets the job. The other part is relationship building, where the goal is a customer who comes back for every oil change, tire swap and detail for years.
Breakdown and towing searches are short and urgent. Call ads, accurate hours, and a profile packed with reviews win those moments. But the economics of a repair shop or car wash improve when that first visit turns into a habit, so we pair acquisition with retention:
Spring brings potholes and the alignment, suspension and tire work that follows. Summer brings AC repair and road-trip prep. Fall is tire changeover and pre-winter maintenance, and winter means dead batteries, slide-offs, towing calls and salt-crusted cars lining up at the wash. We shift budget and messaging to match, so you are not paying for AC ads in January.
Every shop gets calls that start and end with "how much for brakes?". Some price shopping is normal, but campaigns can be shaped to attract better jobs. We bid harder on diagnostic and specialty terms, add negative keywords for parts-only and DIY searches, and write ad copy that sells expertise and warranty, not just the lowest price.
A collision center depends on trust during a stressful insurance process, so clear explanations and reviews matter most. A detailer sells visually, so before-and-after content and social ads do the heavy lifting. A car wash wins on location, convenience and memberships. A towing company needs to be visible and reachable 24/7, often in places it does not have a storefront, which brings its own rules for how service-area businesses appear on Google. We build the plan around which of these you are.
Clicks and impressions are not repair orders. We track phone calls, booking requests, membership sign-ups and direction requests back to their source, and where possible we compare them to your shop management data, so marketing decisions are made on car count and ticket value. If a channel brings plenty of calls but few approved repairs, we change it or cut it, and we tell you why in the monthly report.
Understand your business, market and goals.
Analyze your current marketing and competitors.
Pick the opportunities worth the budget.
Create campaigns, content, websites and creative.
Deploy with tracking in place from day one.
Track calls, forms and bookings, not vanity metrics.
Improve what the data says to improve.
Put more behind what works.
There is no fixed price list. Cost depends on how many services and locations you want to promote, which channels make sense, and how much ad budget you put behind them. We begin with a free audit of your Google profile, website and any current ads, then quote a plan that keeps our fee and your ad spend clearly separate.
Often both. Local Services Ads appear at the very top for many auto categories and charge per lead, but they offer less control over keywords and messaging. Standard Google Ads let us target specific jobs, schedule ads around your hours and send people to dedicated pages. We look at your trade, location and capacity before recommending a mix.
Plan on months, not weeks. Profile fixes, better categories and a steady flow of new reviews can improve map visibility relatively early, while service pages and broader searches take longer to build. We do not promise rankings, but we show you monthly what changed and how calls and booking requests are trending.
Yes. We promote memberships through your website, Google profile, local social ads and signage, and we time offers around salt season when people are washing most often. Clear pricing, a simple sign-up path and messaging focused on value per month tend to matter more than heavy discounts.
It plays a supporting role for most repair shops. People rarely book a brake job from Instagram, but they do check your pages before trusting you with their car. For detailers, tint shops and car washes, social is far more important because the work is visual and people follow shops whose results they like.
Usually, yes. Google lets service-area businesses hide their address and list the areas they serve instead, as long as they follow its guidelines. We set up your profile correctly, build pages for the areas you cover and make sure your 24/7 availability and phone number are clear everywhere drivers might look.
We track calls, form requests, text messages and direction requests by source and report them monthly in plain terms. When you share data from your shop management system, we can connect leads to repair orders and average ticket, so you can judge results by revenue rather than clicks.
A short call about your services, capacity and the jobs you want more of, plus access to your Google Business Profile and website. From there we run a free marketing audit and walk you through what we would tackle first. If you like the plan, our team can come out to film your shop early on.
Tell us about your shop, wash or towing operation and the work you want more of. We will start with a free marketing audit and an honest look at where calls are going.
We'll review:
Then we'll show you where your biggest growth opportunities are. No charge, no obligation.
Rather talk now? Call (313) 878-8855
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Our team is based at 3200 Greenfield Rd in Dearborn, and we work with auto repair & detailing businesses in Detroit, Dearborn and the rest of Metro Detroit, out to Ann Arbor, Troy, Novi and beyond. Plenty of our clients never visit the office: strategy calls, shoots and reporting all happen wherever suits you.
