Tag Archives: Workshop

Aftersales staff need training to help deal with customers when it comes to distress purchases. That’s the view of Coachworks Consulting, which called on carmakers to review the levels of soft skills in their networks and invest in training programmes to ensure they are delivered as part of all customer-facing processes. “There is not enough investment in soft skills training ...

Vertu has boosted its aftersales performance by recruiting more technicians and service advisors and overhauling their pay structure. The company took on 100 new technicians last year and plans to do the same in 2018 in order to optimise  service hours. Vertu Motors CEO Robert Forrester told Motor Trader: “The focus last year was less about service plans – although ...

Dealers have been urged to recognise the importance of aftersales as the new car market comes under pressure in 2018. New car sales fell 5.7% in 2017, according to the latest data by the SMMT and are set to fall again in 2018. Some of the largest dealer groups are already building profitability with their aftersales business, including Vertu. Paul ...

Non-franchised garages could find themselves without access to carmaker data and information needed for repair work as a result of Brexit. The IMI has warned of the “catastrophic consequences” if the long standing EU Block Exemption Regulation will not apply once the UK has left the EU and is calling on the government to protect the legislation. The current regulations ...

The fast-fit sector continues to pose an ongoing threat to dealerships across the UK. With an increasingly professional outlook and expanding market share, fast-fits aggressively target franchised dealer customers. There is an increasing consumer preference to use fast-fits for the repair and replacement of distress items such as tyres, batteries, brakes and exhausts. The question is why are motorists taking ...

Over the last 10 years, independent garage workshops have captured the lion’s share of MOT and servicing, maintenance and repair work. The latest Trend Tracker survey shows that the greatest volume of transactions were recorded by independent garage workshops (66%), compared to 24% for franchised dealer workshops. So what can dealers do attract motorists to their workshops? We know from ...

John Clark Motor Group has teamed up with Smartdriverclub to offer connected services to used car buyers. The service, which uses a plug-in device in the OBD port, is branded JC Connect. It offers theft tracking, breakdown help, business miles for expenses, MOT and Tax reminders along with fuel efficiency monitoring. All services can be viewed on the customer’s smartphone ...

The IMI has called on the government to invest in training mechanics to carry out work on high voltage, ultra-low emission vehicles. It said currently just 1% of mechanics in the UK have the necessary qualifications to carry out work on these vehicles. The majority of these are with franchised dealers with negligible take-up in the independent sector. The IMI ...

Solera Holdings, the owner of cap hpi and Audatex, has bought Autodata for £340m. It is the second time the company has been bought in under three years. In 2014 Autodata founders sold the business to Bowmark and Five Arrows Principal Investments for £143m. Autodata is a provider of technical information for the automotive service, maintenance and repair sector. It ...

Servicing Stop is on a recruitment drive looking to add 200 garages to its ranks to bring the total network to 1,700 by the end of the year. The majority of the 1,500 garages currently on its books are independents but the company thinks a large proportion of new joiners will be franchised dealers. Servicing Stop acts as a middleman, ...