Tag Archives: Workshop

A new survey has highlighted what it described as the “offensive” labour rates being charged by some dealers. Using data supplied by used car warranty provider Warrantywise, Auto Express found the highest recorded hourly rate of an individual garage was £240 per hour in West Byfleet, Surrey. This contrasted with the lowest cost of £36 per hour at a garage ...

Leading trade associations have joined forces to fight proposals put forward in the Summer Budget to look at changing the frequency of the MoT test. Last month Chancellor George Osborne said he plans to consult on increasing the period before a car receives its first MOT test from three years to four. The Automotive Aftermarket Liaison Group (AALG), which is made ...

WhoCanFixMyCar, the comparison website, has dismissed the findings of a recent survey by ClickMechanic which found women were typically charged £45 more for identical car repairs than men. New research by WhoCanFixMyCar, based on 64,000 datapoints, shows women are charged less. The research covered jobs ranging from oil changes to clutch replacements and full resprays and found the average quote ...

Carmaker warranties are 10 times more likely than service plans to encourage new car buyers back to the franchised workshop. That’s the conclusion of the Castrol Professional Car Servicing & Repair Trend Tracker report carried out in 2014 with 17,500 British car owners. When asked why they had chosen a franchised dealership for servicing work, 68.5% of interviewees with cars ...

AutoProtect has entered the service plan market with the launch of Foresight Service Plan. The company has tested the programme with dealers with a view to increasing aftersales and F&I sales through more frequent contact with customers. Offering automated quotes using carmaker data, it can be integrated with dealer management systems. Jo Selby, national service manager with AutoProtect, said: “We ...

Crescent Motoring Services has won Motor Codes’ UK Garage of the Year Award. The independent Burton on Trent-based business took the award following a national hunt based on customer nominations. Anderson Clark of Inverness was presented with the runners-up prize and a separate award was presented to the Test Centre of Deptford who was commended for its commitment to providing ...

The majority of car owners have never bought warranty cover in the UK because they believe it is too expensive or made unnecessary by regular car servicing. A survey carried out by Allianz Global Assistance UK found that 78% of car owners have never bought warranty cover with 40% citing cost as the main reason. Almost a third (28%) believe ...

A company which supplies engine decontamination machines to dealers claims to have generated an additional £1m aftersales turnover for major groups including Inchcape, Sandicliffe and Hendy. EDT Automotive was launched in 2013 and is the sole UK importer of the machine which cleans oil waste left behind during an oil change, along with any deposits that naturally build up within ...

The use of video can extend the reach of a dealership by up to 65%. That’s the view of video service provider CitNOW, which analysed data from 10,500 new and used car customer records at two dealer groups. Customers of the unnamed BMW group who received a video were willing to travel an average of 55% further than those who ...

Carmakers are increasingly incentivising franchise dealer service departments to sell service plans in a bid to reach second and third vehicle owners. That’s the view of The Warranty Group which said service plans appeal to owners of older cars who want to control their outgoings. Serkan Obuz, head of corporate sales and training, explained that the strategy allowed access to ...