The Smaller Guy Can Win
There is supposed to be less money around at the moment and I certainly know of some garages that are struggling to get through the month. Looking at the issue from afar, it seems to be the main dealers who are struggling and I have certainly had complaints from customers about over charging and using or garage service instead.
It may be that main dealers are seen a bit like a bit of a luxury and even a small saving is a saving by using smaller independent repair services may be the way forward and keep us little guys in business.
One particular story consisted of someone who had put their car into a main dealer for an insurance repair job. This was not a salvage car, just a bit of paintwork after someone had used their keys on the paintwork. The owner asked for the MOT to be done at the same time.
This was the first MOT at 3 years, but when the report came back, it had a few little things added that needed doing. The owner said they would do the jobs themselves, but was astounded to find they would charge a re-sit fee. Although not a legal requirement, most garages offer a free re-sit within a certain amount of days, to the point it is unusual for anyone not to offer this service.
The results was the customer could not believe that after all the insurance work she had brought them, they would first written down issue with the car, that could be fixed quicker that write them down and then have the nerve to request a re-sit fee.
This dealer sits in an affluent area, but word on the street is that its employees have been informed there will be redundancies. (I wonder why). In times like this, you need to give superb customer service, not squabble over a few quid. This customer now comes to me, this dealer has lost customer for the rest of this customers life. It is not about salvaging cars, it is about salvaging jobs.
If the smaller garages play the game right, offer good value and do not charge for breathing, they could do well out of this recession.