Auto Service News

It is true we offer a 24hr roadside assistance and recovery service and it is also true if we promise a car to fixed in our garage by a certain time, unless we have been let down by a car parts supplier or something similar, we will do our best to bide by that time.

However when Christmas time comes we have to be more sensible about promising times and how we manage the breakdown cover side of the business.

As a family man I work hard right through the year and I a fortunate to have a hardworking group of guys working for me also, so when Christmas approaches I feel it is the time to spend more time with the family and the guys who work for me, get the same benefits. So when it comes to quoting on completing jobs within the garage, we are always over-quote, to allow for any upsets in the routine. We also refuse work, to be sure the work we have got on, can be finished in time, as it is surprising how much work we get in prior to Christmas.

With more cars on the road taking their owners to late night shopping and visiting friends and relatives, they maybe should have visited earlier in the year; we also find our breakdown cover calls are up, in the run up to Christmas. This we can handle, but come 2.pm on Christmas Eve, the garage and the breakdown cover operation gets shut down for a least a couple of days.

We stick an answering machine on, explaining this point and give alternative numbers to ring, from local garages I know cover this period, but for me and our guys we are closed and my family comes first. Of course the national operators have standby peoples and rotas to get through this period, unfortunately we don’t have these benefits.