I can’t get no (automotive) Satisfaction

Recognising your weaknesses is as important as knowing your strengths when running a garage

Published: 21 October, 2019

The vehicle repair world can be hugely satisfying one day and an absolute pain in the backside the next. The challenges we now face as techs are getting harder and more detailed thanks to the electronic minefield of modern cars.

There have been a few instances in the workshop where we have had to admit to the customer that we just aren’t sure yet what is wrong with their car. It is mostly met with understanding as we explain the complexities, but on the odd occasion it can cause the customer to become annoyed.

Last week we had a BMW 1 Series come in. The customer had been elsewhere to get the fault codes read as the car kept going into limp mode. It had shown a fault linked to the crankshaft sensor. They requested that we changed the sensor and check the wiring.

The crankshaft sensor is under all the air intake manifold and isn’t the easiest of jobs. Wiring was all deemed to be ok and a new crankshaft sensor fitted. The car drove great, then a week later same problem reoccurred.

So, it came back, again, and the car was hooked up to a diagnostic computer and faults relating to a pressure sensor and the catalytic convertor came up. As we deal with a lot of older and classic cars we aren’t trained in electronic fault diagnosis. It is not only frustrating for us to not be able to help the customer but also for the customer who keeps having to bring the car to a garage and not be able to get the fault rectified.

That is the way car repair is now heading. It is a lot more computer-based with a lot less instinct and hands-on work. Hours can be lost testing all the wiring and sensors on a car. It is hard sometimes to justify a bill when you have been unable to locate the problem. As car problem fixers, mechanics pride themselves on being able to hand a vehicle that came in broken and goes away running perfectly. That is why we do this job - to become heroes in the eyes of the customers. The BMW owner is now fed up with the car. It has been to different garages and specialists who have been unable to completely fix the problem and they have fallen out of love with the car.

In my experience if an issue isn’t easy to fix we have to be completely honest with the customer, I often explain that we don’t have the up-to-date software that would give us the definitive answer. We then recommend a reputable specialist that would be better suited. As a business owner I am here to fix cars but I am not about to pretend we are something we are not. I know how capable the staff are and what our limitations are. Yes, it is frustrating turning work away but it is also important to be completely upfront with the customer.

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Classic move
All my recent writing has involved modern cars and techniques, but this month I have decided to write about my main passion of classic cars. The classic car market is huge and people are now seeing a lot of classic cars as an investment.

Recently I set about scouring eBay and Gumtree for a restoration project or ‘barn find’ as people like to classify anything that has stood unused for a length of time. The reason for the project is that it is my Dad’s 70th birthday was just before Christmas and what better present than a dusty and rusty old MGB GT? The British classic is top of my shopping list. Dad used to have a white MGB GT and I have always wanted an affordable classic so I have come to the conclusion that the MGB fits the bill perfectly.

Bargin
Luckily I have found the perfect car. A lot of money can be lost due to poor bodywork issues. Welding is definitely not my forte, but luckily this particular MGB is solid underneath. That said, the interior needs a good clean and some repair and the engine requires a good service and tune up. The previous owner hadn’t used the car for over seven years but the little 1.8 litre engine ignited just fine. Admittedly it was running slightly lumpily, but it was drivable and solid for well under £1,000. In my eyes it was an absolute bargain.

As I write this I haven’t yet unveiled the car to Dad but I have ordered the parts catalogues with a view to what this ‘blank canvas’ can become. I am keen on a Sebring kit and Minilites. While getting a complete respray, the exterior paint is as dull as a wet February day. However, I keep having to remember that it is a present and not my car. I will certainly push what I think is best for the car.

Connection
Over the years I have restored and re-commissioned plenty of vehicles. It is something I thoroughly enjoy doing and means you can really implement simple engineering techniques such as turning the mixture screw on a carburettor. I always feel that when a classic car comes in for work that the owner has a closer connection with this vehicle rather than their everyday one. I enjoy communicating with the owner in how they would like to restore the car, cars such as the iconic British Mini and MGB can be customised without losing their vintage style. Parts are so plentiful for most classics that there isn’t that time delay when restoring.

Escapism
The MGB GT I have purchased comes with a thorough and plentiful file full of receipts mounting up to tens of thousands of pounds, and this certainly is not uncommon. Classic cars are a great chance for escapism in this modern world where an OBD port is the most commonly used part of the car. Instead I get to enjoy being able to tune an engine with just a flat head screwdriver.
Classic move
All my recent writing has involved modern cars and techniques, but this month I have decided to write about my main passion of classic cars. The classic car market is huge and people are now seeing a lot of classic cars as an investment.

All my recent writing has involved modern cars and techniques, but this month I have decided to write about my main passion of classic cars. The classic car market is huge and people are now seeing a lot of classic cars as an investment.

Recently I set about scouring eBay and Gumtree for a restoration project or ‘barn find’ as people like to classify anything that has stood unused for a length of time. The reason for the project is that it is my Dad’s 70th birthday was just before Christmas and what better present than a dusty and rusty old MGB GT? The British classic is top of my shopping list. Dad used to have a white MGB GT and I have always wanted an affordable classic so I have come to the conclusion that the MGB fits the bill perfectly.

Luckily I have found the perfect car. A lot of money can be lost due to poor bodywork issues. Welding is definitely not my forte, but luckily this particular MGB is solid underneath. That said, the interior needs a good clean and some repair and the engine requires a good service and tune up. The previous owner hadn’t used the car for over seven years but the little 1.8 litre engine ignited just fine. Admittedly it was running slightly lumpily, but it was drivable and solid for well under £1,000. In my eyes it was an absolute bargain.

As I write this I haven’t yet unveiled the car to Dad but I have ordered the parts catalogues with a view to what this ‘blank canvas’ can become. I am keen on a Sebring kit and Minilites. While getting a complete respray, the exterior paint is as dull as a wet February day. However, I keep having to remember that it is a present and not my car. I will certainly push what I think is best for the car.

Connection
Over the years I have restored and re-commissioned plenty of vehicles. It is something I thoroughly enjoy doing and means you can really implement simple engineering techniques such as turning the mixture screw on a carburettor. I always feel that when a classic car comes in for work that the owner has a closer connection with this vehicle rather than their everyday one. I enjoy communicating with the owner in how they would like to restore the car, cars such as the iconic British Mini and MGB can be customised without losing their vintage style. Parts are so plentiful for most classics that there isn’t that time delay when restoring.

The MGB GT I have purchased comes with a thorough and plentiful file full of receipts mounting up to tens of thousands of pounds, and this certainly is not uncommon. Classic cars are a great chance for escapism in this modern world where an OBD port is the most commonly used part of the car. Instead I get to enjoy being able to tune an engine with just a flat head screwdriver.
2020 was worst year for car sales since 1992
New car sales in 2020 fell 29.4% to a level not seen since 1992 according to the latest figures from the SMMT, with the total for December down 10.9%. In total, the industry experienced a £20.4 billion turnover loss.
See your garage through your customers eyes
High-quality service is defined by the customer’s experience while in your care and custody. Operational excellence ensures that the customer’s cars will be ready when promised and fixed right the first time.

It’s about understanding what your customer is trying to tell you when they are communicating their frustrations with the vehicle as it is about the proper diagnosis and professional quality work.

Moments of truth
Selling service is perhaps the most difficult of all sales to make. Buying a product – something you can hold in your hand or wear - constitutes the purchase of something you can touch or feel. Purchasing a service is something else entirely. When a vehicle owner buys a service, that person is really purchasing a promise – a promise that will be fulfilled in the future. That requires trust and a great deal of faith.

Your ability to perform is based upon a lot of things, not least of which is technical competency. However, you can’t demonstrate that technical competency until you are given the opportunity to do so. The vehicle owner can’t see technical competency. They can’t touch or feel it and you can’t hang it out in front of your garage like a sign.

Service starts when a customer sees and responds to an advertisement, hears about your business from a friend or relative, calls, finds you on the internet or just walks in.

For this reason, MOTs, or “moments of truth” have to be created – moments when a customer has the opportunity to come into contact with any member of your team where they will form an opinion about your business. These opinions will occur before, during, and after the work on their vehicle has been completed. They will ultimately define your personal and business success.

I cannot stress enough the consistent execution of your processes and procedures is the catalyst for your business to be recognised as one of the best. Do a great job the first time, and something less the great the next, and you are unlikely to see that customer again! The more people you have working for you, and the more services and products you have, the greater the challenge it is to achieve this consistency.

Productivity
All of this consistent high-quality service is only sustainable in your garage if your productivity and workshop efficiency levels allow you to make a profit. Productivity is a by-product of your technicians and reception staff having the ability to execute processes and procedures flawlessly. It will take more than one training course, the odd staff meeting or for that matter the odd investment in tools and equipment to reach the elusive dream.

Survival, in a complicated and changing world, is about assumptions. Assumptions allow us to function when we find ourselves beyond the limits of our understanding and experience. When we talk about standards, we’re just defining these assumptions in a more scientific language.

Success in the garage business can be all about assumptions as well. We surround ourselves with a wall of assumptions to help us to make sense of the chaos we confront every day. To large degree, our success is based upon just how accurate many of these assumptions are. One of the ways we do that is to provide service based upon what we believe is best for the vehicle, assuming that what is best for the vehicle is best for the consumer when that might not necessarily be the case.

In the end, these assumptions are about what we believe the customer wants, needs, and expects from us, not necessarily what the customer’s actual desires and expectations are.

Compelling value proposition
A perfect example of this, is the constant battle between ready when promised and fixed right first time. My experience of running garages has taught me that these two topics jockey for position as the number one customer concern when vehicle owners are seeking a garage service or repair rather than the myth that price is first and only consideration.

Understanding these topics, or you could say behaviours helps you learn about the relationship that exists between the provider of garage services and the recipient of those services. It is all about questioning our assumptions then re-creating a service environment that is responsive and respectful when it comes to those things are most important to our customers. It’s about who we are and who we will need to become just as much as it is about customer expectations, retention, loyalty, and satisfaction.

In the end, it is about creating a compelling value proposition – something your target customer will not be able to resist – and then delivering your services in a total quality service environment. It’s all about managing the whole scope of your relationship with the vehicle owner, recognising that perception is reality and only perception matters to your customers.

Confront your assumptions
Take this as an opportunity to look at your relationship with your customers in a new and different way. Confront your assumptions about customers, business in general, and our industry and consider how different things could be if we change the way we look at them. Remember, if you change the way you see things – if you change your standards and assumptions about your customers, your business and our industry – you may just change everything. In an industry like ours where confidence, self-image, and profits have been notoriously low, that might not be such a bad thing.

If you have that elusive dream of becoming a great business, a local garage that’s respected in the community, respected by its customers and staff then accept now that you have to change the way you currently operate. You need to think about the business in a way you have never thought about it before. You have to see it in the future, not in the present. That’s exactly what I did before I started Brunswick Garage. I knew then that I could not be an all-makes service operator and have the ability to provide the level of service that is required.

Walk a mile in their shoes
I encourage you to step outside your business, remove yourself as the owner and place those customer shoes on. Walk a mile in their shoes, so to speak. Take a stroll from outside your premises, look at your sign, your brand image, is it clean bright and inviting. Pass through your reception, is it welcoming to your customer, is it clean bright and warm. Are your customers able to wait while their vehicle is being repaired in a clean, bright warm area, having refreshments?

Go through the workshop. Is it dull, dirty, things everywhere, are the technicians tool boxes clean and in order? Would you be happy to walk a customer of yours through to show them their vehicle or would you be too embarrassed?

You will be far more successful with their help and ideas of all your team than you could ever be without them. This new way of thinking will make your team feel valued and more important than ever before.

Final thought
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do! Just remember, if you always do what you always did – you will always get what you always got.

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