Servicing with a smile – Get to Know your Garage

Nov 12
08:49

2012

Russell Chaplin

Russell Chaplin

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Forging a good working relationship with your garage is essential in minimising the damage to your business through unscheduled time off the road. Let's look at how Nottingham driving instructors can achieve this.

mediaimage
 

Servicing with a smile – Get to Know your Garage


Vehicle faults and mechanical breakdown are some of the worst things that can happen to a driving instructor. There seems to be some unwritten law that states that these things only happen when you are particularly busy or when you have tests coming up. Forging a good working relationship with your garage is essential in minimising the damage to your business through unscheduled time off the road.

The cost of missing tests through vehicle breakdown can be substantial. It is the instructor's responsibility to provide a vehicle which is fit for purpose on the day of the test. If this is not done then a pupil has every right to demand the next test be covered by the instructor and may even demand free lessons up to the next test. You may even lose the pupil altogether as well as suffer damage to your reputation. Often the cost of cancelled lessons exceeds the actual cost of the repair itself.

You should always choose a reputable garage close to your working area that you can reach easily. A dealership in another part of town is not workable and location should be considered when purchasing your tuition vehicle. You need to fit repairs in between lessons,Servicing with a smile – Get to Know your Garage Articles not take a day off. If it is an independent garage you choose make sure you research the quality of their work as standards vary.

Make sure the dealership knows you are a driving instructor from the start. We cannot take a taxi to work and no car means no job. Make sure the staff are sympathetic to your situation and realise the importance of getting you back on the road quickly. If they aren't, find another garage. Get on first name terms with the staff and be polite but firm about your needs. If they do look after you they will be securing a lot of business from you in the future as high mileage means a lot of servicing and repair work in the future.

I have a brilliant working relationship with my dealership and they will pull out all the stops to get me back on the road. Don't forget you are selling their make of vehicle for them by introducing it to new drivers. Potential customers are test driving their model every day and many pupils will go on to buy the make and model of car they learned in. I asked my Skoda garage to put up a Learn to Drive in a Skoda poster in the showroom with my details on and they offered me a deal to promote the car to learners with servicing discounts for any cars sold through me. This enhances a partnership between instructor and garage. Loyalty to a garage also brings serious discounts on servicing and repairs after a few years.

After three cars and a few years of servicing I have a great relationship with my local dealership, I get a great personal service, repairs are done quickly as they know my income depends on it. They have a loyal customer who promotes their cars on a daily basis. It's a classic win-win situation and has saved me a lot of grief over the years. Make sure you do the same.