Shaikly Motor Company is a leading garage serving Colchester and its surrounding areas from two sites in the town. Or is it? Because, when we got there, it seems there are actually three. Upon our arrival at the main Hawkins Road garage in the east of the town, owner Michael Shaikly explained. “Next to our main garage is our vehicle sales area, and this is where our admin and offices are upstairs. This is part of the reason for the expansion we are undertaking.” Our visit properly started in the main large garage. Beyond the large reception area, which is due to get bigger, we found three of the company’s service advisors working at the site, along with company M.D Rob Porter who was on hand to advise if required. Decorating the walls were framed examples of statements that sum up the company’s ethos. “It’s on the walls for both customers and the team,” Michael noted. Across the sites there are a total of six service advisors, which might seem like a lot, but as far as 56 AFTERMARKET SEPTEMBER 2023 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket heads to Essex to find out more about Top Garage 2022 multi-site winners Shaikly Motor Company Michael is concerned it means the techs in the garage are always usefully occupied: “Parts come in usually a couple of days ahead of schedule, and are pre-labelled, so we are making sure that everything's ready.” He continued: “Technician utilisation is more important than technician efficiency. You can have a tech who in theory is 120% efficient, but if you're not utilising their skills and their time well, you can’t make money. When it's working, it's fantastic to stand back and watch. He's come in, parts are here, customers have pre-authorised and then the service check sheets come back in and the girls are on it straight away. They've got the authorisation and then the customer ultimately is not ringing us, we're ringing them.” Investment Moving into the very large workshop, there are eight ramps, including a MOT bay and a dedicated Land Rover area with two ramps, manned by techs who themselves THE ONLY WAY IS EXCELLENCE
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