April 2019

BIG ISSUE JULY 2017 AFTERMARKET 4 A TALE OF TWO GARAGES 8 AFTERMARKET APRIL 2019 I t was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well, it certainly was for a member of the Aftermarket team recently, who had a small automotive hiccup in the family. You wouldn’t expect that the need for a fresh set of sparkplugs in a top-selling mass-market runaround could expose the existential crisis facing some garages who are facing extinction as their ability to service cars fades away, but that is what we found. Luckily for our colleague, and for the sector we also found a business who was the very opposite of that type, one that was totally on the ball. A lot can be learned from this second garage in terms of what to do. Even more can be learned from the first garage, in terms of how not to run your business. The only upside was that that business had a local doppelganger who was paying heed to the kind of advice peddled here in Aftermarket every month. There is a happy ending, dear reader, but first you have to travel through the heart of darkness that can be found in a business where trundling along towards obsolescence is seen as sound business planning. Safe mode Let’s find out what happened to our colleague: “We have a couple of cars in our household,” she told us, “one is a BMW 3 Series, which I drive, and the other is a an up-until- now spritely 2014 – registered Vauxhall Corsa, which is one of the most popular cars in the UK, and has been in the top 10 highest sellers year-in-year out for decades.” As an aside, according to the sales figures for 2018 as published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the Vauxhall Corsa was the third highest selling car of the year, with 52,915 sold during the year. Anyway, back to the story. After years of problem-free motoring in the Corsa, a few weeks ago it switched into safe mode – with its service spanner light beaming orange on the dashboard. There were no warning signs prior to this. Aftermarket inadvertently mystery-shopped some garages recently, and the accidental exercise reinforced the importance of ongoing training and investment www.aftermarketonline.net Below: Vauxhall Corsa