May 2020

older, we told them to stay off until it is safer. All the others who want to come in and are happy to come in, we can carry on.” Workshop layout The geography of the workshop plays its part here: “We have five or six workshop ramps that are quite far apart, so nobody is allowed to go near each other. We also have staggered lunches, staggered smoking breaks. Everyone is working on the basis of keeping apart, and let’s have as little contact as possible. “At the moment we are staying open, as long as we are allowed to. We will continue to pick up cars as long as people need them picked up, especially people who have kids stuck at home, or older people, and we will continue to do that as long as the government will allow us.” What about the customers? Was A1 increasing its online promotion to tell what they are doing? “Yes,” confirmed Ben. “On our Facebook page, there is quite a lot going up at the moment. I have paid for a promoted post on Facebook, and in a very short space of time we already 170 people have like it. It has also had about 40 shares as well. A few people have called, saying ‘I have seen the post, are you still open?’ We are obviously saying yes. We are getting calls from customers. We will put more on. We are saying if there is any threat of illness please let us know, otherwise come in yourselves. “We are seeing loads of new customers. We have got pretty much record numbers every day. Someone rang the other day and said ‘oh please say you are open! I’ve called five or six garages and they are all closed’. We are definitely receiving a lot more people as a result of the situation. On average now we are doing 55 MOTs every day, which is more than usual! It is not getting quieter – it is getting busier!” That is the situation in Essex. Let’s look elsewhere to see how the situation is affecting things. Essential Hayley Pells is famously owner of Avia Autos in Bridgend in South Wales. The business normally covers a range of services, from conventional servicing and repairs, all the way through to maintaining racing cars, and even producing car bodies for inter-war vintage vehicles. With the imposition of the Coronavirus measures, a rethink and refocus was required. “Following the Prime Minister’s speech on 23 March, “ said Hayley, “ we have been opening under restricted hours, offering MOTs and essential repair only. Following the initial DVSA guidance that all motorists undertaking essential travel did have to have a valid MOT certificate, we felt it was important.” Subsequently, MOTs were deferred for six months from 30 March, but could still be performed if possible and the driver required. Even with this in place, MOTs will still be required, and essential workers will need to be kept on the road. Hayley found it was taking time for the customers to get the idea of essential repairs: “I have been quite surprised, in that I have had to turn away what could be regarded as more frivolous services that we do offer, that we are specialists in, particularly with racing cars, track cars, that kind of thing. “We are not undertaking any of that work at this time, so we can focus on the needs of essential travel. I’d like to focus on the use of the word ‘essential’. We are not opening for key workers only. We are opening for essential travel. That does include a key worker going to their place of work. It also include the person in self-isolation who is perhaps pregnant or perhaps undertaking dialysis or chemotherapy, and they have an essential need to leave their homes regularly. So, essential travel is something that we really need to examine, and use responsibly. It’s not just a key worker thing.” We wondered if it was just regulars who were using the service, or if other garages – and franchised dealers – closing had led new customers to make their way to Avia Autos. “We are mostly seeing our regular customers,” she replied. Demographics With the risk from COVID-19 rising as a person ages, Hayley was also conscious of an organisational shortcoming our sector might have in this situation as a result for the need for social distancing, and in some cases full isolation: “I am not sure of the specific stat, but anecdotally I believe that a third of those working in our sector are over the age of 50. Essentially we have what would regarded as an older workforce. Because of the ages of those involved, a high number of people who are in our sector may be unable to offer the service they normally do, because of the risk to their demographic.” This is an issue across the board: “We are seeing garages closing for variety of reasons. We have had referrals from other independent 10 AFTERMARKET MAY 2020 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net Everyone is working on the basis of keeping apart ”