PMM spent the day with Jordan Kendal, aka the Norfolk Tech, a mobile mechanic who has made north Norfolk his workplace.
As unbelievable as it seems as I write this now during the extreme heat wave of May, last Wednesday when I went to meet Jordan Kendal at his place of work – aka, outside – it was meant to be utterly biblical. As it happened, we had not a drop. Besides a deep-seated English love of weather, I mention this because Jordan, the Norfolk Tech, is a mobile mechanic. He is at the mercy of the elements and that’s just the way he likes it. I meet him outside a rather well-heeled customer’s house, surrounded on all sides by a sea of gravel. As he hops around the vehicle being useful I crunch alongside him with my microphone outstretched. So, I begin, weather aside, what does a typical day as a mobile mechanic look like?
“Well, today I’ve got a fairly busy one. I’ve been around to a customer already this morning to diagnose an air-con fault, and I was up for a couple of hours before that on the computer. Now, as you can see, I’m carrying out a brake change on a Honda Jazz, front discs and pads, rear pads. Next I’ll be going to a customer who has reported a smell… Then another air-con diagnosis and then I’ll finish the day with an emergency repair, which is springs, wishbones and brakes. A twelve hour day minimum is normal for me.”
My burning question here is: Are smells a common part of the job? “You do get all sorts, to be honest. You usually have to try and decipher what the customer means. Nine times out of ten they’re not actually there, they just leave the keys by the porch, so you’re working alone. There’s a huge amount of trust, really. That’s something you build over years, it doesn’t happen over night.”
Local trust
Building that trust is not hurt by the fact that Jordan is a local lad, in fact the job he’s on when I meet him is in his own village. He does have to travel though, sometimes as far as 20 miles away! That’s handy for parts deliveries. His local independent factor A.T. Johnson will deliver to him while he’s on the road, but more often than not they’ll drop parts at his house in the morning and he can grab what he needs as the day goes along: “It’s all about planning well in advance,” Jordan tells me.
Who are these trusting customers? In fact, what does the typical customer of a mobile mechanic look like in general? “I wouldn’t say there is a typical customer,” Jordan admits, “you go to multi-million pound houses and you go to council estates. It’s anyone and everyone. I think the reason they pick up the phone and call a mobile mechanic rather than go to a garage is simply convenience. I think as well if they are coming to your house, there is a level of transparency that you will do and finish the job correctly. Some will even watch me on the doorbell camera… but they’re not spying on me, they’re keeping me company!”
A man’s van is his workhorse
Obviously an essential part of a mobile mechanic’s arsenal is their van. I’m not sure why, but what I had in mind was something like the closed cupboard stuffed full of plates about to fall. As long as the door is closed, the plates are held in position. The minute the door opens, all hell breaks loose. Needless to say, Jordan’s van, like his diary (pen and paper), was the vision of orderliness.
Launch diagnostic tools abound, “they’re my go-to” Jordan tells me, “I use them day in day out”. Also in there are two A/C machines for older and newer gas types, and they’re not just in there for summer either: “They’ve been a big hit, they sell themselves. It’s a great upsell. It started through doing so many timing belts or if you have to have the front end off the vehicle and you have to drain the system. There was no way around it. Going to a local garage to get it done was too much hassle.”
Taking the plunge
Speaking of local garages, Jordan wasn’t always so mobile as he is now. He started his career 20 years ago working for a BMW-Mini specialist in Kings Lynn. “Then the dreaded COVID came and I got put on furlough. To cut a long story short, within a few months I was told there would be no more job for me to come back to. After handing my CV in at a few places, I passed a broken down vehicle on the side of the road and the thought entered my head – I could fix that. I had been considering going self-employed and I had the tools and equipment, so I bought a Transit van, smaller than this one, and got to work. From that point onwards I’ve always had at least a week and half of work ahead of me, now it’s more like three or four weeks.”
Customer loyalty is always the sign of a good garage, but does the same logic hold up for mobile mechanics? It seems so. Jordan recently calculated his retention rate: 87 per cent. In fact, he still has customers today from the very start. This is all well and good, but surely given half the chance, he would prefer to settle himself in bricks and mortar? “Actually I was offered a place recently and turned it down. Don’t get me wrong, I have considered it, but I love the freedom that being a mobile mechanic gives me. A lot of my customers want someone to come to them, so I’m not sure they would switch to a physical garage even if I offered a collection service.”
Support system
Although I and PR woman Tina are “helping” Jordan today (“about as much help as a chocolate teapot in the desert”), usually the job is a pretty solitary one. How does Jordan cope with the isolation? Has he tried to get other people involved? “I did have an apprentice for a while, but to be honest I don’t think I’m the best teacher and when you’re on your own, it’s not fair to the apprentice.
“It can get lonely,” Jordan continues, “but that’s why it’s important to have a good network of people you can tap into. There are WhatsApp groups of fellow mechanics to keep you in contact and up-to-date with what’s going on with everyone else. I probably chat more to other mechanics around the country via social media than I do with my actual friends! If I’ve got a problem, there are 50 people I can pick up the phone and ring.”
