Dave Hill explains why, in his opinion, honesty is the best policy when it comes to securing repeat business.
Dave Hill – London Road Garage
Dave has 33 years’ experience in the trade, and has owned and run London Road Garage in Coalville, Leicestershire since 2001, along with his wife Paula.
I had an interesting case recently, which proved that good honest advice is the key to success (in my opinion at least). The scenario was this: A gentleman brought his Toyota Yaris in for an MOT and it failed on a broken front coil spring. When we MOT’d his car last year, he inquired about whether or not we could service it for him and it not affect his manufacturer’s warranty. I told him that we could, but my advice was to consider carefully whether or not he wanted to get it serviced outside of the dealer network, as it may influence his chances of any goodwill leeway if ever there was a case of a failure that occurred just outside the warranty period.
My argument was that a customer who had displayed zero loyalty to a dealer is going to have no chance with a goodwill claim, whereas a loyal customer is in with half a chance at least.
Anyway, this recent encounter proved the point. I rang the dealer for him and explained the situation, and sure
enough they would cover his broken spring. So, in essence, I talked myself out of a service and lost the coil spring job, but the fact remains that we are booked solid for two weeks ahead most of the time and business is brisk.
Go figure!
