Following on from a previous blog posting here I received a response from Oly Richmond of Servicing Stop which caused me to review this entry and reply as follows…

Please don’t think we have singled your company out here. FOXY is a female, feisty and fussy motoring brand by nature! We exist to help women be shrewd and canny in a male dominated motor industry that isn’t good enough, by and large, and where few females feel at ease – we provide Club members with advice, information and support services.

FOXY Steph

ends..

Following Oly’s reply today I have now agreed to

1. withdrawn the mention of ‘testosterone-driven’ from the previous blog
2. confirm that Servicing Stop found funding elsewhere and that Deborah was disappointed to learn this, as per the ‘What Happened Next’ Dragons Den programme
3. state that garages do not pay Servicing Stop to be listed

It may be that Oly will respond further to the issues raised in the original blog.

FOXY Steph

Brothers Oly and Toby Richmond received funding from Deborah Meaden in the Dragons Den to run an online car servicing garage brokerage. This business relationship has since broken down.

By an online garage brokerage that I mean a branded website promoting garages that customers think are operated by that business; they do all their dealings with the broker who then subs the work to a local garage that has paid to be part of their network in exchange for commission and tells them what to do and how much they will get paid for it.

Knowing that garages don’t have to be licensed and few mechanics are qualified, this sort of service is a bit like ‘Your Life in Their Hands.’ I say this because unsuspecting motorists who don’t know about the garage first could be risking their personal safety. Just read the recent Which? Garage report if you need proof – nearly 90% of the garages they tested missed or ignored at least one potentially dangerous fault on the doctored cars submitted. A good indicator of industry standards I’m afraid and a reason to be VERY WARY of any network that doesn’t list its garages and quality credentials up front.

Called Servicing Stop the Richmond brothers intended to take on the likes of NSN and Prestige Car Servicing online garage broker networks. The Dragons seemed to think that this was a unique concept and the brothers didn’t disabuse them here. In the end Deborah Meaden offered them £100k and I remembered thinking then that this was not a match made in heaven. Deborah the consummate marketing professional (and female) meets two testosterone driven guys who were hell bent on making money. And I know that by squeezing garage margins either quality workmanship or customer service levels have to suffer…

All has not gone well as could be predicted…

The brothers say they didn’t realise that Deborah had no experience of the motor industry. Aah… bless. This is how they said this in a Press Release circulated by Newspress on 14 October.

Oly and Toby initially accepted Deborah Meaden’s offer of £100,000 investment but decided to continue on their own when they later met Deborah and learned she had no experience of the motor trade. They subsequently found a more suitable investor – to the disappointment of Ms Meaden.

“We secured a promise of investment by a Dragon but decided not to follow it up as it would have proved bad for both parties. Our message to potential entrepreneurs is that there are numerous ways of securing investment and backing so think twice before accepting the advice of a Dragon.”

And this is what Deborah Meaden says on her website…
*Important announcement re Servicing Stop*
Following a number of complaints regarding the service provided by Servicing Stop, Deborah would like to make it clear that although she made an offer in the Den, the investment did not go through and Deborah is not in any way connected with Servicing Stop.

Who do you believe?

I’m with Deborah on this one. I am not convinced by their ‘Up to 60% off main dealer prices’ either. Unless quality workmanship and customer service are being sacrificed without the customer or Servicing Stop realising this.

Nor do I believe their statement that every car service is carried out by qualified mechanics or technicians. Where’s the proof?

I for one am too fussy to leave my garage choice to chance. Find out more in FOXY’s totally independent and well informed Good Garage Guide if you’re interested.

FOXY Steph
FOXY as in fussy, female and feisty that is…

I have just caught up with some TV programmes including a recent episode of Dragons’ Den with a new garage network called Servicing Stop run by two brothers who asked for £100k in exchange for 12.5% equity.

Peter Jones wanted in but just missed out by trying to close a deal too fast. One of the other male dragons offered the same terms (35% equity) but in the end they said yes to Deborah Meaden who came in at the end and offered the deal they wanted for 30% equity. Very foxy.

How interesting that the brothers would choose instantly (without having to speak to each other even…) on the basis of the cheapest money to service, rather than the one who might have the most relevant experience or opportunities to offer.

However I have a lot of time for Deborah and know she will bring commonsense marketing expertise to the garage debate. She has considerable business, tourism and leisure experience but has she been involved in the UK motor industry before? If not she might be surprised by what she finds; I certainly hope she finds it a more female friendly experience than a lot of women drivers do!

I was surprised that no Dragon asked about the garage competition or the target audience here as this is an extremely competitive sector. There are at least a couple of dead ringers here already and they are actively courting business women drivers, although more in a Fleet proposition where they drive BMWs and Mercedes not elderly Kia’s or Vauxhall’s.

It’ll be interesting to see how NSN and Prestige Car Servicing react – as well as Nationwide Autocentres when they spot the ubiquitous use of the nationwide keyword when offering the same services.

I also note that when asked how many garages they had on their books, one of the brothers said 600 but their website says 750+. Is that the power of the programme? In which case this and the customer exposure has probably paid for itself regardless of whether or not the deal goes ahead with Deborah.

I do have some reservations however in that whilst it’s a simple broker model, I worry about attempts to tighten the financial screw again and again and again in an industry without regulatory safeguards in terms of minimum safety standards. This industry has a well earned reputation for shoddy garage services and few garages are pro-actively female friendly with women drivers frequently singled out for patronising behaviour and higher bills

This broker model means that male and female motorists alike are being encouraged to choose independent garages over franchised dealerships (when some franchised dealers can compete with these prices by the way, depends on the make of car) and shop by price. The garage is  expected to prune their operating costs to get to the low fixed rates, pay an entry fee to the scheme I’m sure, provide a car collection service (this can be expensive to offer in terms of time and opportunity cost) and pay the garage broker a hefty commission for his marketing.

I hope the garages willing to do all this have been hand-picked through recommendation, are genuinely good enough to maintain safety standards and can make a profit from doing the job properly.

Undoubtedly the network that will do best is the one of the three that markets itself better than the others, hence the high cost of marketing mentioned (and where Deborah can help).

From the female motorist’s point of view (as often discussed here) the garage must deliver genuine value for money in that it must stick to the advertised price (no surprise extras on the bill), provide quality workmanship that is measurable (although many women wrongly assume this to be the case..), superior customer service and a reliable car collection/delivery service that doesn’t let them down.

I look forward to hearing all about this at the business networks I go to by dropping the words ‘car servicing’ and ‘garages’ into the conversation… I’ll also hear about this from FOXY’s female friendly garages, dealers and dealerships who will know more about this service than me I feel sure.

FOXY Steph

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great”
Kenny Rogers