Tag Archives: Bosch Car Service

Many nationwide Bosch Car Service garages provide members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club with free car fitness checks and MOT and car servicing garage offers and have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise.

garage services, women

Why is our government ignoring motor industry regulation?

Industry standards need to be higher for all motorists, and our government needs to lead the way by introducing regulation in terms of car service and repair work, above all, in garages.

raising-the-bar1In an industry where VW seems to be getting away with selling us cars they’ve fiddled re mileage claims, where Vauxhall tries to deny responsibility for serious Zafira fires and Kwik Fit is exposed by Watchdog again for charging motorists for services we didn’t need (and in some cases not even providing them…) is it any surprise that so many of us feel we can’t even trust the BIG names in the motor industry?

What a shame for the genuinely good businesses, being tarnished by the same brush.

If unethical car manufacturers, garages and/or car dealers were banks in Iceland their top executives would go to jail. If mis-selling us cars and garage services was considered as serious as PPI was, the fines would reach £ millions. And quite rightly so say I.

So how come the silence seems deafening from our government?

Whilst a ‘no nannying’ governmental strategy sounds good for business this doesn’t work in the unregulated motor industry. If you allow unlicensed mechanics to repair our cars (our various Governments have let this happen for some 70 years now) the consequences of neglected cars can be fatal or very serious. This is not rocket science.

Other than MOT stations, any Tom, Dick or Arthur Daley can sell us unroadworthy cars, part worn tyres or garage services, attempting to repair our cars without the latest diagnostic equipment or manufacturer recommended car parts.

Why can’t the likes of the government, insurers and giant motoring organisations address the fact that badly and rarely maintained/serviced cars are more dangerous and expensive to repair in the end.

Motorists who don’t trust garages go there less often than they should do, hence their neglected cars, and yet the annual MOT is about to move from 3 years to 4 years regardless of the number of cars that fail their first MOT after just 3 years. Don’t get me started here – that’s simply the daftest example of the wrong governmental attitude to car and tyre safety that I can think of.

Our government and other influential consumer bodies don’t seem to be taking garage safety issues seriously enough. Other than our current economic woes, there must be other reasons or vested interests why nobody has bitten the road safety bullet here to help mediocre garages and used car dealers do a better job as well as putting the unscrupulous cowboys out of business.

Maybe this is because

1/ the automotive industry is such a big employer/economic multiplier that nobody is prepared to tell it what to do? And we seem to do what the EU dictates?

2/ the BIG motoring associations that exist to represent motorists (I’m talking about the AA and RAC) both earn out of comparison garage websites that are more price than quality driven?

3/ the (recently Chartered) Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) can earn out of ALL the me-too self-regulation schemes that competitive trade associations run (Bosch Car Service, the SMMT’s Motor Codes and the RMI’s new Trust My Garage scheme) rather than just one central scheme that REGULATION would bring?
NB: None of which require licensed individuals to work on our cars.
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Foxy-under-car-blue-102When visiting garages I always ask staff ‘are you qualified?’ Many say yes because they once were… but it’s fairly obvious they haven’t invested in training or learning new skills since despite massive changes in the industry. And knowing that these are often business owners and employers in their 50s and 60s, you’d expect them to want to keep their skills up to date and to be licensed to operate. As electricians and gas fitters need to. Knowing how complex and valuable our cars are…

Where are the motor industry professionals?

To find out who and where the licensed professionals are in the UK motor industry you need to visit the Professional Register operated by the IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry). But there are some 140,000+ mechanics yet to sign up here. In an ideal world I’d want this to be a compulsory business register with disciplinary teeth as well, to reprimand the likes of VW and KwikFit by charging any transgressor for fraudulent business behaviour.

These fines would be used tonfund the development of the register and so on…

Get regulation right however and the UK motor industry would be a lot richer from a reputational point of view. It really is time for regulation as the ONLY independent means to reward the really good businesses and ‘out’ the second rate cowboys who let us all down.

How to choose a measurably better local garage

The ongoing challenge for motorists as is, is how to spot the measurable difference between the good and the bad garages & dealers.

Here’s what we say about this… and whilst this situation isn’t as good as it should be, the Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) schemes mentioned above are as good as it gets in 2015.

But please bear in mind that garages promoting themselves as ‘good’ (but which are not members of a CTSI approved code scheme) may not have had to prove any minimum quality standards to be listed under a good garage scheme. Why not ask them about this before you use them?

Because as important as customer feedback is, this is often more about the customer service than the quality workmanship. Yes both are important but the MOST important factor bar none is the ability of a mechanic to make cars safer after their work not do a cheap job.

FOXY

women in the motor industry

Wirral based Garage appoints Female Business Ambassador

Wallasey based, Paula Dutton, Service Advisor for Village Motor Company has been appointed a Female Business Ambassador by female friendly business website FOXY Choice.

Village Motor Company joins the UK’s only network of garages and dealerships who have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they do not need or want’.

Female Business Ambassador Paula recognises that many women feel ill at ease in garages and wants local women drivers in Wallasey to know that she is there to help and advise them if need be.

David Hiles, Village’s business owner, explained that this appointment is a part of the garage’s commitment to high standards for all motorists when it comes to quality workmanship, value for money, customer service and a friendly welcome.

“Whilst some people might wonder why we have singled females out for special attention, this is because women are very important customers for us and we know that too many ladies find garages to be intimidating and overly male dominated places. We want them to know that we are a genuinely female friendly garage and that they (and men too of course) can speak to a woman if they would prefer to. We know that happy females refer us to their family and friends so this makes sound business sense for us.”

FOXY Choice’s Director Steph Savill added “I am always surprised that so many garages and car dealerships continue to market to men and women alike, forgetting that women are increasingly independent and wealthy, with different needs and expectations. So much so, I am confident that garages who are promoting proven female friendly standards and services like Village Motor Company will soon see a lot more female customers at MOT, car servicing and repair times. Just as soon as they realise they have a female friendly choice.”

You can read more about Paula here and why she chose a career in the motor industry.

women

With or without the OFT?

The Office of Fair Trading’s future is uncertain and may affect Consumer Codes Approval Schemes.

A cost cutting proposal in a Government Green Paper is to suggest the merger of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and The Competition Commission. Consumer protection will pass to the busy local Trading Standards and Citizens Advice departments.

What will this mean to existing OFT Consumer Code Approval Schemes like the ones sponsored by Bosch Car Service and/or VBRA? Will they lose their relevance and quality teeth for women drivers if the OFT is not there to police them?

The CCAS website confirms this uncertainty re new schemes so perhaps the Motor Codes service and repair scheme may not now reach Stage Two to gain full approval?

Fortunately most of their subscribers are dealerships who can be expected to perform to higher standards than the undemanding ‘honest and fair services’ ‘open and transparent pricing’ and ‘work completed as agreed’ Motor Code standards.  I never really understood why the likes of Ford garages needed this when most are ATA employers already and they get rigorously inspected by the RAC. A waste of money even?

Either way, after c60 years of attempting to put its garages in order, the motor industry has done little of note because bad garages don’t join industry code schemes and still exist. And woman are most likely to be the ones overcharged, patronised and sold things we don’t need.

Despite Trading Standards efforts here (including a few Motor Trade Partnership schemes FOXY likes) these are regional not national bodies.

What is surely needed, with or without the OFT, is a fully regulated garage industry, to include independents, fastfits, bodyshops and franchised dealerships, because shoddy work can mean dangerous cars and compromise our road safety.

But garages’ll still need FOXY Choice’s marketing services to identify the genuinely female friendly businesses because even regulation won’t guarantee a business that understands what we women want!

FOXY

Find out about FOXY Choice approved female friendly UK garages

garage services

Which? garages vs car dealerships

The recent Which? undercover garage investigation turned up a few surprises for me, mainly to do with the cost of servicing cars.

Not the findings that some 90% of garages missed at least one of the potentially dangerous faults on the cars submitted, or that nearly 40% charged for something they didn’t provide – we talk to women and garages everyday and the stories we hear confirm this sort of thing is happening everyday.

But I was surprised to see the prices charged by the different categories of garages.

Most expensive in the performance league was OFT fully approved network Bosch Car Service whose average servicing price came in at £218.56.

Next came subscribers of the recent Motor Codes scheme (88% dealerships; yet to gain full OFT approval) where the average charge was £217.11.

Members of the Good Garage Scheme came in at £177.72 but no measurable signs of quality promoted here – the business simply pays £23.50 a month to be listed as a good garage ;-).

And least expensive of all were garages that aren’t members of any association and didn’t seem to have any notable attributes according to Which? – they charged £148.20.

So arguably you get what you pay for. A cheap price with no frills or safety guarantee, up to the Bosch garages and Motor Codes dealerships where you pay more but have the reassurance of varying stages of OFT approval.

But what I thought was interesting is the much publicised statistic that independent garages are some 30% (sometimes the percentage quoted is more) more expensive than dealerships. Not so in this case where the dealerships in the Motor Codes average were actually cheaper than the Bosch franchised garages.

Forget competing with garages that can’t demonstrate measurable quality like ATA technician accreditation, they will be cheaper because that’s their competitive advantage in the absence of quality. The point I am making is that measurably good garages like Bosch and measurably good dealerships like Motor Codes and ATA employers seem to be charging much the same for car servicing.

So how do some of the increasing number of garage brokers justify their sales claims that they work with qualified garages (they often say Bosch) and that their prices are c35% cheaper than dealers? I’d like to see the evidence.

But the dealerships need to be totally honest at all times and remember their ATA ethical Code of Conduct. In the Which? investigation 11 out of 17 Motor Codes subscribers (ie mostly dealerships) charged for screenwash when the wash bottle was full and didn’t need topping up.

Not a lot of money but it’s the principle that we women remember and dislike.  If they can do it to overcharge us a couple of quid, what else are they charging us for and not doing…

Mind you Bosch also charged 5 times out of 14, whereas members of the Good Garage Scheme and individual garages (only?) did it in 3 out of 13 cases.

None of this is good enough remember. It’s still a quality lottery for confused motorists to find a measurably good UK garage. The industry isn’t doing its bit to explain this to motorists and the whole thing is far too confusing.

To have safe cars on our roads we need ONE SCHEME CALLED REGULATION and all mechanics to be qualified to ATA standards. Never mind the bureaucracy the industry dreads, regulation could save lives.

That will fix it for once and for all. Nothing more and nothing less will do. Then the businesses can all compete for customer share on an equal footing by differentiating themselves by price and service levels.

In the meantime, I think it makes sense to choose an ATA employer whether an independent garage or dealership.

FOXY

female friendly, garage services, women drivers

A female friendly community garage in Prestatyn

Other than having signed the FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need’, a sure fire way to spot a genuinely female friendly garage is when they evidently play an active part in their local community.

One such female friendly garage is Celtic Cars in Prestatyn, North Wales.

A family run Bosch Car Service garage with over 25 years experience in the motor business, Celtic Cars is run by David Chadwick, his son Nick looks after the garage side of things and Kevin Price helps women drivers find the right new car, be it an eco-friendly mini or one of the bigger prestige brands they are well known for.

From a female point of view, Celtic Cars organises highly successful Ladies Days for local women drivers and offer members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club free car checks throughout the year.

At the time I am writing this, they are also offering local women gift membership of FOXY Lady Drivers Club.

This gift is worth £23 and means that women drivers in Prestatyn can join the Club for free, saving money on a whole range of other services as well as having FOXY to hand whenever they need friendly advice, information or support.

Just call in to reception at 6-8 Melden Road and mention this FOXY blog.

FOXY

To see what services and facilities other female friendly garages offer, check out the FOXY Choice website.