Posted by sean savage on December 6, 2008, 5:49 pm
I have been pondering on the direction the motor trade is going to take in the next few years and just wondering how you guys are feeling about the present situation. now we are hearing of agents trying to keep us out of the "loop" not suppling parts,inferior diagnostic equipment and technology progressing much faster than we let alone the "few" techs coming into the trade can cope with. we have been trading for 25yrs and luckily have a very large loyal customer base we have built up over time. its still hard to cover overheads and make ends meet with 5 staff etc and we are busy (touch wood), i see lots of traders and friends around me struggling so hard with work and some of the jobs they get in can no longer repair or diagnose. i see i very large change in this trade in the next 5yrs. i believe we are always going to have our "fast fit" centres (kwik fit etc) who will have a regular straight forward job of tyres and exhausts,but for the battle between ourselves and main agents i think we will prosper in the coming months due to the present financial situation people wanting to keep there "old" vehicles on the road meaning less car sales and less work which is going to the agents,this is one reason i believe they are trying to restrict parts (nothing to do with theft etc) i just think they have forseen what could be ahead for them and have to do something before their overheads swallow them up. i also think the much smaller garages (unless rural) will suffer from the technology crunch and find it hard to survive in the near future which i believe is why we should be analysing which way we need our businesses to be heading now e.g diagnostic...repairs etc. i personally am investing in some dealer level diagnostic equipment,not to specialize but give me a bite of the cherry and servicing/mot will be my main target area as it is 75% of our business and less things to go wrong. would be good to get an overall general opinion off you guys as to your views. sean i have posted on here as it is protected from public view