UK Motor Trade Industry

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Soldato
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
12,957
This is a "Speakers Corner-Motors" type thread.

Following on from this thread, and a lot of posts on these and other forums of incompetent traders, I'd like to discuss the vetting that's done to ensure that good, reliable and honest motor traders are allowed to work and trade in this industry.

What official body exists to regulate the motor trade industry? Since it's such a technical industry what measures are taken to ensure only suitably qualified personnel are allowed to work in this industry?

It's common to hear about shoddy mechanics and dodgy dealers. What mechanism is there to alleviate this problem?
 
Are you asking what exists or what could exist?

What exists is nothing compulsory. There's various groups and organisations but they are all voluntary and unfortunately the consumer isn't well trained enough to care.
 
Nothing exists and it's an industry selling products and services which:

a) Most people need
b) Few people understand
c) You need little or no qualifications or intelligence to operate in.

These factors make it a paradise for chancers and conmen sadly.
 
Jez said:
Common sense.

The system works well. Idiots get conned, the rest of us find a reputable specialist for our marque through personal recommendation.
Click to expand...

Nothing like a bit of I'm alright Jack, sod the rest to solve a problem.
 
The industry is no different to any other which involves paying for labour. I have never been ripped off by a builder either, because i dont phone any random one out of the yellow pages who gave the cheapest quote and asked for upfront payment.

Do your research, dont always go for the cheapest and most convenient, and you wont get conned.
 
That company in that thread is an extreme example and have been ****ing people for 20 years, what makes me wonder is how people let that balloon in the white shirt intimidate them to that extent.

Also all that about rape me and shoot my husband, i cant see that, that sounds like hype for sky.

Anyway as Jez said people need to use some common sense when picking a garage.
 
There will always be bad seeds and idiots everywhere. Policies can help but educating the consumer generally provides the best solution.
 
Well i work in the Motor Trade and work in Sales.
There are loads of rules and regulations and the consumer has.
I work for Mercedes so when we sell a car we give the customer the terms and conditions and cancellation rights on a seperate sheet that says just that.

I think like anything out there. Its down to having some common sense, i would always preffer to go to a reputable dealer and pay the extra money.

" you get what you pay for "
 
Aqueitas said:
i would always preffer to go to a reputable dealer and pay the extra money.
Click to expand...

Problem is, that doesn't strictly mean you've going to get good work

You're in the trade. You must know that 99% of main dealer aftersales places are completely bonus driven. Techs are under pressure to smash the work out and get their efficiency up to the point where a service literally becomes a few minute oil change and 'fault finding' has become another word for 'Just change the control module and let it go' because they aren't going to get the sufficient time for proper wiring checks.

The amount of work a tech can smash out is directly linked to how much money he is going to make at the end of the month so you can't really blame them. And even if he does decide to go hungry, does jobs throughly and his efficiency drops he'll have managers breathing down his neck and will probably be out of the door within a couple of months.

'Efficiency' has become far more important than doing the job properly and not getting any work come back - Some garages even have big efficiently leaderboards so it becomes a competition as to who can rush their work the most. What sort of nonsense is that?

Relaxed workshops like mine are by far the exception, not the rule. Guys that started off as apprentices at our place and move onto another workshop place generally struggle because their attitude is so much different from that seen in other places in the motor trade, but as far as I'm concerned that's the right attitude. 'It'll get done when it gets done, but it'll get done right'. rather than 'AHHHH, BONUS!!!'

Going to a main dealer does not necessarily mean you're going to get a good job done, it just means you'll have a slightly easier life job when something does go wrong. That's why it is vital to get a good mechanic, keep him sweet and use him for life :).
 
Last edited:
Aqueitas said:
Well i work in the Motor Trade and work in Sales.
There are loads of rules and regulations and the consumer has.
I work for Mercedes so when we sell a car we give the customer the terms and conditions and cancellation rights on a seperate sheet that says just that.
Click to expand...
To be honest that sounds more like financial services regulation than anything else, and that's the same everywhere.
 
Aqueitas said:
I work for Mercedes
Click to expand...

hahaha

Stopped reading there. Biggest rip off merchants in the business :mad::D

Seriously, the crap they produce on quotes is almost criminal. I make light of it now, but they should almost be taken to trading standards imho with some of the stuff ive seen on the s-class. Some of my SL-class bills take the mickey too.

I believe Mercedes cars are pretty much the best in the business, there are hardly any i prefer, but i almost weep at how woeful the dealer network is. Joshys comments above are probably an insight as to why :(
 
Last edited:
Joshy said:
You're in the trade. You must know that 99% of main dealer aftersales places are completely bonus driven. Techs are under pressure to smash the work out and get their efficiency up to the point where a service literally becomes a few minute oil change and 'fault finding' has become another word for 'Just change the control module and let it go' because they aren't going to get the sufficient time for proper wiring checks.
Click to expand...


Thats simple being cost effective, i dont agree with it myself but its the same in the IT industry, i could spend ~3hrs fault finding then a further hour resolving the problem with no guarantee of actually fixing the issue or 1hr reinstalling windows, they both get the job done but which one has the less likely hood of increasing costs?
As a customer which one would you go for?

Garages need to stop passing the cost of there ineffectiveness onto the customer, maybe then they would increase there perception in the public eye.

back to the OP there are no guidelines for garages other than the usual trading standards malarkey, the good garege scheme is one step closer to handing the power back into the customers hands though :)
 
LizardKing said:
Thats simple being cost effective, i dont agree with it myself but its the same in the IT industry, i could spend ~3hrs fault finding then a further hour resolving the problem with no guarantee of actually fixing the issue or 1hr reinstalling windows, they both get the job done but which one has the less likely hood of increasing costs?
As a customer which one would you go for?
Click to expand...

I think the difference is that when you can't get a router to work or something people are more willing to let things go, but when you've booked your car in to have an annoying fault fixed but it gets returned with it still playing up people people log onto the internet and have a moan about how massively incompetent the motor trade is in general.

What are you more likely to moan about? Not being able to connect to your work network properly or the fact that your car has been returned with the same faults that you've already booked it in for twice before and had £££s of worth of work done?

LizardKing said:
Garages need to stop passing the cost of there ineffectiveness onto the customer, maybe then they would increase there perception in the public eye.
Click to expand...

And your company doesn't try to pass the cost of your 'ineffectiveness' onto your customers?

If for whatever reason you've replaced a load of incorrect components that doesn't solve a fault your company is happy to completely write off the cost of those new parts and labor without batting an eyelid?

Crap workmanship is in absolutely every trade. I don't think it is more common amongst garages, just that people are more inclined to moan about it because as you all know mechanics are all incompetent knuckle dragging apes who only work on cars because they are too thick to sweep the streets.
 
Joshy said:
And your company doesn't try to pass the cost of your 'ineffectiveness' onto your customers?

If for whatever reason you've replaced a load of incorrect components that doesn't solve a fault your company is happy to completely write off the cost of those new parts and labor without batting an eyelid?
Click to expand...

Absolutely! if we've quoted 3 hours for a job and its taken 6, then the customer gets charged for 3, the same goes for hardware, if i say a raid card is dead and it turns out to be a hard drive it will be my responsibility to send that card back and source a hard drive. With only the hard drive added to the invoice.
I dont speak for all IT firms as with every industry there are bad eggs, but the Motor industry do seem to be exempt from taking ownership of the problems and having that "customer first" moto that other industry's strive to exceed in.
 
PMKeates said:
To be honest that sounds more like financial services regulation than anything else, and that's the same everywhere.
Click to expand...

Not atall even if you buy a car outright you still have certain cancellation and exchange rights.

People really should read the terms and conditions of a sale as customers have a lot more options than most probably think.

Like most businesses there are going to be awful people at there job and people that do a good job.

Myself i work my ass off for my customers as repeat business is the whole point im now 5 years down the line and have loads of repeat custom, ( even people that at some point have not been happy with our Service Dept )

Like most things and someone said it about Mechanic's its the same with any part. if you find someone you like who does a good job and looks after you then you tend to stick with them for life.
 
Joshy said:
Problem is, that doesn't strictly mean you've going to get good work

Going to a main dealer does not necessarily mean you're going to get a good job done, it just means you'll have a slightly easier life job when something does go wrong. That's why it is vital to get a good mechanic, keep him sweet and use him for life :).
Click to expand...

I found a good garage not far from my house with a guy who does good work and will spend the time on the car to get it right.

His cash rates are quite low and he gives me low ball numbers for jobs that i would definitely not want to think about myself!

Fortunately as well as being ex Toyota dealership he is also ex land rover and thats handy as my dad has a series 3 that he takes there when things need sorting in all kinds of abstract ways!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom