Why the corner garage is preferred to car dealer

To sum it up in a single word, taking your vehicle to a main agent for service or repair is “difficult”. While there may be no silver bullet that can make the process easy, surely the challenge for major motor companies should be finding as many ways as possible to make it “less difficult”. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • On average, a journey of at least an hour, each way, and in between if you are leaving the car with them you have to make those trips twice.  Four hours! 
  • And either a taxi or a hire car or a driver or a saintly friend will be needed, too.  Even if and when you do get there, and before you leave, you will spend an especially long  time negotiating security protocols, form filling, invoice compiling, paying and gate passing.
  • So “bring it to us” works only if there is no alternative whatsoever, and the price is affordable, and the quality of the finished work is, without doubt or exception whatsoever, perfect.

MAJOR MOTOR COMPANIES do not suffer from self-doubt. They are certain that they have the skills, the equipment, the genuine parts and the specialised experience to do a better job of servicing or fixing your car (their make) than any corner garage.

And if they cannot instantly diagnose and fix even the most recalcitrant fault, they have a hot line to the manufacturer’s experts.

So if you tell them, conversationally,  about a tricky problem you are having with your vehicle, or the difficulty of finding a decent workshop, their stock answer is “Bring it to us.”

All of this could be, should be, and sometimes is, true.  But even where all three of those ducks are in a row (and that is by no means a universal norm), it offers scant consolation or value to the majority of their customers in the real world.

First, where is your car and where is their workshop?  For 99.9 per cent of vehicle owners, the short answer is “not next door”.  Even if you live in the same town as the main agent (ergo Nairobi), getting to them can be an expedition. 

On average, a journey of at least an hour, each way, and in between if you are leaving the car with them you have to make those trips twice.  Four hours! 

DIFFICULT TASK

And either a taxi or a hire car or a driver or a saintly friend will be needed, too.  Even if and when you do get there, and before you leave, you will spend an especially long  time negotiating security protocols, form filling, invoice compiling, paying and gate passing.

You have to be at your absolute wits end to even contemplate that. Your nearest corner garage is probably only a few minutes away. You drive straight in, chat to a mechanic who will personally do the work, and away you go.

In smaller towns, the traffic may pose a smaller penalty, but even agents that have “nationwide networks” may not fill your particular geographical gap.  And often the local branch or dealership looks (and behaves) very much like…a corner garage.

So “bring it to us” works only if there is no alternative whatsoever, and the price is affordable, and the quality of the finished work is, without doubt or exception whatsoever, perfect.

Unlike most of our motoring woes, which could be easily avoided or solved if everybody did their job properly (especially the road and traffic authorities), this one has no simple solution. 

Even the most diligent workshop, able and determined to do brilliant work every time, has an almost insurmountable problem.  So does the vehicle owner, even if s/he has a healthy wallet and steadfast faith in the quality and value of main agent workshops.

To sum it up in a single word, taking your vehicle to a main agent for service or repair is “difficult”. While there may be no silver bullet (or complete armoury) that can make the process easy, surely the challenge (and business strategy) for major motor companies should be finding as many ways as possible to make it “less difficult”.

So where are collect-and-deliver offers;  or one-swipe smartcards for booking in and payment; or any other unconventional ways to make “bring it to us” easier? Have you seen an advertisement for anything like that?