Tour blog 6

Tour blog 6

28 Oct 2008

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Aftermarket hits Bristol to find out what's what in the South West as part of BEN charity trip

Tuesday 28th October . . .

12:05pm - We've been flying round the streets of Bristol this morning and been to seven garages already! It helps that we haven't driven the length of the entire south-west at the same time, like we did yesterday though.

I'm writing this from the cab of our Renault van as we head towards High Wycombe to see reigning 2008 Top Technician champion Mark Banks.

Our van has been turned into a fully-functioning mobile multi-media centre thanks to Simon's purchase of a four-way 12V power splitter in a petrol station somewhere on the M5 last night. If you're reading this before about 2pm then my attempts to download pictures from our cameras and get online at 70mph (not one mile over, you understand) have been successful!

I've decided to do this section of the blog in a Radio 1 'stylee' (in honour of what's been pumping through the stereo since 7.30 this morning) so now it's time for some big 'shout outs' to the Bristolian crew of the workshop trade massive! Our peace and love this morning go to:

Richard Pope and Paul Gay at S&B Training
Richard and Paul have a delicious cooked breakfast whipped up for us and show us round the incredibly impressive facilities at the huge automotive training college.

We talk about everything from government funding and the image of the motor trade in the eyes of school kids' parents (not good, in case you didn't guess already) to the pilot scheme for Parts ATA and Fast-fit ATA accreditation that S&B is running.

Any garages that think their parts suppliers need a good kick up the back-side when it comes to supplying the right parts should take note. The Parts ATA pilot starts next Monday and goes live on December 4th! Make sure you ask your factors if their staff have got it!

And how about this for a bit of trivia. The most expensive technician's labour rate in the UK is £198 per hour!!! According to Richard it's in a Porsche dealership in London.

Paul, who owned an independent garage for 20 years, says the average rate for an independent technician is £49.50. Makes you think, doesn't it?


Phil Duncan in the Express Fit garage of the Robbins & Day Peugeot dealership
This is a quick pit-stop to say hello to the techs at a dealership across the road from S&B, which does a lot of particularly close work with technicians in garages. S&B was originally formed by a group of local garages looking to establish a steady stream of competent young talent coming into the industry.

Nathan Merrin and Steve Fordham at Moto-Tech
It's nice to see that Nathan already had a copy of Aftermarket in his reception area.

Neil Bryant of Brislington Motor Services
I notice a pretty stylish original Mini on the driveway when we pull up and ask Neil about it. He rolls his eyes and tells me "it's the bane of my life," admittedly with a jokey smile on his face.

It turns out it's a Lamb Mini convertible and one of only three others in the country. Made in 1991 it is, apparently worth £13,000 and has only done 22,000 miles.

"The lady that owns it is 80 years old and only does about three miles a week," says Neil. "I've tried to tell her she could get a new car with power steering and all the mod cons on instead but she says she won't get rid of it.

"It's looks nice on the outside but the body was falling apart on the underneath before we got it. It's alright now but it was just full of mud and was rotting away.

"I asked that lady how much she thought it was worth once and she said maybe £800. I told her she could add a nought on that at the least. There were only 75 of them ever made."

After a good chat about various garage schemes and the tricks of the trade for disabling the steering wheel lock on Renault's when the engines are off, Simon and I jump in the van to grab some fuel. The woman behind the counter calls me 'my love' five times while I pay for the diesel in our Trafic van. I really am in the West Country I think. I never get that back at Aftermarket HQ in Kent.

Richard Withers of Williams Automobiles, a Lotus, Saab and Mazda dealer
It's a busy day at Williams and Richard says they're over-booked by several hours at the moment. "We're not going to start turning work away though," he says. "I've got a few recoveries that need taking care of and some of our guys are on holiday at the moment too.

"It's trying to get through all the jobs that's the problem he say. The last couple of days have been manic with work." Richard says he's waiting to see if the steep rise in work is just a fluke or part of a longer-term trend.

Mike Angell of the Soundwell Service & Repair Centre
It's a quick stop to meet Mike Angell who's workshop appears to be in full swing. Mike says he's pleased to see us out on the road trying to drum up support and awareness for BEN because he's got a friend that once attempted to visit as many prisons as possible.

I assume this was part of a charity fund-raising gig rather than 'at Her Majesty's pleasure'. I know some people want a warm bed for the night and their laundry done but surely that's a step too far!

Paul Mainstone of PM Autos
This garage is tucked away out of sight and is another of those garages that doesn't advertise and says it doesn't need to. Paul says he's chock full with work thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations.

He's also a big fan of the van (excuse the terrible rhyme). "A lot of the garages round here don't want to work on them because they think it will be a lot of extra hassle but we do a lot of van repair.

"The only difference is that because a lot of them are tradesmen they usually want them back the next day." I eventually find out that Paul also owns a self-drive van hire company - which may explain why he's so keen on them.

Either way it's served him well. "A few guys round here closed down a few years ago. They found it tough getting work. We've been around about 23 years now and almost all our work is through recommendations."

Paul admits that the problem is building up a good reputation in the first place. Something that takes time and confidence in your ability to do a good job.

That's it for now folks. I'm currenty zipping down the M4 trying to balance a 150 watt power convertor between my knees to keep this laptop alive.

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