VEHICLE' MAINTENANCE MAINTENANCE BY GARAGES.
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Garage Proprietors Must Be Prepared to Contract for Upkeep of Vehicles, if They Wish to Secure Maximum Trade.
B" Vim."
TRADESMEN AND BUSINESS HOUSES . haye, hitherto,: been accustomed to hire the
larger part of their horaed transport. It has been the exception, rather :than otherwise, for a firm to own its Own horsesEanct vans, these temg.for the most part supplied at so much per annum:by eontractors. The same practice still obtains; of ceurse, so far as horsed transport is concerned, and it_saye a great deal for themerits of .motor transport that the general run of user has had Lobe converted, not' only to the newer mode of conaeyinggoods, but ,,to accepting responsibility for the actual maintenance of hs vehicles, to say nothing of finding the requisite capital out of his own coffers. It must be admitted that the hiring Of horses and vans was not univerSal, but even where they belonged to the firms using them, repairs were, in general; exec-Cited under contract by van-builders, and horsCs fed at a fixed rate per head by jobmasters.
To a business concern there is is special appeal in being able to assess definitely what haulage will cost during a speoffied period, and in knowing that their liability is practically confined to paying a monthly or quarterly account. Moreover, 'by hiring from a contractor who makes a feature of haulage; breakdowns of transport service becomes imPossible, for the contractor can be bound by agreement to supply an emergency vehicle, should a regular one go out of action.
Therefo-re, taking a line through the.past history of horsed tranaport, an-d noticing how the formation of big motor haulage companies points in the same direction, it is not Unreasonable to suggest that the greater part of the trade to be done with -motor vehicles will pass into the. hands of garage proprietors prepared to accept it on a contract basis.
Can the Garages Finance Haulage ?
In view of the heavy capital outlay involved in the purchase of any but the lightest parcel vans, I do not think that garages are, as a rule, affluent enough to 'finance the motor haulage of the future. The funds will have to be put. up either by manufacturers or by users—by the latter, in all probability. But, the vehicles once bought, I believe that their owners will want them maintained by contract, and, so, it behoves every motor trader who wishes to have some of the business to. study tins aspect of repair work. The undertaking of repairs, and, possibly, of the supply of tyres and fuel, at a fixed rate per mile, is somewhat hazardous, and there is no sense in rushing into it' blindly. Schemes must be mapped out with the utmost accuracy, and every contingency must be covered, though competition will
compel margins to be cut to fine limits In thig respect, it should be remembered that the bigger the volume of hiring contracted for, the less the risk, because of the "law of averages." It is the .operae tion of this law that renders insurance a -steady and respectable business, instead of a wild gamble : to bet £1,000 to 25 a year on each of two persons' lives is speculation, but to give the same terms on 5,000 persons' lives is an investment.
Owners of garages who contemplate tackling maintenance by contract for the first time will do well only to take on new vehicles, or vehicles not more than one year old. They will, no doubt, discover that, at present, users are keener on farming out old vans and lorries than new ones, but the . temptation to get into the trade on any terms should • be resisted. Conceivably, there may be dream stances—as -when a garage proprietor is intimately acquaitted With'the whole career of a Vehicle—Which May mare it worth while to accept a two, or even a
three-year Old, but too much caution cannot-be exer.
eised. As everybody knows; when a Vehiele has seen
niOre than twelve' months' serviee,. it has had the voaners'kaocked off .it, arid the remunerative nature of ' any 'eon:tract will 'certainly be prejudiced if ineehanical derangements occur almost immediately. An allowance sheuld be made, Nizhen:.working out an .estitnatej for an annual overhaul 6f a. thorough kind. Whether such overhaul will really-be needed -will depend on the mileage. done ; hut, in the end, it will probably proVe MOst satisfactory. to all parties to remove the body. arid Strip 'theeehassia oriCe in every twelve nimiths, withoat regard 'to its apParent
condition. In this way faufts will be defected in their incipient stage and can be prevented from developing. The contractor has always to endeavour to anticipate breakdowns and to ensure that they -do not take place, for on his ability to do this rests the goodwill of his customer aild the profit of his contaact.
Not less frequently than once a week the hirer should be' obliged under his agreement, to .send tha vehicle in for a. general " look-round," so that parts showing signs of wear may be noted and. replacements obtained before they give out altogether. To fit new pins and bushes to the steering connections does not take long or cost .a lot of Money, if the parte aro all-to hand and the work is done quietly . in the garage,—but the tune is' a very different one if a gang of men have to be sent ten miles on a lorry to dig a customer's vehicle out of a ditch and get it home, with subsequent straightening of the front axle and steering arms, and turning up of the pins and bushes on the premises, the while-the customer has the use of the contractor's own .car.
As one of the main advantages to the user of contraeti,ng out maintenance is the stipulation that in the event of a breakdown the contractor must furnish him_ with another vehicle, it follows that, before a garage proprietor can csmsider himself equipped to enter the field, he must be able -to put down the capital to meet this provision. As his conneetian amongst local tradesmen grows, he will have to add, to the Dumber of hisJstaaci-by ears, so as to be mire of having. sufficient available at any moment ; but what the. proportion of stand-bys should be I am not going, to attempt to lay -down, since the circumstances of each ease will differ materially. Nevertheless, by a rigorous system of inspection of customers' vehicles, and by putting nothing but firstrate work into them, breakdowns can be avoided, and the•contractor's own-vehicles will then be called Upon only orapre-arranged occasions, such as during the', periodical overhauling.
Undoubtedly, the most profitable contracting can be carried on where the garage proprietor himself possesses a fleet of vehicles, and undertakes haulage work, in addition to maintaining a number of vans and lorries belonging to hig customers. He can then keep his own cars busy, while having the power to divert as many as may be necessaryto emergency work on behalf of his contracting customers. That this entails running a adarge-scale garage is plain in fact, it may be taken that, given good management, the larger ,the scale of a huskiest+ .of this description, the greater the, efficiency with which it can be conducted, and therefore the higher the profits that will be earned.