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YOUR SERVIC
Page 29
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Ever paid over the odds? Our
annual workshop survey will guide you to a fair price for servicing — which we think is simply priceless.
0 nce again CM'S research team has been scouring the country to assess the state of the nation's CV workshops. For this year's survey we've spotlighted four more towns with a significant number of transport operations on their doorsteps: Carlisle, Cardiff, Walsall and Purled. Dealers for the same seven truck and eight van manufacturers as last year were quizzed on labour rates, opening hours and appointment lead times.
There are 168 hours in a week, but only one of the dealers we spoke to —Volvo dealer Hartshorne in Walsall — is open for every one of them. Among the other truck dealers, Iveco's Aquila in Walsall alone offered Sunday opening, as did two van dealers: Renault Cardiff and Bilston's VW Van Centre.
All the HGV dealers in Carlisle we spoke to are open six days a week.And all bar Scania have a one-day lead time for routine bookings. In the more frenetic South-East all the truck dealers bar one (Renault) open round the clock from Monday morning to Saturday afternoon.
Only one in six dealers quoted more than three days for a routine appointment, hut the longest was eight days.
The picture was better for looking at urgent problems — only one truck dealer and three van dealers wouldn't commit to helping on the same day. In fact the truck dealer, Guest -Rucks in Wolverhampton, is also one of the van dealers and quoted five days.
Renault Vans' Benfield Motors of Carlisle would see it next day, while Goodfellows Citroen wanted four days.Two brands, LDV and Renault Truck, quoted their schemes which promise to see urgent cases within 60 (LDV Aid) or 90 minutes (Renault Care).
What they cost
There's a definite advantage in operating trucks, with a nationwide average about £8/hr lower than for vans. In fact, two of our Iveco van and truck dealers charged £8 and £10 an hour more for van work at the same sites.The only other franchise to combine vans and trucks is Mercedes-Benz,and all four dealers asked charged the same for both.
The cheapest truck dealer, at £34, was Commercial Fleet Services at Hartlands, Binningham; the Daf and Iveco dealers for Carlisle also charge less than £40. Merc's dealer at West Thurrock —S&B Commercials—took the award for the highest rate.
Among the van manufacturers. the Iveco and LDV dealers in Carlisle were the lowest at £45, while the dubious honour for highest went to Dagenham Motors' Ford workshop in Barking, at £79 —£4 more than its Iveco operation in the same town.
In Cardiff, Citroen and Ford are represented by Evans Halshaw, which couldn't quote a fixed labour rate at either location as "all service work is fixed-price menu" (Citroen) and "it depends on the job" (Ford).They have therefore been left out of the averages.
Looking at the average figures by region, it comes as no surprise to find that the SouthEast of England is most expensive overall. Higher property and labour costs mean the average in Purfleet is a third higher than in Carlisle for vans and trucks. Cardiff and Walsall are pretty evenly matched midway. One anomaly is Volkswagen vans in Grays, where Harris Van Centre's £55 is about a fiver less than the other three VW dealers.
On average there's exactly £20 an hour difference between the lowest priced truck brand (Daf, at £42.75) and the highest (M-B,at £62.75). Although higher overall, van dealers show less variation with a spread of £15.75 an hour. Lowest for the second year is LDV at £50.50, with Renault dearest at £6625.Volkswagen,last year's winner of the gold-plated invoice, has only increased its average cost by £1.Hence,VW now has the third lowest average rate.