Guardian Association for Vehicle Repairs?
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By W. H. Seward,
Commercial Sales Manager, Harold Radford & Co., Ltd. ALMOST every operator of road transport vehicles must, at one time or another, have found himself a victim of a regrettable hiatus in the general co-operation between motor vehicle users and establishments catering for repairs.
This may be exemplified by the case of an operator who has a vehicle break down, or require urgent attention, a considerable distance from its base. An incident of this type may result. in numerous telephone calls and a promise of immediate settlement in an -effort to ensure that repairs are carried out as quickly as possible.
Mutual Uncertainty Only the other day, I was talking to the transport manager of a con! cern with a national reputation and a fleet of some 100 vehicles, who had been asked by a gkage proprietor lit the west country to post a cheque immediately. As he rightly pointed out, how was he to know that this particular repairer was capable of dealing with the work satisfactorily? On the other hand, how was the owner of the garage to be certain of the credit standing of the operator?
It certainly does seem that the time is ripe for some comprehensive scheme to be inaugurated to cover this and certain other outstanding differences between various sections of the motor trade and users of commercial vehicles. No individual transport concern can afford to set up a chain of maintenance depots throughout the country.
Cost of Delay Yet, in the event of a hold-up, they may be faced with high costs involved in standing time and all that this represents, and probably the hiring of a replacement vehicle. To a man with a business of small or medium size such expense can ill be afforded.
Any plan to meet such circumstances should embrace practically all classes of commercial vehicle. Whilst not having any complete design in view, I would suggest the following as a basis upon which talks might commence:— As regards operators: (1) Any user wishing to join a body such as that contemplated will be required to supply all the
appropriate information necessary as to his standing and creditworthiness.
(2) He would be required to pay a small fee per annum for each vehicle owned, (3) He would receive an individual certificate for each vehicle, which would indemnify recognized repairers against any possible loss for the work or replacement of parts carried out in connection with the vehicle concerned.
In respect of repair establishments: (1) Any proprietor wishing to join the body would apply for membership and be required to satisfy the committee as to his suitability in every respect to execute repairs to commercial vehicles in an efficient manner, possibly to one or more standards laid down.
(2) Having been elected a member, he would pay a small fee, after which his garage or other premises would be added to a list for circulation to all operator members.
(3) The list of selected repairers would include such information as: (a) the services available; (b) the capacity of the breakdown vehicle owned; (c) the hours when this vehicle and repair facilities would be available.
Arbitrators
The committee of the body, amongst other duties, could act as arbitrators in any matters in dispute between members on either side.
A scheme of this nature might well encourage greater co-operation between appointed garages, local hauliers and clearing houses, in order to ensure the more rapid transfer of essential loads in cases where loss of vehicle use might be extensive.
It might also do much to dispel a certain apathy, sometimes observed amongst commercial-vehicle opera
tors towards the motor trade i general, by making garage ownei familiar with the operators' problerr in relation to the maintenance an repair of their vehicles, also b encouraging them to employ me qualified to deal with the vehiclE concerned.
It is surprising, in my view, thE the motor trade has not shown great( interest in commercial-vehicle main tenance, especially in view of th fact that the carriage of goods an passengers represents over a quarte of the traffic on the road. It shout, also be remembered that, in the pas two or three years, some 20,00& lor ries have been handed back to privet enterprise and the majority of thes is embodied in small Units
Outside Maintenance
In addition, the number of C licence vehicles has risen consider ably. It is well known that, with tit' extension of the life of components it is uneconomic for an operator tt carry out his own maintenance when the fleet strength is less than, say, vehicles, unless convenience or othei particular circumstances dictan otherwise.
It should also be remembered thal to emulate .the figures produced by British Road Services, private hauliers must formulate some system ol maintenance on a national basis.
Should this scheme come intc being, it would undoubtedly greatly assist both commercial operators and repairers, for the modern trend towards specialization and greater capital outlay requires mutual confidence, and in my view this can be achieved only by the close co-ordination of both parties through the medium of a suitable committee.
Representative Bodies
This could be drawn from all those interests primarily concerned, such as the Road Haulage Association, Traders' Road Transport Association, Passenger Vehicle Operators' Association, Public Transport Association, Motor Agents' Association and the Institute of the Motor Industry. The Institute of Road Transport Engineers could also be consulted.
The editor of The Commercial Motor has already been associated with the formation of two, major bodies during his long association with the industry, and I would suggest that he might be asked to organize a committee on these lines to discuss the whole matter.
[Reference to this scheme and to the question of organizing it is made in a leading article.—ED.]
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