Gallup polls trust in garages
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• The sixth annual report for the Committee on Automotive Repairs and Servicing — the CARS Survey — involved a Gallup poll of 977 motorists who had used both a traditional garage and a fast fit specialist over the past 12 months.
The research was sponsored by Kwik-Fit and the Motor Agents Association. It showed that while 89% of motorists sampled trust their garages, 70% still distrust garages in general. One in five drivers had some cause for dissatisfaction, mainly in the areas of cost and timing.
Only 33% had asked for an estimate for their last service. In repair work, specialist centres still provided estimates more readily than traditional garages, whether requested or not. Of the sample, 52% went to a specialist fast fit centre for their last repair; 31% used a small car garage; and 11% a new car dealer.
For the replacement of tyres, exhausts and so on, the proportion preferring to use a specialist fast fit rose to 89% from 85% for the past two years.
"The motor industty as a whole does not have a good reputation," says the Kwik-Fit Code of Practice, now being circulated for comment to the Office of Fair Trading and other offices and organisations. "Ktvik-F it will therefore do everything in its power to change Prevailing attitudes of discontent. We want customers to report back on the quality of our service. . ."
On exhausts, for example, the Kwik-Fit Code offers on mild steel (part system) a one-year guarantee with unlimited mileage; mild steel (complete system) two years unlimited; and Centurion System three years subject to annual inspections (plus "no quibble" road hazard guarantee).