Workshop hours increase as van makers invest in aftersales

Few if any van makers are expecting light commercial sales to grow spectacularly this year. As a consequence both they and particularly their dealers need to generate revenue from other sources: and that means increasing parts sales and boosting the number of workshop hours sold.

What they need to do, therefore, is tempt more aftersales customers through the door while retaining the customers they have already got. Ford is clearly hoping to do both with its new Transit24 initiative, timed to coincide with all the ballyhoo surrounding the launch of the new Transit Custom.

Upwards of 90 of Ford’s more than 200 authorised commercial vehicle repairers are set to become Transit24 dealers, which will involve meeting new, higher, aftersales standards. Workshops will have to remain open late into the night at least once a week, dealers will have to respond to online service bookings within 20 minutes of receiving them, and while-you-wait servicing will have to be offered to customers who want it.

Any problems that have led to a van being taken off the road will have to be resolved either on the same working day or within 24 hours if at all possible. Every van brought in for service and repair work will have to be washed before it leaves the dealership, and the Transit24 dealer will have to be able to collect vehicles that need work doing to them from customers and deliver them back once the job has been completed.

The Ford van network’s need to generate as much aftersales revenue as it can will become particularly pressing over the next few years, given that Transit Custom is being marketed with a two-year/30,000-mile service interval. As a consequence it is likely to be a rare sight in service workshops.

Also eager to keep aftersales customers happy is Mercedes-Benz. It has pledged not to increase contract maintenance charges this year, a move that should please operators of Fuso Canters as well as those with vehicles badged with the Three Pointed Star: Canters are distributed through Mercedes van and truck dealers.

Mercedes is quick to point out that, far from being open late for just one night a week, many of its dealers open their workshops early and close them late five days week because they sell heavy trucks too: and hauliers often want their vehicles serviced outside normal working hours. Volkswagen already expects its van dealers to open their workshops for at least 11 hours a day Monday to Friday and for at least four hours on Saturdays.

The past few months have seen Citroën promoting a fixed-price initiative that covers certain basic service and repair tasks – changing a timing belt, for example.

Its thinking is that fear of unexpectedly big bills stops some van owners from using franchised dealerships. Fix the price and owners will know exactly how much they are going to pay: and may decide to take their vehicle to the local Citroën dealer rather than to a non-franchised independent.

Citroën has also been busily marketing its zero-charge Upgrade to Business Class programme.

It gives firms that acquire a new van free annual servicing for four years/60,000 miles, whichever arrives first. The package also embraces a warranty extension to four years/120,000 miles with emergency assistance included for the duration.

Vauxhall has been offering a similar scheme under the 4x4x4x4 banner.

The lure of free servicing boosts new vehicle sales, means the dealer will see the customer more often which increases the opportunity to make future sales, and encourages the operator to make the dealership the first part of call for all repair work. That of course includes work that falls outside the free scheme and will have to be paid for: fitting a tow-bar for example.

Van operators are reluctant to travel too far to get their vehicles attended to, and in response some manufacturers have been increasing the number of dealerships they have that can look after light commercials.

Nissan, for example, boosted its total of light commercial and business centre specialists from 54 to 72 in 2012, a total figure that includes 15 dedicated LCV outlets typically run by heavy truck dealers who also represent DAF or Volvo. Many van producers have discovered that imbuing at least part of their network with a service-oriented heavy truck culture can work wonders: around half of Fiat Professional’s dealers also hold Iveco or DAF franchises.