HOLDEN To Take On Ultratune

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Car Servicing
Holden service while you wait



Holden is encouraging its dealers to make a radical break from tradition and set up some service-only outlets at high-traffic areas, such as airports and shopping centres.

Holden is encouraging its dealers to make a radical break from tradition and set up some service-only outlets at high-traffic areas, such as airports and shopping centres.
The plan has been forced on the company and its dealers by the astounding run of success Holden has enjoyed since the launch of the VT Commodore in 1997.

The idea is to keep Holden drivers in the fold and prevent them from leaking away to other, non-authorised service centres, Holden director of sales Ross McKenzie says.

"Normally in this industry you have one good year and three ordinary ones, but we have had four unbelievable years in a row."

This means there are lots of relatively young Holdens on the road.

"Now we have a big problem with service capacity in the metropolitan areas. Owners can't just roll up to the dealer and expect to get their car serviced on the same day any more."

Mr McKenzie says some customers now have to wait up to two weeks to get their Holdens serviced, and the average was still about five to six days.

"If we don't do something about it, they'll start going off to Shell Autocare or UltraTune. Or maybe they'll put up with it for the warranty period and then the dealer will lose them."

He says it makes sense to build service centres at transport or retail outlets where people park their cars for periods of time, so they can go about their business and pick up a fully serviced car when they get back.

Dealers whose franchise area covered an airport or a shopping centre would get first right of refusal to build a service centre, although McKenzie admits that opening an extra operation will require a greater investment by the dealer.

If a dealer was unable or unwilling to make the investment, he says Holden will encourage other dealers from outside the zone to do it.

He says that, while the franchise agreements with the dealers gave them exclusivity in their designated zone when it came to retailing, they give Holden more scope to intervene when it comes to servicing issues.

[partzkid]

well Preston motors(GM) has had a service center out at Melbourne airport
for as long as i can remember so maybe it isn't such a bad idea, might create some more jobs while their at it which isn't such a bad thing. Just a shame ford can't get something like this going.

partzkid

[b2tf]

I think this will end up hurting your smalltime mechanics more than it will Ultratune.

[MO]

Originally Posted by b2tf

I think this will end up hurting your smalltime mechanics more than it will Ultratune.

I agree...

[Falchoon]

Plenty of other cars around apart from Holdens so I don't see how it would affect them.

[MRJUCY]

The Holden dealership near my work has a mobile service that comes to us to do our fleet, which makes it much easier for general servicing.

[uranium_death]

I personally do not care if Holden opened up a little service outlet where I go.
Local mechanic does a good job and I do not believe it ditching small time business who do a good job (and charge a reasonable price) for a big company who charge a hell of a lot more for the same thing, and I do not get recognised as a regular customer.

The only thing I would go back to Holden for (VTII) is airbags and all that kind of thing that my local garage doesn't handle.

[Hunter]

Haha car makers need to examine just why it is that people hate having to go with dealers...

I know of two very damn good reasons to avoid a dealer:

1) Overcharging. Dealers love to suck the blood out of any lifeform that approaches them. People don't want to pay twice the cost for half the service. Oh and let us not forget the markup on parts. Ooooh yeah baby bend over, time to buy some dealer parts! (N.b. lube only included for the car, you don't get any).

2) Dodgy workmanship. People don't want their car being touched by some numbskull dimwit apprentice who barely knows which end of the spanner to hold. Dealerships think they can get away with using apprentices (whom they pay like $300 a week) to fix cars. Pay peanuts get monkeys. Apprentices are there to learn, not be the mainstay of the business so the greedy dealership can make money at both theirs and the customers expense. Apprentices should be supervised AT ALL TIMES but we know that isn't the case at a lot of places.

So Holden, if you can figure these really complex concepts out, you just might be onto a winner!

I still remember how hard it was for us to get the sump plug off dad's VT when doing an oil change... funnily enough it was serviced by a dealer the last time it was done. Had to buy a new plug and use all sorts of tools to extract the old plug (which was probably done up by some ****head rattlegun-happy apprentice).

[Psycho Chicken]

Originally Posted by Hunter

2) Dodgy workmanship. People don't want their car being touched by some numbskull dimwit apprentice who barely knows which end of the spanner to hold. Dealerships think they can get away with using apprentices (whom they pay like $300 a week) to fix cars. Pay peanuts get monkeys. Apprentices are there to learn, not be the mainstay of the business so the greedy dealership can make money at both theirs and the customers expense. Apprentices should be supervised AT ALL TIMES but we know that isn't the case at a lot of places.

You do realise it costs more to hire an apprentice than a qualified tech over the 4 years of the apprenticeship?

As for the standard of work, being an apprentice has nothing to do with it. If an apprentice can't do a service after 18 months on the job he'll never be able to. I've seen 2nd and 3rd year apprentices that run rings around some qualified guys.

[DJR David]

My local Ford and Holden dealers used Phillipino mechanics as they can't get Aussies to work there. Not saying they are better or worse than Australians at the job, just a point of interest.

Ford and Holden, the pride of Australia, with foreign workers on site........

Actually another local dealership (not ford/holden) are advertising the fact that they only use Australian mechanics to try and lure customers to their workshop

[BadMac]

You guys seem to have missed the point. Holden are responding to the problem that you have to book in 4-10 days in advance, many can't be bother so go elsewhere. They want to stop that bleed in the first place and protect their gross margins.

And whos to say that they stay exclusively Holden, they could service any brand, they are trying to add convience. Imagine pulling up to the airport before your next 2 day business trip. Holden man takes the car away and fully services it, passes it to the detailer you also booked in with. You come back to a fully serviced and sparkling car and in effect didn't have to wait at all. Thats great service.

[DJR David]

Originally Posted by BadMac

You guys seem to have missed the point. Holden are responding to the problem that you have to book in 4-10 days in advance, many can't be bother so go elsewhere. They want to stop that bleed in the first place and protect their gross margins.

And whos to say that they stay exclusively Holden, they could service any brand, they are trying to add convience. Imagine pulling up to the airport before your next 2 day business trip. Holden man takes the car away and fully services it, passes it to the detailer you also booked in with. You come back to a fully serviced and sparkling car and in effect didn't have to wait at all. Thats great service.

Actually I think it is a very good idea. When I was living in Cairns the Toyota dealership setup a service department at a servo in the suburbs. No need to drive into town and be stuck there all day waiting for your car. Just drop it off locally and get a ride home. A TOP idea

I think the airport idea is a great one. Plus you'd get free parking!!! :

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by Psycho Chicken

You do realise it costs more to hire an apprentice than a qualified tech over the 4 years of the apprenticeship?

No I did not but can you explain to me how? (I'm not being a smartarse). From what I've seen in QLD apprentices get paid SFA, like start out on $250 a week or some equal pittance.

As for the standard of work, being an apprentice has nothing to do with it. If an apprentice can't do a service after 18 months on the job he'll never be able to. I've seen 2nd and 3rd year apprentices that run rings around some qualified guys.

And I've also seen some apprentices who make me wonder if all of us managed to evolve past primates... seriously the last time I let an apprentice near my car (well not voluntarily), I watched them and I was quite disturbed at their apparent lack of knowledge and I'm not even a mechanic!

As I said a while ago in another thread, the auto industry is filled with charlatans because nobody considers being a mech or whatever to be a 'good' job anymore and when none of the half-intelligent people want to do a particular job anymore, you end up with bogan idiots who can't find a job anywhere else servicing your car. :

[mcnamg]

My sister works at a Holden dealers here in Perth and they are open until 10pm at night as its the only way they can keep up with the demand.

I think this is a great idea I hate ringing up to book my car in for a warranty repair or a service and being told the next appointment is in 2 weeks

[bigAl]

it will work for holden, when the car is under warranty owners take it to the dealership and get rip them off untill the warranty runs out.

Bloody good idea if you ask me.

[weenie]

i own a hsv & i wouldnt touch one of their service centres with a bargepole. i get my mechanics to fix warranty issues at my expense. believe me it saves having to go back 10 times to fix all the other things they stuff while trying to rectify the first issue. i fix it once, job done. they cant do an oil change properly. dont think this is limited to just holden, ford are just as useless. there is plenty of sponsors on this site that do 10 times the job of ford or holden.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Drive.com.au has run a story recently saying Toyota will be doing the same thing. Perhaps this is Holdens "Response"???

I think it is a good idea for a dedicated service centre. Modern cars, if looked after correctly should only need an hr for a minor service and perhaps 2 hours for a service that replaces a few wear and tear items like filters and plugs.

What the Toyota story was saying was that each service bay will have 2 workers dedicated to that bay, as well as a trolly of service parts required. No walking around doing 3-4 cars at the same time, no mis-communication.

If this sort of streamlining of servicing happens, perhaps prices may come down, and entice more people to use Manufacturer servicing. Who knows?

I know that the Browns Plains Zupps holden is doubling their workshop area by building a whole new shed out the back.

[schmidty]

Holden seem to be ahead of Ford in recognising new business opportunities and marketing.

Winter and Taylor Holden in Geelong opened up a service center in Lara, across the road from the train station, smart place to open up!
And when we were building a house in Strathmore and staying in melb, noticed the holden dealer running 2 shifts. Did another one in Kew and were staying in melb while working up there too. Noticed a Ford dealer doing arvo shift so droped my ute off for a service. Was so handy as i couldn't afford to be without my ute during the day, and it was such a hassle to transfer a full ute load of tools over to a loaner for the day, and make sure i was back before close. Instead of having a day dictated by a service, i dropped it off, got a lift back to the hotel, went to sleep, and was picked up from the hotel at 7:15am to go get my ute. Fantastic service!

[Psycho Chicken]

Originally Posted by Hunter

No I did not but can you explain to me how? (I'm not being a smartarse). From what I've seen in QLD apprentices get paid SFA, like start out on $250 a week or some equal pittance.

Well for starters they pay while you're at trade school, so there goes a day a week/week a month/however it's set up. First year apprentices aren't that useful. Probably 2 or 3 hours a day cleaning and the rest watching/helping someone else service. Pretty much getting paid but not earning anything in labour sales. Various government admin fees and what not. It all adds up.

Not to mention all the cock ups that have to be fixed. But that's another story.

[MRJUCY]

There is government incentives for hiring apprentices too tho which would offset some of those costs.

There has been a Mercedes service centre at Sydney Airport for several years, they also do a while you wait service where the mechanics are dressed like the McLaren pit crew & several people work on your car while you watch & have a coffee.

[dac260]

i've never heard a good thing about ultran tune centres or holden centres, you walk in and ask for a check up, and they look at you as if it's the ritz and tell you to come back in a week when they're not "flat out" lol....... *peeps in empty workshop....

[dac260]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

The only thing I would go back to Holden for (VTII) is airbags and all that kind of thing that my local garage doesn't handle.

any cluey auto elec can do more and cheaper than holden can...