Servicing up to 1,000 vehicles every month, Northampton-based In Town Automotive is a successful independent that’s tackling industry challenges head-on with careful time management and investment – GW Views finds out how.
The workshop initially opened in 2010 as a fast fit operation on the back of an online motor factor business.
In Town Automotive service manager, Kimberley Dorr said: “The business initially started just as Online Automotive, an online motor factor which sells parts across the UK and Europe.
“During this time we’d get customers asking if we could fit the parts they’d get from us but the answer was no, we were just a parts business then.”
The workshop, which at the time employed two technicians to service three bays, proved hugely popular and in less than a year of opening was at full capacity.
“Customers liked our ethos, so we quickly gained trust as a straight-up, honest garage,” Kimberley added.
“We’re now no longer just fitting tyres and exhausts.
“We’ve got 15 bays, nine technicians and we’ll do everything from brake pad replacement to full engine rebuilds.”
“We had all of these thoughts; ‘wouldn’t it be great if it did our MOT reminders for us’ and ‘what if it told us when our parts are here’.
“It’s got to the point now that I don’t know how we’d survive without it.”
TechMan has now itself grown to be a hugely popular workshop management system across the UK, as other independents favour its intuitive tools.
“It’s really important for us that we don’t stand still,” Kimberley said.
“We’re kitted out with the latest diagnostic kit and workshop equipment.
“Everything we do is aimed to make things as easy as possible for our technicians, so it’s important we provide them with the right training and tools for the job.”
As a Bosch Service workshop, technicians here train predominantly on the Bosch programme but Kimberley explained that she often invites brands into the garage for training sessions too.
“We recently completed a hybrid safety training course here and a brake refresher course too.
“We’re constantly training and investing, we have to.”
First published on GarageWire – 9 April 2018: https://garagewire.co.uk/garage-wire-views-issuu/garage-pioneering-business-keeping-tabs-efficiency/
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