Scotland Ash News

From the Garage: Peter Welch gives his thoughts on the year ahead for the garage trade.

It’s been a strange year for the garage trade. Many garages have seen the volume of work decrease and as a result been discounting. We are not in favour of discounting, especially not on MOTs. It’s a false economy for the motorist and often the workshops are incentivsed to ‘pressure sell’ the motorist.

Contrast this almost ‘race to the bottom’ with the increase in pace of technological change in the automotive aftermarket and something has to give. Motorists can’t expect us to invest in the latest technology – covering all makes of vehicle – and not charge appropriately for it.

As an independent garage, we need to maintain our credibility in the wake of this technological revolution, to ensure confidence within our customer base. For decades we’ve been saying garages must invest or get left behind. We may now be entering the decade where we experience a real change in vehicle service and repair. We will be ready, putting the needs of our customers first!

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