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KITEMARKING - YOUR INDUSTRY, YOUR CHOICE
Poor standards of servicing have led to the threat of enforced legislation on the vehicle servicing and repair industry. Garage owners need to understand the situation and take action to reverse it. The vehicle servicing and repair industry is under the very
real and genuine threat of Government enforced legislation. Garage owners
need to take this threat seriously, understand what has caused it, what it could
mean in the future if nothing is done and what options are available to avoid
it. This guide is the result of collaboration
between major motor factors to answer these questions and to provide help by
supporting the industry in driving up standards. Background In June 2005 the National Consumer Council,
(NCC - set up and funded by the Government to safeguard consumer interests)
published a report on the car servicing and repair sector highlighting that: · Half of all garages offer a poor standard of service ·
Work is charged for but is either substandard or not required at all ·
40% of work was unsatisfactory equating to a bill to the motorist of an
estimated £4 billion per year On top of this other investigations carried
out by Which? and Trading Standards highlighted 73% of services as
unsatisfactory and a quarter leaving potentially dangerous faults. This meant
that something had to be done. So the NCC told the industry that unless it
improved performance by March 2006, a “super-complaint” would be issued to
the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). What
is a super-complaint? The issue of a super-complaint would
effectively force the OFT to take action against the industry, probably in the
form of licensing or new legislation. Whatever action the OFT takes, the result is
likely to be expensive for all garages - independents, franchised dealers and
fast fits alike. Furthermore, new legislation is not selective and even
professional businesses which do offer a quality service would be affected. In March the NCC announced that it would
delay the super-complaint until September 2007, citing a number of new
industry-led initiatives, designed to support change as offering “the
potential to make a real difference”. So it has laid out a timetable to
the industry within which it demands significant progress to avoid the threat of
new laws. The timetable sets out certain targets that must be achieved, which
are based around the OFT’s Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS). What
is the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme? CCAS is a scheme by which the OFT approves a
“code of practice” or a membership criteria set by a trade body or group. It
is designed to give consumers confidence in their choice of supplier. There are two stages that the trade body or
“code sponsor” must achieve: STAGE ONE: The code sponsor must demonstrate
that their code meets the CCAS core criteria in principle. STAGE TWO: The code sponsor must prove that
the code delivers and that all members are actually working to the code. The NCC has set the industry a target: that
by September 2007 all UK consumers should have easy access to a garage that
follows a code approved by the OFT. The timetable set for industry codes is: ·
CCAS Stage One – September 2006 ·
CCAS Stage Two – September 2007 What
happens if the industry fails to meet the timings? If the industry does
not meet the time frames, then the Government will legislate i.e. pass a law
that all garages must comply with. This
means that: ·
The Government will decide the minimum level of standard for
the industry ·
ALL garages will have to comply – or face the possibility of prosecution ·
The standards may be hard to achieve ·
Enforced legislation may be very expensive for garages Therefore, professional garages need to
recognise that to turn things around they need to take responsibility and lead
the way in driving out bad practices, rebuild consumer confidence and make it
impossible for bad garages to compete. So
can we reverse this? Yes, and things are already happening. A
group of industry representatives agreed that a minimum standard needed to be
set that all garages could achieve - whether franchised, independent or
fast-fit. Also, that garages needed to display a logo or quality
mark that was known to and clearly recognised by consumers to instil confidence.
So they approached BSI (The British Standards Institution), to develop an
industry ‘Kitemark’ Scheme. What
is a ‘Kitemark’® Scheme?
·
The ‘Kitemark’ is recognised by around 80% of UK customers as a mark of
quality and safety ·
60% of UK customers are prepared to pay a premium for products or services which
carry the ‘Kitemark’ How
does a ‘Kitemark’® Scheme work? ·
Firstly, a scheme has to set performance levels that a garage must achieve ·
BSI, working with the industry representatives, produced a document known as PAS
80. PAS stands for Publicly Available Specification. ·
PAS 80 is the BSI “standard” (or for CCAS, the Code) that garages must
achieve ·
It is designed to set realistic standards which are achievable to all businesses
from the smallest to the largest. ·
To be awarded the ‘Kitemark’, garages must pass an audit of their business
that shows they meet the standards set by PAS 80 ·
Garages are then issued with a licence to display the ‘Kitemark’ to promote
their business. Why
and how will my business benefit from this? Garages have to pay to join the
‘Kitemark’ scheme, so why should you make this investment? There are tangible business benefits from
becoming a ‘Kitemark’ Garage and these are already being experienced by some
early adopters. ·
Garages that display the ‘Kitemark’ demonstrate to customers their
commitment to quality service standards ·
Displaying the ‘Kitemark’ differentiates garages from competitors and poor
practices. Real
examples … ·
One ‘Kitemark’ licensee, an independent garage has already added another
work ramp to his garage because of the increase in business. ·
Another independent garage licensee has won a contract with major leasing
provider Lloyds TSB Autolease because of their achievement of the
‘Kitemark’. Comments one licensee, “After achieving
BSI ‘Kitemark’ accreditation back in February we have seen standards across
all areas of the business improve. Working to the requirements of the PAS80 our
staff have installed business practises that have helped us to become more
customer focused improving our levels of customer satisfaction – we were even
awarded Dealer of the Year by Daimler Chrysler” Other business benefits that come from
adopting PAS 80 are improved efficiencies, improved staff morale, fewer customer
complaints and better customer retention. So
if I join this scheme, will we avoid the super-complaint? Ultimately, it’s up to the industry.
Garages nationally need to join a scheme that has achieved Consumer Codes
Approval. The BSI ‘Kitemark’ scheme has already been submitted to the
OFT for approval, is live and operational, and applicable to all garages,
independents, franchised dealers and fast fits and has members already from each
group. What
other options are there? One other option is to sign up to the code
being developed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT),
working in partnership with the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF) under
the name of the Retail Motor Strategy Group. Whatever choice you make, garage owners do
need to take this threat seriously. But also, to recognise that investing in
improving standards and implementing basic quality control processes does
actually save money and increase profitability. So if you do need to join a scheme, why not
make sure that your business actually benefits from this. One
‘Kitemark’ licensee has seen revenue increase by around 20% since being
awarded the ‘Kitemark’. Motor
Factor recommendation Major motor factors, most of whom are
members of the ADF, are all fully behind BSi and the ‘Kitemark’ scheme and
are encouraging all garages to join. We believe that a scheme independent of the
industry, managed by a business with a brand such as BSI’s, which has been
recognised as a “super-brand”, and backed by a quality mark with such high
recognition as the ‘Kitemark’ will provide a real benefit to those
businesses which do want to improve standards. To find out more about the ‘Kitemark’
scheme, contact BSI. BSI Product Services Tel: 01442 278577 Or why not visit the website: www.’Kitemark’today.com
Take responsibility Take control ... or ... Take the consequences
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