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.