Client notes

What people said after the pack landed on the aftersales table.

These notes name the work we actually did: board packs, occupancy reviews, campaign ledgers, and a throughput study. They are not scores.

The covering note for March named the two internal accounts that had been inflating occupancy. I still had to sit with my aftersales manager to agree what we would stop booking into bay four. The pack did not settle the argument; it stopped us inventing a third version of the hours.

Diane Howarth · Dealer principal, Lancashire franchise · Aftersales board pack

Callum spent Tuesday watching the valet queue back into the last ramp. We had been calling that bay productive because the diary showed a service. The written note is blunt, which I needed, though I would have liked a second visit in winter when the wash bay freezes and the pattern changes.

Marcus Bell · Aftersales manager, multi-site group · Service bay occupancy review

They used a week in which we had two failed MOTs come back, which was fair. The study showed the Thursday MOT cluster was crowding paid servicing into Friday overtime I had not been counting. I did not hire a fourth technician.

Joanna Pitt · Owner, independent garage, Cheshire · Independent garage throughput study

The unmatched VIN rows were more useful than the completed ones. Advisors now ask for the campaign screen before they offer a loan car. We still miss campaigns the manufacturer loads late on a Friday; Helen put that limit in the first paragraph so nobody pretends otherwise.

Owen Fraser · Service manager, volume franchise · Recall and campaign ledger

Two longer accounts

Aftersales board pack

Three months of board packs at a dual-franchise site

A dealer in the North West asked for a single pack covering two franchises that share a yard but not a clocking code book. The first extract mixed courtesy-car movements into productive hours on the smaller franchise. We held the board version for two weeks, issued a draft only to the aftersales director, and rebuilt the code map on a Saturday morning when the workshop was closed. From the third month the pack carried two occupancy columns and one combined labour page, with a footnote whenever a technician clocked on the wrong franchise. The dealer principal now opens the covering note before the aftersales meeting rather than during it.

Service bay occupancy review

A two-day occupancy review before adding a ramp

An independent with five ramps wanted a sixth before Christmas. The diary looked full. On the floor, one ramp held a parts-wait for eleven hours while the job remained ‘in progress’ on the card. Another was used as overflow parking for a courtesy hatchback whose driver was in the waiting room. The occupancy note recommended delaying the ramp and changing how advisors mark parts-wait. The owner still bought the ramp in January; they wrote later to say the wait codes at least now match what the floor is doing.