The Garage 364

Are you selling
headlight
alignment?
NEWS
Garage’s strategy
to work less hours
pays off
Owner reveals how one phone call sparked a
change in mindset for the whole business.
Automotive accessory specialist, Ring Automotive,
is urging technicians to educate customers on the
importance of headlight alignment.
Although the aftermarket is a fruitful industry, full of
specialists that are enthusiastic about vehicles and how
to repair them, something that the industry still struggles
with is making the most out of situations that should be more
profitable than they currently are.
An anonymous survey carried out by Ring Automotive late last
year, revealed that technicians are not making the most of the
bulb business that enters the workshop, with more than three
quarters (76%) of technicians not advising customers that bulbs
should be replaced in pairs, or proactively following best practice
advice and replacing them in pairs. Another discovery was that
50% of workshops do not charge for fitting bulbs, therefore
losing out on potential profit each year.
While changing a bulb is a regular job for a technician, the
headlight must be properly aligned after the job has been
completed, but are technicians simply telling customers they
have replaced the bulb or are they adding value by saying the
bulb in both headlamps have been replaced to ensure even light
output and they have been aligned correctly to ensure they are
not causing glare to other road users. This is an ideal opportunity
for technicians to upsell services, when a car needs a new
headlamp bulb, it should be replaced as part of pair, as it’s being
part of a paired system, and then it should be aligned correctly.
This service takes time, and so should be charged for accordingly
as part of the overall fitting service.
This is particularly relevant as there has been a lot of chatter
recently about drivers being dazzled by other road users’
headlights, and many of these incidents could well be because
they are not properly aligned.
Aligning headlights after replacing the bulb not only ensures
that the beam pattern is correct, it also means that those lights
will not dazzle others and can provide an extra income revenue
for workshops.
Ring Automotive therefore encourages workshops to not only
fit reputable and quality bulbs, but to also ensure headlights are
aligned correctly to give maximum visibility on the road.
Court Autos, a family-run Bosch garage in Shropshire, has
revealed how changing its approach to the work it attracts
through its website, has ultimately changed the garage’s whole
mindset and the way it does business.
Harry Alford, along with his brother and sister who also work
in the business, are the third generation of Alfords to be at the
helm after their grandad opened the doors nearly 40 years ago.
He says prior to getting a website that ‘actually works’, the
team were often starting their day at 4am or working late into
the evening because they didn’t want to let customers down.
He explained: “To continue grandad’s legacy, I knew we had to
really push the business forward. Marketing was something we’d
never invested in, apart from an old website years ago. It looked
okay on the surface but might as well have been in another
world; nobody could find it.
“I found Garage Services Online and that one phone call about
a new website sparked a change that not only reduced the
number of hours we work, it changed our whole way of thinking.
“Now, we have a clever website that attracts the work we
specifically want. By changing the profile of jobs coming in, we’re
running the business; it is not running us.”
Whilst the garage offers servicing and repairs, accident
recovery and vehicle sales, Harry really wanted to grow its
bodyshop services. His asked the Garage Services Online team to
create a website that would drive growth for the bodyshop side,
as well as be found for its regular most profitable everyday jobs.
Harry continued: “It wasn’t long before the website caught
us the biggest fish: a £12k repair job for a motorhome that had
been in a collision. We’d never had a job that big.
“It signalled the start of the change. Just last week, we picked
up ongoing servicing and repair work for a local company’s van
fleet. We 100 percent would not have been on their radar if we
didn’t have a website that reflected the professionalism of our
business online as it is on the ground.
“Basically, Garage Services Online has done us the most
massive favour.”
Jim Lang, managing director at Garage Services Online, said:
“Court Autos’ website has seen a 63 percent increase in organic
appearances on Google in the last six months alone. That has led
to an 89 percent increase in organic click throughs.
“But the work doesn’t stop there. We’re continuing to help
Harry by adding more pages to attract work that gives a quick
ROI on his investment in new tools. These tools are necessary to
work on the changing car parc and it’s vital the website evolves
and reflects that.”
To find out how a website can change your garage business, visit:
https://garage-services-online.co.uk
THE GARAGE 27
27, News Courts Garage and RING 2.indd 1 01/07/2024 16:23