In our 17 September issue, BusinessCar revealed that Kwik-Fit had begun to up its game in the corporate market by expanding beyond its traditional but basic fast-fit and MoT services into broader mechanical work with its new Plus centres, with the intention of taking on the franchised dealer network for servicing, repairs and broader MoT jobs.
The company has tooled itself up to tackle what it calls “slow-fit” tasks – that is any mechanical job that doesn’t fall under its usual tyre-fitting and simple MoT remits. It has added new equipment, trained up staff and employed “master technicians”, who would previously have been spread across multiple sites, at each Plus centre, which are traditional Kwik-Fit sites that have been refurbished. The new look includes posh reception areas with wi-fi, flat-screen televisions, complimentary tea and coffee, and the ability to watch your vehicle being serviced on screen (it’s a Vehicle and Operator Services Agency requirement that the owner or operator can see testing taking place, so the new workshops are decked out with cameras and digital feeds to supplement traditional viewing areas). The new centres will also be open seven days a week and for longer hours than traditional Kwik-Fit sites.
Speaking to BusinessCar, the firm’s managing director, Kenji Murai, who took the reigns of the business when it was bought out by Japanese conglomerate Itochu in 2011, explains why he thought the company, and the industry as a whole, needed a serious shake-up.
“Unfortunately, the customer service reputation of the fast-fit industry has not been great,” he says. “My first impression was that the customer service reputation of supermarkets, car dealers and other large organisations [in the UK] was good. But with fast-fit centres, it was not good.
“So we’ve been focussing on these areas very, very heavily. The complaints were four times bigger than the compliments when I joined. Now, we get more compliments than complaints. That’s our largest challenge and it’s our direction in the future.”
After a trial at eight sites around the country, the Plus centres are being rolled out across 17 Kwik-Fits in the South-East, five of which are in London and all of which are due to be operational by the end of the year.
The firm’s fleet director, Peter Lambert, explains the reasons for confining the first few refurbished centres to areas around the M25: “One of the major reasons for the cluster of centres in the South-East is to give a significant number of fleets the opportunity to test our new concept for themselves.”
He continues: “If we want to improve our share of the manufacturer service market then we have to be able to demonstrate our ability to do that to the same standard and give customers something else. It will take time. We want to gradually build on the basis that we do the job right and on word of mouth. The maintenance angle is the biggest, single controllable expense for a fleet, so it’s a way of moving more business to independents.”
The moves will also see the company take on more LCV work, as the Plus centres are kitted out with class-seven MoT bays that can handle vans. More powerful jacks, axle stands and other heavy-duty equipment have been employed for van work, which is summed up in what the firm describes as an “LCV awareness campaign”, with the intention of reeling in business from the corporate sector as well as smaller van operators.
Murai explains: “There is an opportunity for the company with LCV maintenance – we can do that as well as car dealers now. I believe we have more opportunities with fleet.”
Lambert adds: “[The campaign] is designed to encourage more fleets, small businesses and sole traders to use our centres. for their LCV requirements.”
Speaking about the fast-fit industry in general, Lambert admits that Kwik-Fit has been a late arrival to the servicing and repair side of things and that one of its rivals already has the edge on the non-manufacturer front.
“In the independent sector, Nationwide Autocentres – they’re ahead of the game in as much as the culture of their business is derived from servicing. Kwik-Fit started with fast-fit then moved into the mechanical side. Halfords will be doing more [mechanical] work than Kwik-Fit today,” he says.
But he doesn’t think there’s much to worry about from the rest of the tyre-fitting industry, though.
“With your ATSs and NTAs, it’s really a question of whether these organisations are prepared to invest in infrastructure that meets the expectations of the fleet market,” he says.
He concludes by saying that the Kwik-Fit Plus centres are expected to fan out across the existing network over time: “We’ll have maybe 150 [Plus centres] by the end of the 2015.”
