Was recently informed a local Dealership had to send all bodyshop warranty work to another Dealership franchise as their bodyshop was not approved to carry out this work by the manufacturer. 

 

If this is true, and normal practice, I find it baffling that a Dealership can spend close to £1m to revamp their Dealership signage and building to meet the demands of the manufacturer, but for reasons unknown, cannot undertake the necessary training/quality control et al to gain a manufacturers approval to conduct work on the very vehicles they sell.

 

Or am I missing something here? 

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm baffled as to how an importer can consider "correct branding" as more important than "correct equipment and training to work on the cars".

56 minutes ago, Fin69 said:

Was recently informed a local Dealership had to send all bodyshop warranty work to another Dealership franchise as their bodyshop was not approved to carry out this work by the manufacturer. 

 

If this is true, and normal practice, I find it baffling that a Dealership can spend close to £1m to revamp their Dealership signage and building to meet the demands of the manufacturer, but for reasons unknown, cannot undertake the necessary training/quality control et al to gain a manufacturers approval to conduct work on the very vehicles they sell.

 

Or am I missing something here?

There may not be enough bodywork repair work going to justify the expense of training technicians and investing in equipment to allow them to do it. Over here this work is usually farmed out to specialist repairers rather than being done by the dealer.

24 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Well, I'm baffled as to how an importer can consider "correct branding" as more important than "correct equipment and training to work on the cars".

 

The manufacturer makes their money out of the showroom, so that's the import bit to them, and the bit they pressure the dealer to keep up to spec to keep the name over the door. 

 

The dealer makes their money out of the workshop, where the customers pay what they're told, so they'll be keen to keep that approved.

 

I'd guess the bodyshop goes to the back of the list for when there's another spare million in the till. Most of a bodyshop's income will be from insurance companies, who like to spend as little miney as possible and generally like to tell the repairer how much the job will cost. 

@StevesTruck - I went to my local $make dealer, and they didn't know about $thing. I'm not having another $make! That really doesn't sound familiar to you?

The thing I don't understand from this particular Dealership is they can do the actual work I require, it just won't be Skoda approved. For them to undertake the work as a Skoda approved warranty repair, they collect the car and then take it to the other dealership (different chain/group) who then subcontract the work to another company - I'm not sure they are aware it is subcontracted out. 

 

It would be interesting (to me anyway) to find out what differentiates a Skoda bodyshop 'technician' from a certified/qualified/trained bodyshop technician, especially as the other Dealership are using non Skoda staff to conduct the work? 

 

To me it would make sense if they have the trained personnel, the equipment and facilities, to get their staff Skoda approved. 

 

Maybe that's why I don't run a car Dealership!

 

Thank you for all your input so far. 

 

Have you put that question to Skoda UK?

 

This isn't just a Skoda issue, all major manufacturers will operate franchised dealers that aren't equipped to carry out approved bodyshop repairs. It is a specialist operation that requires expensive equipment, materials and resource.

 

My local Skoda dealer aren't willing / able to invest in the equipment required to correctly calibrate the lane assist camera fitted to huge amounts of brand new Skoda models. I was told it is too expensive for them to fund the equipment across all branches in their franchised locations.

11 hours ago, silver1011 said:

Have you put that question to Skoda UK?

 

This isn't just a Skoda issue, all major manufacturers will operate franchised dealers that aren't equipped to carry out approved bodyshop repairs. It is a specialist operation that requires expensive equipment, materials and resource.

 

My local Skoda dealer aren't willing / able to invest in the equipment required to correctly calibrate the lane assist camera fitted to huge amounts of brand new Skoda models. I was told it is too expensive for them to fund the equipment across all branches in their franchised locations.

I had the same thing with the Audi dealer in Southampton - for a crash repair they took it to a specialist repairer in Totton.

Fin69,   which Local Dealership to you is operating a Non Franchised bodyshop,  and not franchised to who? 

 

Is it a Skoda Main Dealership that has a bodyshop that does bodyshop work just not VW Group approved?