UK-based Mercia Fleet Management has recently stated that automotive fleet managers should look to local garages for better value and cost savings over national chains. This got us thinking, what are the benefits to be had for Irish automotive fleet managers from choosing a local workshop for their maintenance needs? As it turns out, quite a lot, which we’ll tease out in this article.

Local Garages Often Give a More Personal Touch

We’ve all been in those little local cafes with that homely feel that the big coffee chains just can’t evoke, often with the owner working on the ground and talking to customers. It makes you feel looked after, important, and not just another anonymous ‘consumer’. This is often the case with local vehicle workshops too, where chances are you’ll have the opportunity to talk to the management face to face. This serves to foster a good working relationship between you and the workshop, something that will be of great value when you need fleet work done in a hurry or an out-of-the-ordinary issue arises with a vehicle. In such situations, you want to deal with someone you know and trust.

Local Workshops Can Have a Better Range and Give Better Value

You might think that the best value is to be had by using major fast-fit chains to source parts such as tyres. However, you’ll often find that, when you look closely, the actual variety of tyres they hold in stock isn’t that diverse. In contrast, local garages will often go to considerable effort to source in specific types of parts, and at the keenest value. 

The Nearest Garage to me is Always Full, it’s a Hassle Trying to Find Others in My Area

So you discover that one of your fleet vehicles is due a service within two weeks and it’s a vehicle that does quite a high mileage daily. You go to book it in, but you find that the nearest garage has a 3-week waiting list, and you don’t want to risk going over the service due to the km it clocks in each day. Ringing around every alternative garage in your area seems like a hassle, and then you’ll have the admin hassle of setting up another workshop as a vendor and all the extra invoicing that goes with it. Well, actually, you don’t need to worry about any of this in Ireland. The ForWare Workshop Network gives you ready access to available garages in your area, and you can book your vehicle using the portal. It’s all handled through your ForWare account, so you need not worry about having to deal with multiple garage accounts and invoices.

We’re Part of a Nationwide Fleet, Head Office Wants Us to Use the same Garage in Dublin

When managing maintenance across a large, nationwide fleet, it’s often easy to make a corporate decision to use one garage and send all their vehicles there as services become due throughout the year, regardless of location. Sure, it causes fuel and time-consuming journeys but it saves on having to handle admin across multiple workshops, right? Not necessarily. When you use the ForWare Fleets, there’s only one touch point, so it doesn’t matter if you use one garage or one hundred garages; one booking portal, one set of invoices, and one account. When you take that into account, sending drivers and fleet vehicles on a 200km trip to one garage to save on admin just seems silly, doesn’t it?

In conclusion, there is much to be gained from using a local workshop for your automotive fleet maintenance requirements. It’s an area where the ForWare Workshop Network comes into its own, a vast and expanding garage network that caters for both franchise workshops and independent garages. It also handles compliance, so you can book all your motor tests without needing to leave the ForWare portal. For a free demo, call Alan today at 021 484 5554 or email alan@forware.io.