Who would thing that Inter Cars is now 25 years old. The time goes by really fast. On this occasion we decided to ask Adam Karpiński, Director of Motointegrator Fleet abut the situation of independent garages market. Abut perspectives for development in the nearest years and changing expectations of customers.
Tomasz Siewiński: In many branches of industry we can see consolidation now. Can we observe the same on the market of repair services? Shall we expect that only big market players will stay afloat or is there maybe a place for someone more?
Adam Karpiński: The process is inevitable and being realized for many years. It is caused by growing expectations regarding fleet operators and servicing garages. No-one will be satisfied now with a chain of 50-60 garages in Poland, as the customer wants to realize the service close to his office or home, and the time of getting to a garage should not exceed 20-30 minutes. So there is nothing strange in the fact that several hundred garages are participating in fleet programme. Another important factor for consolidation is the need of infrastructure development, necessary for efficient and professional customer service. Development of communication systems between garage-operator-customer is necessary for optimization of processes, shortening repair times and as a result optimization of fleet running costs.
Single services, despite great competence, are not able to meet this kind of expectations, but operating in such chain as Motointegrator, they can count on having new customers, and also on IT, organizational and know-how support. Also very precious are trainings organized by the operator of the chain. For several years now, Inter Cars has been raising several thousand garages annually, improving practical knowledge of mechanics a lot.
Do you assume that there will be a growing specialization of garages, i.e. dedicated tyre chains, diagnostic chains, or will the garage chains rather offer a wide range of services?
The time of monocultures has finished and this applies to most kinds of services. This is mostly visible in tyre servicing. Some years ago, only specialized garages were rendering services in this area, practically monopolizing the market. But lately, thousands of mechanical garages bought cutting edge devices, found some storage space, trained employees and are fully ready to serve individual and fleet customers. Advantages of such garages are: a much higher technical culture, no queues in the peak time and what is even more important, possibility of repairing other malfunctions during the same visit in one place.
Our experiences on building a garage chain are very good and we shall continue the process of dispersing tyre services. Finally we want the customers to change his tyres in the same garage which is dealing with customer's car on a daily basis.
Regarding other areas, according to us, the trend will be similar to the one which is now in tyres. This will, of course mean the need of purchasing additional equipment for garages and training the employees. At the same time we expect increased number of inspection pits in the best garages and decrease in number of garages with only two or three pits.
What makes fleet managers use independent garage chains? Is it just the price, or maybe higher level of professionalism?
Of course the price is still important, no-one can cross the budgets, but that is not the only cause. The cost itself, together with low level of services, have no meaning. That is why our company is constantly looking for solutions which will increase the customer service level. It is important to understand the specific of vehicle use in particular company. The same vehicles, but in different companies are very often used for different purposes, which determine the way they should be repaired. Equally important is providing the customer with service of superstructure bodies or other special equipment on the cars. Motointegrator maintains not only the chassis of the vehicle, but also such cars as bank transporters, reefers, hoists and cranes. We treat the vehicle as a whole piece, from the beginning to the end of its use in the company, and we provide complete service and maintenance for it.
Also the awareness of customers is important, who know what they need and how they can use the tools we are offering them. Some of our customers decided to tailor the process of customer service to their own needs, which resulted in much more efficient cooperation.
Can you list the main factors increasing the level of your services?
There are really many areas, but I will mention the most important ones. Firs of all, our new, innovative software. No other company in the market has a tool which merges the work of call centre, garage, logistics, technical department, accounts, administration activities done by the garage, giving access to catalogue of parts and technical data of over two million parts, and finally presenting to fleet manager all ordered information. Another link is a modern call centre, operating 24/7, which organizes the flow of customers, makes appointments in garages and realizes customer satisfaction surveys.
Equally important is building the team of people, who add their know-how and involvement to the software. Thanks to this, we are able to have a flexible approach to all situations, keeping in mind the rules agreed with the customer. We have a sentence in the company, that the first day when we decide that everything works optimally, should be our last in Motointegrator. This is an unceasing process of improvement.
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