GOOD WORKMANSHIP IN MOTOR GARAGES URGED

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29345, 26 October 1960, Page 22

GOOD WORKMANSHIP IN MOTOR GARAGES URGED

A motor-car was often the most important and expensive purchase in a man’s life. Garages should, therefore, follow up with courtesy and good workmanship, the president of the New Zealand Retail Motor Traders’ Association (Mr F. N. Gibbons) said in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Gibbons, of Palmerston North, opened a three-day course in garage management attended by more than 50 men associated with the motor industry in the South Island. The .course is organised by the Institute of the New Zealand Motor Industry. There was not the pride in workmanship today as there was 20 or 25 years ago, said Mr Gibbons. It was too easy to find another job, and the Government policy of narrowing margins of wages for skill had reduced incentive. “This skill must be maintained,’ ’ he said. "If this course is successful it will create incentive. Then we shall have done a good job.” There were a number of things that brought discredit to the industry, he said. The most unfavourable of these was “pressure dealing and trading. “There are dealers who will not sell a car unless they have the promise of more business from the buyer,” said Mr Gibbons. To run a successful garage it was necessary to be courteous,

reliable, and to give careful consideration to a customer’s problems. In the event of complaints it was better to handle them on a personal basis instead of handing them on to a foreman or employee. Poor diagnosis also often resulted in poor workmanship, said Mr' Gibbons. Too often garage workers accepted the customer’s word for what was wrong with a vehicle. The service department was an important part of a garage, said Mr Gibbons, because it provided the nucleus of customers for other departments. “The service department should meet all overheads, leaving the proceeds from the sale of cars and parts as profits,” he said. "There is plenty of scope for men to go into business today,” said Mr Gibbons. “There are great opportunities in the motor industry—and you are the men who must take advantage of them.” School Coat Of Arms.—An Auckland artist was at present working on the monogram and coat of arms for the new Hillmarten High School, reported the secretary (Mr P. J. Halligan) at last evening’s meeting of the Posit-primary Schools’ Council. Details would be released to the newspapers when available, Mr HaMigan said.