An Interview with Oliver Richmond, co-founder of Servicing Stop ltd

Servicing Stop Ltd was founded by Oliver and Toby Richmond, to give the public and fleets a more proficient car service. The company now has 750+ garages on their network and is still growing fast.

The opportunity to expand the business became a reality when the ‘Block Exemption’ law changed in 2003, which meant that Manufacturers could no longer insist on main dealer services as part of a car’s warranty and the public had a choice to do their vehicle servicing at an Approved Independent garage, which still protected their warranty.

FleetDirectory.co.uk spoke to Oliver Richmond, to ask what makes Servicing Stop special and why increasing numbers of people and businesses are turning to the company to slash their service costs.

Question: You say you can cut the cost of servicing by up to 50 per cent compared to a main dealer how is this possible when you source the approved parts from the same sources?

Answer: There are several factors that achieve this, the main difference is the labour rates, our rates are significantly cheaper than the main dealer and our buying power enables us to receive hugely reduced prices on parts.

In essence we receive beneficial trade rates from our garages, where the savings can be passed onto the customer hence the huge savings.

Question: You are offering 10 per cent off car service prices in August, tell us more – what are the restrictions on the offer, can fleets take advantage to?

Answer: There are absolutely no restrictions on this offer; it is a genuine offer that anyone can take advantage of. Since launching the offer we have seen a 30% increase in orders, which helps us to give our customers what they want – a low cost, professional service.

Question: You offer free collection and delivery service, is this available to fleets too?

Answer: The free collection and delivery is a major selling point to our customers, and offers a hassle free alternative to main dealer servicing. We collect in the morning and deliver back on the same day, whether it be a fleet or independent customer.

Question: What special services can you offer fleets?

Answer: Fleet companies can benefit from our special fleet rates and payment terms. They will also benefit from having use of our b2b customer services team, industry trained staff, and an assigned fleet manager. Overall we are confident our fleet management services are of the highest standard within this sector of the Industry and it is an area of business expansion, which carries a high priority with us.

Question: Your business has grown at a staggering rate, tell us more. What makes Servicing Stop unique to enable such rapid growth?

Answer: We believe that our success is due to an amalgamation of many factors; most significantly, we have found an ample solution to managing our clientele and network of garages. Our prices are extremely competitive and our exemplary customer service enables us to give our customers a reassured and stress free alternative to servicing their vehicles. We have also built up an excellent relationship with our network of garages, so that they too can contribute to providing our customers with a professional, reliable and stress free service.

Question: Your mission statement says you aim to ‘become the UK’s leading provider of car servicing’, how do you plan to tackle this?

Answer: While we continue to expand our business, we believe that there is always room for improvement. Customer feedback is key in making Servicing Stop a huge success and we take on board all feedback, whether it be good or bad, to improve our performance. We are also expanding our network on a daily basis to ensure we have unrivalled UK coverage and the highest quality network of garages in the industry.

Overall by sticking to the old fashioned values that customer care is key, and by going the extra mile to keep each and every customer happy we can ensure that we stay the UK’s leading car servicing provider. When our aspirations and objectives are achieved we will obviously become the leaders within our Industry sector in terms of customer conquest and business to business affiliations.

Author: Richard Lawton, July 29, 2009
Filed under: Fleet news,Interviews,Servicing Stop

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