Smartair and Wheelsmart generate extra revenue for BMW dealership
Just three months after installing the Junair-developed Smartair and Wheelsmart at-source extraction system at their new BMW Dealership site in West Midlands, Sytner Solihull has reduced its costs on minor and smart repairs from around £120,000 per year to approximately £80,000. Profit retained by the dealership on each and every minor repair job is up by at least 50%. In addition, the bodyshop department at Sytner Solihull expects to be able to reduce internal preparation charges to the used car sales department by around 25%.
The dealership sees huge potential for new retail revenue streams from smart repairs and alloy wheel refurbishment and the Smartair and Wheelsmart at-source extraction system provides the perfect platform for success in this growing market.
Background
Sytner Solihull has recently moved to its new site on Highlands Road, Shirley, Solihull, from its previous location on nearby Stratford Road.
Larger repair and refinishing jobs are sub-contracted to an independent bodyshop plus a Sytner-owned bodyshop. However, all front-desk work including estimating, administration and customer service, is carried out at Sytner Solihull by Simon Woodford and his team.
BMW had recently instigated the introduction of in-house smart repair facilities in their UK dealerships on a rolling programme. The service, called Spot Repairs, utilises BMW’s own ColourSystem paints based on 2007-compliant water-based coatings. The system has proved to be very successful. All minor and smart repairs are carried out on-site at Sytner Solihull by John Parks.
Simon Woodford, Bodyshop Manager,
Sytner Solihull
The dealership defines a minor or smart repair as any job that takes not more than one hour to complete. Any jobs that are assessed as requiring more time to carry out are sent on to the dealership’s bodyshop partners.
Last month (July 2006) the dealership handled 100 larger body repair/paint jobs, outsourced to its bodyshop partners. But the dealership also dealt with some 90-plus smart repairs through its own dedicated on-site Spot Repairs facility.
Simon Woodford sees massive scope in developing this part of the business and is keen to start marketing this as a retail service.
In order to ensure compliance with the latest Environmental, Health & Safety and paint legislation, Sytner Solihull had to identify and install a proper at-source extraction system. David Harvey, Bodyshop Zone Manager for BMW GB, recommended the Smartair system developed by Junair Spraybooths Ltd.
Compliant and profitable - the smart solution
Junair gave the Sytner management team a demonstration of the system and it proved to be exactly what the dealership was looking for, as Simon Woodford explains: “For finishing minor repairs such as small dents, scratches and scuffs, Smartair, with its localised extraction system, is the ideal solution. It gives us results of a comparable quality to those you would expect from a conventional booth – but without the much higher price tag.”
Although Sytner Solihull has fitted the Smartair system in a dedicated bay, Smartair can in fact be used in any area of the workshop or bodyshop. The system captures all overspray particulates and fumes, extracting them through a high-performance two-stage filtration system and extraction tower, vented externally to the building.
The Smartair system gives Sytner the capability of dealing with small repairs on site, which previously had to be outsourced to the dealership’s bodyshop partners.
For example, before Sytner introduced the Smartair facility on-site, a minor repair on a bumper would have necessitated the removal of the entire bumper from the car. This would then be sent to the bodyshop for repair and painting, before being refitted to the car. This not only significantly curtailed profit from this type of work, it meant that valuable space was being taken up by customer vehicles left with the dealership for bodyshop work, and the availability of courtesy cars was often put under severe pressure.
Even after just three months, Simon could see the huge potential of the Smartair system for reducing costs and generating an extra revenue stream. “Even taking into account the salary of our operator and the cost of paint and other materials, we are currently achieving around 50% more profit on every minor repair job that we do.
“In a typical year, before the installation of Smartair, our suppliers’ costs for minor and smart repairs would be in the region of £120,000. By having the ability to carry out this kind of work in-house, all the indications are that we will dramatically reduce our costs to around £80,000. If anything, our projections on savings are on the conservative side. This is because they are based on historical volumes. We now operate a much larger dealership and there are significantly more cars going through.
“Furthermore, by the end of this year, we confidently anticipate that we will be able to reduce preparation bills to our own used car sales department by around 25%.”
More turnover from wheels
Sytner Solihull has also invested in Wheelsmart to take advantage of the huge market in alloy wheel refurbishment. “We’ve always had big volumes on this type of work, predominantly linked to the preparation of used cars for the forecourt. But we see really exciting potential for retail sales with this product and are looking at ways we can actively market this service in the near future,” says Simon Woodford.
“Again, historically, we outsourced all our alloy wheel refurbishment work. But, with Wheelsmart, we are doing more of this work ourselves and earning more profit as a result. In addition, Wheelsmart enables us to provide this service to our customers at very short notice, whereas previously, all alloy wheel refinishing had to be booked in advance with our sub-contractors.”
With Smartair operator, John Parks, already working flat out to handle the current volume of minor repairs, Sytner Solihull plans to open a second Spot Repairs bay in the near future. “A second dedicated bay will enable John to do primer work in Bay 1, whilst in Bay 2, the paint is drying on another vehicle spot repair and on an alloy wheel refinishing job,” explained Simon.
“All in all, Smartair and Wheelsmart are proving to be an excellent investment for us. The products will help us to further improve our bodyshop services to customers and generate substantial additional revenue. The quality and performance is first-class and totally compatible with the rigorous standards imposed by BMW on all their dealership operations.”