Who is going to fetch the Qashqai?
You offer collection and delivery because customers love it. At eight in the morning there are five cars to collect, three to return from yesterday, and the part-time driver is off. The owner takes one, a technician takes two, and the advisor rings customers to say the rest will be late.
One customer left the key under a plant pot and the car is not where they said. Another's car has a scuff on the door that nobody noticed until it was back at the garage. Two collections were five minutes apart but got done by different people an hour apart, with a return trip in between.
Collection work is never planned as a round
Collections and deliveries tend to be treated one at a time, as each job is booked. Nobody looks at the day's jobs as a round with areas, time windows and drivers. The drivers, often technicians or apprentices, are needed in the workshop too, so every trip is an interruption.
Condition checks and key hand-overs happen on a driveway with no paperwork, and customers are given a vague time because nobody knows the order of the round.
What unplanned runs cost
| Problem | Cost |
|---|---|
| Technicians used as drivers | Ramp time lost during the working day |
| Trips not grouped by area | Extra driving and extra time out |
| No condition record at collection | Damage disputes with no evidence |
| Vague times given to customers | Customers waiting in, or not in |
| Keys left in agreed places | Security worries and lost time looking |
When collection and delivery is chaotic, garages tend to stop offering it or restrict it, and it was one of the things that set them apart from a chain.
How we plan runs and record hand-overs
- When a job is booked with collection or delivery, the customer's address, preferred time window and key arrangement are recorded with it.
- Each evening, the planner groups the next day's collections and returns into runs by area and time window, and suggests an order using a mapping service.
- Runs are assigned to your drivers or technicians, with a view of how much time each person is away from the workshop.
- Customers get a text with a time window, and another when the driver is on the way.
- At each hand-over, the driver uses a phone to record mileage, fuel, photos of each side and where keys were left, and the customer can sign on screen if present.
- The office can see where each run has got to, and changes during the day, such as a job not finished, move the return into a later run.
Where you use trade plates, drive-away insurance or other arrangements, the driver's screen can prompt for the details your insurer asks you to record. The rules themselves are yours and your insurer's.
A morning with runs, not dashes
The evening before, the planner puts the five collections into two runs: three near the retail park before nine, two in the villages after ten. The part-time driver does the first run. A technician does the second, knowing it takes them off the ramp for an hour at a set time.
Photos at collection show the scuff on the door was already there. The customer with the key under the plant pot recorded the location on their booking. At return, customers get a text when the driver sets off.
- Collections and returns grouped into planned runs
- Technician time away from the ramp known in advance
- Condition, fuel and mileage recorded at every hand-over
- Customers told when to expect the driver
Do collection runs take over your mornings?
- Collection and delivery is sorted out on the morning itself.
- Technicians are regularly pulled off the ramp to drive.
- There are no photos of cars at collection.
- Customers are given vague times and ring to ask.
- You have thought about stopping collection and delivery.