Some franchised dealers are turning away retail repair and maintenance work to process the volume of part-exchanges generated by the introduction of the new 73- plate.

EMaC believes this year’s improved supply of new vehicles could see a return to pre-Covid sales volumes for the September plate-change but warns this is already stretching workshop operations, an issue heightened by the industry-wide shortage of technicians.

As workshops work through the part-exchange backlog, EMaC is advising retailers to address the issue by taking a longer-term approach to the problem by offering new car customers care packages. It believes this will ensure vehicles are regularly maintained over the course of their ownership and so require less preparation work when they are part-exchanged.

“The September plate-change is an extremely busy period for franchised workshops as they prepare new vehicles for sale. However, with dealers now retaining more part-exchanges for their used forecourts, we are seeing some workshops facing meltdown scenarios because of the extra work required to bring them up to retail standards,” said Serkan Obuz, Automotive Warranty Director of EMaC.

“This is compounded by the shortage of qualified mechanical and bodywork technicians. In some cases, we have seen dealers turn away retail service and repair work in favour of preparing part-exchanges.

“One way to reduce this preparation time in the future is to have a proper maintenance plan strategy, offering cosmetic, tyre, alloy, mechanical and electric cover to new car customers. This will ensure that cars come back in near CAP-clean condition cosmetically and mechanically.

“The customer experience will also be enhanced as the vehicle will remain in showroom condition throughout ownership and they’ll get a better part-exchange value for it. This will in turn improve workshop throughput, increase the quality and volume of part-exchanges and improve customer loyalty,” said Obuz.