New research has revealed that a third (34%) of drivers don’t book their MOT in advance and are in danger of being caught out when their MOT expires.

In addition to the motorists who forget their MOT expiry date, there are 1.1 million car owners who are choosing not to get their car’s MOT renewed on the due date, according to a new survey by leading fast-fit service provider Kwik Fit. With money tight, and motorists looking to stretch their budgets as far as possible, these drivers say that they will either wait until they are required to show their MOT certificate to renew it, or are letting time elapse to maximise the longevity of the new test.

Police data shows that the combination of drivers with memory lapses and those deliberately delaying renewal means that as many as 10% of cars on UK roads may not have a valid MOT.

However, while some drivers may feel the MOT to be an inconvenience, the test is crucial to road safety. A massive 40% of all cars fail their annual MOT, with the average vehicle failing the test on more than three issues. The five most common reasons for failure are: 1: Lighting and signalling defects 2: Suspension defects 3: Defective brakes 4: Illegal tyres 5: Impaired drivers view of the road.

David White, customer services director at Kwik Fit, said: “If car owners are used to their car regularly passing the MOT with no problems, they may view an MOT simply as a piece of paper they need in order to get their car taxed. However, the statistics show that the test plays a vital role in identifying defects on a car that render it unroadworthy and unsafe to drive.”

Performance Improvement and mystery shopping expert Douglas Stafford has a specialised customer contact centre which operates a range of highly effective schemes to help dealerships connect and reconnect with their past customers. “Talking to customers both past and present regularly is essential for retaining and attracting business and reminding customers that their MOT is due and booking them in is a very effective way to help customers to stay legal and keep their car regularly serviced,” says Contact Centre Operations Manager Madelaine Cook.

Douglas Stafford has been working with Volkswagen UK to take the mystery out of mystery shopping. The company has produced a brochure for Volkswagen that explains and captures the true spirit of mystery shopping, which is its use as a tool to improve the skills of dealership sales staff.

“The brochure we created in collaboration with Volkswagen UK provided a unique opportunity to show its retailer network how efficient a measurement and learning tool mystery shopping can be,” said Rohan Tailor, Electronic & Audio Production Manager at Douglas Stafford. “We created mystery shop scenarios in line with day-to-day customer enquiries and then produced a snappy, quick reference guide providing insight into how to handle such a customer.

“By being completely transparent with the retailer network and advising that we have specific scenarios, we have taken the ‘scare’ out of mystery shopping, instead providing the retailers with an opportunity to measure their processes with the varying customer enquiries and then the ability to review and refine where necessary. At Douglas Stafford we’re always very happy to work with our clients in any way that will benefit them and working on the booklet with Volkswagen was fantastic. The feedback is that it has been received well and hopefully both retailers and customers will benefit from it.”

For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help improve your team’s customer service skills, call 0800 783 1913 or go to www.douglasstafford.com

Managers from Douglas Stafford’s Customer Contact Centre took to the water for a team building day on the Solent. The group – Contact Centre Operations Manager Madelaine Cook, Account Manager Geoff Osborne, Contact Centre Supervisor Nicola Torr, Project Managers Philippa Croucher and Caleigh Meadows and Team Leaders Jo Morgan and Charlotte Wells – went sailing on Douglas Stafford’s company yacht Lady Diane. They set off from Portsmouth at 10am and sailed to Cowes on the Isle of Wight where they stopped off for lunch before spending the afternoon at sea.

“Apart from Madelaine and Geoff none of us had ever sailed before,” says Project Manager Philippa Croucher. “But we all thoroughly enjoyed our first time on the water. We all had the opportunity to get involved with putting up the sails, learning how to do the ropes, and sailing the yacht – which was great fun! It was a perfect day for it, slightly overcast on the way over to the Isle of Wight but beautiful sunshine on the way back. It was a great way to bring the team supervisors and managers together and involved lots of laughter throughout the day. It was a fantastic experience and something we’ll all remember.”

Two members of Douglas Stafford’s Information and Communication Mystery Shopping department work in a very different environment at the weekend. Brian Purvis and Thomas Coles present a show every Sunday morning on Radio Haslar, a charity hospital radio station based in Gosport in Hampshire. Brian has been involved in hospital radio for 25 years, starting at Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, before he and a colleague founded Radio Haslar, which launched in 1993.

“It is great fun doing the show,” he says. “Tom got involved about six months ago after sitting in with me on a couple of shows.” Says Tom: “I have learned a lot in the short time I have been there from training my radio voice to learning how to use all the equipment.” The show – Sunday Brunch with Brian and Tom – is broadcast every Sunday between 9am and 11am – and you don’t need to be a hospital patient to listen.

Radio Haslar is available online 24/7 at www.radiohaslar.co.uk. If you would like to find out more, you can visit the show’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sundaybrunchwithbrianandtom or follow them on twitter:  www.twitter.com/rhsundaybrunch

For more information on Douglas Stafford, and our Mystery Shopping services, please visit http://www.douglasstafford.com/

Douglas Stafford has appointed two new project managers to further strengthen its customer contact centre team. Caleigh Meadows and Philippa Croucher (left) both have backgrounds in the automotive industry and will work with a range of clients.

The customer contact centre offers a number of specialist services to help car dealerships reconnect with past customers, increase aftersales revenues, support sales events and get in touch with lost leads and hot prospects.

“I am delighted that Caleigh and Philippa have joined the team,” says Contact Centre Operations Manager Madelaine Cook. “Having both worked in dealerships themselves, they have a very good understanding of how they operate. That means they are very effective at liaising with dealers and being a point of contact between our clients and our customer service advisers. The customer contact centre is very busy – our great track record means we are gaining new clients almost every day – and making sure that we communicate effectively with them is vital.”

For more information on Douglas Stafford customer contact centre and how it can help your business, please contact Madelaine on 0800 783 1913.