PW Auto Repairs was founded in 2015 by Paul Whetton, who has 23 years of industry experience and has always wanted to be a technician. Diana Whetton joined and, as she said in her own words, “came as temporary help but never left!” They found and started using Garage Hive in 2020. The business now has seven staff members, including Paul and Diana.
“Paul started his own garage in 2015 and quickly needed a bigger premises and staff. Last year we moved premises, and look forward to continuing to grow and develop our team and customer base.”
“Paul started the business on his own and I had a career in a completely different industry. Business was always busy, but chaotic! In 2019, we were still inundated with work but not making profits and couldn’t understand how to fix it. Having worked in different industries, I was used to organisation, event management and accounts. I looked for a solution online but didn’t know where to start. Having never been involved in the industry before, I didn’t know anyone or where to start for guidance.”
“The local garages are either rather traditional or franchises. In desperation one day, I asked a college assessor, “how on earth do other garages manage?” He told me that Lindleys have an amazing system to manage their diary and parts. I called the Arnold branch and got a call back from Dawn. It was an instant relief to talk to someone who understood the challenges and exactly what we were going through. I also spoke Alex and Rhys, who helped me immensely to get back on track.”
“We joined in April 2020 (just at the start of the pandemic!). Our business has completely transformed since joining Garage Hive. There is no way we would have been able to manage the business and progress without the Garage Hive system.”
“We’ve been with Garage Hive for 4 years now. We have loved being on the journey with so many other garages to continually improve. Taking inspiration from others, picking up new ideas, best practices and rolling them out through Garage Hive is awesome.”
“We joined during the start of the first Covid lockdown. We had remote training with Tom to get us started. As soon as we could have face-to-face training, Tom came in to train the technicians, new starters and to develop the operations and administration side of things. Tom helped us put vital processes in place. We’ve since had refresher training and continue to keep up to date with new developments.”
“Trying to get the whole team to see the “why” of introducing the changes we make has always been a point we need to remember. Paul and I spend a great deal of time thinking about our business and learning new things. We have to make sure our staff understand why we want to make changes, how this will improve things for the team and customers.”
“When I look back at how the business started to where we are now, it’s amazing, and we know we still have so much to learn. I know we can utilise so much more of the system to make tweaks and improvements to make our services better.”
“There are too many amazing features to pick just one! We’re always trying to keep up with the numerous continual improvements and new features. When I look back at how we started out with a paper diary and a cloud accounting system, I cannot believe we managed to function at all, and it explains why we were always busy but in constant chaos. I like to see the notes and status of each job. I know what parts are ordered, what the Tech needs and what has happened so far. I love being able to look up prior history – not just of the vehicle, but the customer and customer comments. Customer Online authorisation is amazing, and we know the customers love it. The integrations with AutoData and Micheldever save us time and improve accuracy.”
“One of my favourite things about Garage Hive is the community! Joining Garage Hive going into the pandemic, we were so lucky to be in a community of amazing people who strived to help each other get through it. We would have felt so alone if it wasn’t for the community. I know I can ask a question, and get thoughtful and supportive answers. If needed, I can pick up the phone and call members of the community from all over the country and get sound help and advice. The wider community of service providers and recommendations of suppliers and equipment has also been a great source of recommended help.”
“We have seen a 228% increase in turnover since joining Garage Hive 4 years ago. It’s been a rough few years with changes in staff and moving premises last year – but we are hopeful that this year we will settle a bit and get on top of the workload. “
“They always say, “you don’t know what you don’t know” hey? Well that’s how I felt coming into this industry. I was standing in a garage with passionate technicians and plenty of customers, but it wasn’t making money and keeping on top of the daily influx of bookings, parts and general chaos left no time for figuring out what was going on. I didn’t know what to charge for and how to sell it. We didn’t know how much harder we needed to work to make it better. Garage Hive and the extended community has helped us completely transform our business – and we still have scope to go much further!”
The Penygroes Service Centre located in South Wales was founded in 2014 by Jonathan. He has extensive 17 years of experience in the industry. However, Jon found himself doing a lot of manual labour for data management to keep a finger on the pulse of the business. Therefore, joined Garage Hive's garage management software in March 2021 and has already seen a significant improvement in his garage, an increase in gross profit and has achieved a great NPS® Score.
Tom and Kayleigh runs their garage TR Autos in Yeovil, Somerset. They joined Garage Hive last year. Tom has two decades of industry experience , both practical and technician side and now business as TR Autos was founded in 2008; since then the team has grown, practices have moved away from paper diaries to garage management software, their productivity has increased and they also have moved into bigger premises.
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