May 2021

people will always want to do it this way: “This is true, especially the way people buy online these days, and with discount codes as well. They want to buy these parts themselves and then go to a recommended garage.” Is there a danger the programme could actually increase this sub- section of the market? “A lot of people are doing it, even regular customers are returning with their own parts. They know I can get the parts, but they still want to get their own parts.” Could it be a case of consumer choice running amok? “I think it is about trust at the end of the day,” mused Junior. “If they go to a garage, they don’t know what parts they are getting. If you go via LKQ Euro Car Parts you are getting Brembo, and Pagid and other well- known name brands like that.” We asked Junior if he thought this is a market that could grow? “It could become a really big thing. At the moment we are doing things like brakes, batteries, and service parts. Ultimately it could end up like WhoCanFixMyCar.com, that’s not such a big leap. It depends if LKQ Euro Car Parts want it to be that big. With regards to those who are highly skeptical about the whole concept of allowing customers anywhere near the parts buying process, would Junior recommend it to them? “Absolutely, 100%. At the end of the day it is going back to LKQ Euro Car Parts, they are cross-referencing to make sure it is all correct, and they are not going to send the wrong parts back down to me, so I do completely recommend it.” Fit it For Me is available via www.eurocarparts.com/fit-it-for-me- fitting-service MAY 2021 AFTERMARKET 51 www.aftermarketonline.net premises in Bexley in 2019, which has enabled us to offer more services and expand.” Despite the name, which harks back to the origins of the business as a Ford specialist, the garage is a proud generalist. “We have chosen to keep the name All Fords. It has been our brand identity for all these years and everyone in the area knows my dad Bill. He has built up the business and forged amazing relationships over the years.” The garage fields seven ramps and a MOT bay, and while Junior took on the mantle of leadership in 2014, his dad is still fully in the picture: “He is here all the time. He is 63 but still very active. He does local recovery for us, tyres, customer drop-offs and many other essential tasks.” As a proprietor for the digital age, it has been Junior that led All Fords towards new ways of doing things: “You can keep the old-school ways, but you have to keep up. Over the last few years we have used social media to connect to our customers. We use our Instagram page to showcase a variety of cars we work on and engage with our existing customers as well as potential new customers. We also advertise, and are active on BookMyGarage and WhoCanFixMyCar as well. Just in the last two weeks we became RAC-approved too.” It is this kind of forward-thinking that led Junior to sign up with LKQ Euro Car Parts’ Fit It For Me progamme. Going great As we have seen, Junior was already keen on the way online work aggregators were helping generate business for All Fords, so we wondered how he was finding Fit It For Me: “That is going great for us” he confirmed. “I decided to sign up with Fit It For Me because you gain new customers. Anyone can easily look up a garage that fits brake pads, which is where we come in. We quickly deal with enquiries and book them in. When they come to our garage, they are instantly impressed with the way we present ourselves and how the garage is spotless. I just had a customer in today. He came in for brake pads a couple of weeks ago, and now he came back in for handbrake cables. We generally get more work this way, and it is better for LKQ Euro Car Parts at the end of the day.” We suggested to Junior that the idea of customers buying their own parts and then going to a garage to get them fitted by them is obviously a controversial one. We asked him how he felt about that idea before Fit It For Me. If someone had before the campaign turned up with their own parts, would he have fitted them for them? “Yes, I would have,” he replied, “but I would have read them their rights in the sense of making sure they are the right ones. With Fit It For Me, they are always the right ones for the vehicle, and they are always cross-referenced via LKQ Euro Car Parts before they send me the parts. I haven’t had a single job yet where they had the wrong part.” In the past, the ratio of correct parts was a little different: “Previously, 80% of the time the parts customers brought in themselves were wrong. They had either gone on eBay, and they thought it was right because it was for a BMW, but there are so many variations they picked the wrong one.” For Junior, customers were coming in expecting to be able to have these parts fitted and he was using it as a upselling opportunity, with the incorrect parts sent back and right ones re-ordered. We wondered how accurate the LKQ Euro Car Parts system has been pertaining to Fit It For Me: “The system has been 100% correct, all the time.” As far as he is concerned, Fit It For Me is a way of capturing the buying- their-own-parts market, and a way of controlling it, assuming that some Could it be a case of consumer choice running amok? ” How do you feel about Fit It For Me? Are you using it? Or do you disagree with the concept? Join the conversation by emailing us at alex@aftermarket.co.uk