Reviving perceptions of the Smart Repair industry

Revive! Franchisees results buck the trend in the 2009 recession...

The fortunes of the car industry remain headline news in the current economic crisis and have been affected more than most sectors. Despite these difficult times certain businesses within the automotive sector continue to flourish and even grow.

The Revive! promise is to repair your car within two hours at your home or office and the cost is a fraction of the equivalent body shop price. With a USP that reduces costs and increases convenience it is easy to understand that more customers are looking to Revive! to have their vehicles repaired.

Perception of SMART repairs

Smart repairs have come a long way since the techniques became prevalent in the mid 1990s. The image of a technician repairing a vehicle exposed to the elements was initially frowned upon, but now industry experts understand that the right type of jobs can be undertaken professionally and to the highest standards.

Managing Director Mark Llewellyn speaks of the image of the business within the car trade:

'There still seems to be two approaches to SMART repairs. You have a cheap and cheerful repair ; with inconsistent levels of professionalism. Then other companies who try to provide a rounded, professional service, not creating shortcuts to save money but producing quality workmanship with appropriate guarantees.

It seems that sometimes people believe in gimmicks and in shortcuts but at Revive we see that the professional approach we apply to all our processes is an effective way to grow the reputation of a business in a sector not always known for professionalism.

Too many companies offer one or two weeks training and send people out as a complete SMART repairer. Worse still they bring people into the business with gadgets and gimmicks that you just don't need, or they don't offer the support they say they will.

You simply can't do that ; people start without the necessary skills or backup and this has a detrimental effect to both SMART repairs and franchising as a whole.'


National Accreditation and ongoing training

'At Revive! we continually strive to improve our technical quality and improve the professionalism of our network. We are currently working with government bodies on professional accreditation for the SMART repair field as a whole and we hope that when this work is complete that all reputable SMART repairers undertake this accreditation.

It goes without saying that all Revive! technicians will lead the way with this and be amongst the first to undertake this accreditation.'


Our franchisees perceptions.

Paul Brimelow (Crawley Franchisee) I have always been interested in cars and am very passionate about customer service so the SMART repair sector seemed an ideal fit. I met Revive! and they clearly stand out in terms of their customer service and professionalism and so there was an immediate affiliation. The whole structure of the Revive! business model supports growth and development, from the size of the territory to the ongoing development. This is quite different to a number of other companies who will take an ongoing fee regardless of the level of my business. I really like the fact that Revive! are bought into my business success and have a tangible reason to help me be successful and professional.'

Our customers' perceptions.

Particularly in these tricky times some car dealerships who are struggling talk about the current difficulty of selling cars, but to be honest a number of our regular customers continue to do well. Their service ethos carries all the way from the presentation and preparation of the vehicles and because there are fewer opportunities they feel that they can't cut comers. The car preparation and presentation therefore becomes even more important.

At a recent annual review of their biggest customer the Revive! CSI (customer satisfaction index) was rated at 96% - excellent.

Given the quality of training and support provided and the service driven accreditation it is easy to understand why Revive! are regarded as the preferred choice of the car trade for SMART repairs.


Revive! are the only full member of the BFA within their sector to offer exclusive territories to their franchisees that guarantees the opportunity to grow a business.

Revive! are compliant with current European legislation and use waterbased products.

For more information on Revive! contact Mandy Sutch on: 0800 917 4379 or visit www.revive-uk.com