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Very good post.
My only experience of these sorts of thing is when my old mate went from delivering building materials and the like to helping out with certain jobs, and after learning the very basics of the trade he established himself as a small specilaised type of building company.
Within weeks he had joined some sort of association, fancy seal to put on his letterhead and his van, and he knew only the basics of the job...however over the years he's done well for himself and good luck to him.
What amazed me was that he knew so little but could join this association which made him appear to be some time served font of all knowledge, no checks were made, no one came to inspect his work or anything like that, the shield and membership meant absolutely nothing, other than a bit of cheap image.
Anyway, getting back to cars, i'm a big fan of small car workshops who try to offer what you do, and you are so right about reputation, its worth all the shields and associations put togther, you can't buy it, you can only earn it through constant good work and customer care.
I run an old MB, have run them for manyy years, i'm lucky enough to have the services of one of the oldest established MB indies in the country, he doesn't advertise, he doesn't have dolly bird receptionists (pity 'bout that..;), the only floor coverings are muck and old parts and the place looks like a scrap yard, but his work is exceptional and his knowledge amazing, he charges reasonably and he does the work well, he doesn't fit parts willy nilly till he happens upon the bit that had failed. He repairs parts where he can, in short he's the best thing since sliced bread in the MB indy game.
See those of us who know like him just as he is, we don't want fancy coffee and deep carpets and shiny tiles, we want our cars fixing properly for a reasonable cost, we want servicing performed competently with 40 years of common sense and knowledge even if it differs from what the book says.
He's always stacked out with work, we as customers recommend him to others, but we are protective too, in that we vet potential customers if we can.
Don't need to tell you about bad payers do i, they grate me as much as they do my indy, he is a gentleman of the old school, his word is good, his handshake on something is as good a guarantee as you will find in this land, he deserves customers who appreciate what they have found.
The chap in question needs no scheme membership either, he has earned his spurs times over.
Edited by gordonbennet on 15/07/2012 at 17:19
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