Primary Authority Partnership

The Citizens Advice Consumer Service (CACS) helped with over 84,000 problems with second hand motors in the last 12 months. The car industry is the most complained about problem to CACS with consumers spending over £363 million on vehicles.

Unfortunately, what the general public and Trading Standards are up against is the common perception of the Second hand car dealer ….

From the car dealers point of view, we too, as Trading Standards were perceived as being against the car dealer traders and in favour of the consumer….

To combat the rogue element, our “No Nonsense” Enforcement approach to Forecourt Inspection’s were usually quite interesting resulting in..…..

As part of the National Intelligence model, Stockport Trading Standards have a monthly Tasking meeting to highlight the Top Ten local Traders causing the most consumer detriment.

As a result of these meetings, Dace Motor Company were always in the top ten. After a continuation of complaints, inspections were carried out which resulted in Dace being removed from the Fair Play Charter. The Fair play charter was an AGMA Trading Standards equivalent of the modern day Business approval Scheme

To tackle the problem, we had a number of meetings with Dace to analyse complaints. Over a long period of time, a strong trust was gained between Dace and ourselves after they acted upon our advice resulting in a more consumer focussed company.

It soon became apparent how positive Dace were in being customer focussed and their efforts to provide assurance increased consumer confidence in their business.

The benefits of a Primary Authority Partnership were discussed which would benefit Dace and shape the company’s future vision. An action plan was raised, initially focussing on what the company did well instead of focusing on the negatives and what creates sustainable competitive advantage.

The CACS enquiry database was analysed to understand an in depth knowledge of enquiries received and type. Regular meetings with the company took place for the review of procedures, new measures to be introduced and meticulous checks and balances to be implemented.

It was soon evident that the trust in the Primary Authority Partnership fostered enthusiasm from within the business. Word spread throughout Stockport due to its ongoing success. Consumers learned of the work that we were doing together and already, results were impacting upon business sales. Reduced complaints were evident after this positive approach to change commenced.

Despite Increase in car sales of 26% and an additional sales centre, we are now receiving 25% less enquiries. Justified complaints are becoming rare.

A monthly analysis exercise is now undertaken to understand the justified complaints received via the CACS portal. We designed a bespoke database so that monthly analysis could easily be monitored and that continuous improvement could be achieved. This was then discussed highlighting underlying issues, often resulting in a new procedure being introduced into the company so that the issue can be learned from and never repeated.

The nature of the beast with 2 nd hand car sales is that there will ALWAYS be complaints. However, Dace have grown from a small family run business to the largest used car retailer in Stockport.

Due to the ongoing continued success through the Primary Authority Partnership, Dace now employ over 80 staff and have enjoyed an accelerated period of growth with annual turnover increasing from 78%. Annual turnover is approximate £16million when selling close to 400 vehicles per month now from three branches.

To summarise, Dace have gone from a small business removed from The Fair Play Charter and under the radar of most complained about business in Stockport. Now working alongside Stockport TS, together we have achieved……

Steve Dace receiving Primary Authority Partnership Certificate with Councillor Martin Candler.

Dace are also now seen as a Flagship Company as our first member of the Business Approval Register.