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National Service Network

Posted by tony gould on April 25, 2008, 2:13 pm

Does anyone have experience of being a member of National Service network.
We want to do work for Leaseplan UK Ltd and have been told they only deal with NSN so we would have to go through them. I have the forms and registration is £100 per year, we have to use Unipart parts (no problem as we are a car care centre) and shell oils plus they take 10% of invoice total before VAT. A bit harsh considering we often do not get 10% on main dealer parts!
Not sure about using Shell oils - anyone use them?
How do they supply - in bulk or drums?
Any info appreciated.

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Steve Middleton on April 25, 2008, 4:27 pm, in reply to "National Service Network"
Steve Middleton

Tony,
If they want 10% of the invoice, does'nt sound like it's worth doing (we tried somthing simlar with TLS), unless you can gain an extra 10% on the job somehow (especialy if your required to fart about with authority numbers etc),

steve
(only my opinion though)

Re: National Service Network

Posted by ukat2564 on April 29, 2008, 12:00 pm, in reply to "National Service Network"

We do work for NSN. The info on the parts supply you have may be a little out of date. NSN Supply all the parts and oil for service work carried out for their customers via euro car parts, You receive a box for each car thats booked in. You get paid a % handling charge for fitting the parts. It works out to about £2.50 on a sump full of oil and 0.50p ish on the filters. The 10% off the bottom line still applies though. You have to collect and deliver and wash and clean the vehicles but if you gear up for it you can still get some nice work from them and they pay regularly.

Hope this helps.

Re: National Service Network

Posted by chris hogan on April 29, 2008, 12:31 pm, in reply to "National Service Network"

they supply the parts and want 10 percent you get rid of the waste insure your work and warranty the job wow i would tell them to do it themselves
oops they cant can they !! because they have no workshops\tools\diagnostic equipment\staff\

chris

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Tony Gould on April 29, 2008, 3:30 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Tony Gould

WoW!!!!!!!!!!!
Supply their own parts and want 10% off labour,
If i can charge them dealer rates then i may consider it?
Have just recieved a 6 page application form which needs to know everything about our buissness down to what toilet paper we use.
I shall apply and see how we go,would not normally get involved in going for this type of work but there is a large company opposite us and would be nice if i could get there work.
Thanks for the info
Regards Tony

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Martin Tribe on April 30, 2008, 7:38 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Martin Tribe

Absolute nightmare!! Would never work for them again. All parts supplied to us came wrong, some even the day after the job was booked in, Always waiting for authorisation for extra items this included wiper blades etc on sevices. The 30 day payment terms turned into 120 & I think we only got that because I refused to return a vehicle till they paid up. Not sure about now but they used to dictate your labour rate. Never saw the same rep twice, we had about 5 in 18 months, but you could never contact them to sort problems. The list just goes on.

Re: National Service Network

Posted by UKAT5116 on April 30, 2008, 10:41 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Keith Simpson on May 1, 2008, 6:17 am, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"

Tony I would not bother if I was you. It will end up costing you in time and labour. I kicked them into touch last year, and all the others alike. It's your business so your terms not theres.

Keith

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Phil Dunmore on May 1, 2008, 10:01 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Philip Dunmore

Purchased a car from auction with full history inc recent service, all by outfit first mentioned. It was in quite a state, bulbs wrong way round, leaky sump plug, engine bay plastics missing & damaged,wipers US etc...now I know why!

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Tom Williams on May 4, 2008, 10:07 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Tom Williams

Hi,

I seem to remember that this organisation made a pitch to the Bosch Car Service network at the members' forum a couple of years ago. The terms and conditions would suit only the desperate. The response was a fairly unanimous " You've got to be joking"

TW

Re: National Service Network

Posted by David Ray on May 28, 2008, 7:10 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"

We have done work for NSN for over 2 years now but are about to part company.We have managed to tollerated their incompitence,disrespect and disorganisation but they now wont even pay up.We are picking up a few jobs via the 1link platform and find the whole process far easier and we even get paid on time

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Paul Foster on June 5, 2008, 12:07 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Paul Foster

Hi Dave.
How do you get on 1 links books? All the local RAC patrols want me to service their vans (as I used to be a patrol myself) but LVL won't deal with me. They'd rather pay the dealers twice the price for half the quality/service!

Re: National Service Network

Posted by David Ray on June 5, 2008, 2:55 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
David Ray

Check out their website Paul 1link.co.uk There you will find all the info and contact numbers

Re: National Service Network

Posted by UKAT2564 on June 5, 2008, 10:15 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Steve Betts

Even with 1 link i think you will struggle to get any service work from lex. They have their own service centres, cant remember what they are called, but they want everything going through them or dealers. i had a family members car in for service (a lex vehicle) when i sent for auth they declined and said driver would have to re book with one of their centres via their booking team or use a dealer. I said customer had taken day off for this service, didn't make any difference.
I'd still have a go though because sometimes with these companies, the progress you make often depends on who you get to speak to.

Steve.

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Tony Ludford on June 6, 2008, 7:56 am, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Tony Ludford

Are you on the RACs approved repairer list? If you're on that first it'll help (I'm sure). Then get the patrols to pressure they're Patrol Manager, if they're any good, they can put pressure on LEX to get you approved (especially if you'll do fleet work and contaminated fuel drain outs).

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Phil Cake on June 6, 2008, 8:35 am, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"

The network for lex is called 'one call'.You have
to work at £37.00 per hour.This also applies to
Godfrey Davis Contract Hire,HSBC and Business
Parter(Ford Motor Company).They take 5% admin charge of the bottom line of your invoice. 1Link
is £250.00 a year and they take 70p off you for
each jobsheet you invoice and if they used Fleet
Assist for their Garage network set up, they take 5% commission from you when you open a jobsheet.With 'One Call' part of the contract agreement is collection and delivery for all work when demanded.I have known a garage have to collect a vectra from Southampton,drive it back to workshop in Portsmouth just to change wiper blades(vehicles have to be on site for all work)And you have to wash and hoover each car/van after a service. Still want that R.A.C. work ?

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Paul Foster on June 6, 2008, 6:46 pm, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"
Paul Foster

I know what you mean about the collection / delivery & wash / vac nonsense for small jobs. A garage local to me already does work for them but they started to put in for the labour for the wipers and the wash/vac and the delivery. When LVL argued they said "fine. Get the dealers to do it then." It seems that the Local (Ford, in this case) dealers refused, point blank, to engage in this practice and the 'stupid' jobs stopped! I don't know if anyone else has stood up to LVL in this way.
The LVL network of service centres was called Lex Autocentres (now called Nationwide). They are not owned by Lex anymore. I don't know if they are still used by LVL.
Do LVL only pay the dealers £37 ph? I can't see Jag, BMW or Merc dealers dropping their prices that much!
I will have to get on to the local lead patrol to see what's happening on the 'approved repairer' front. At one time that meant NSN and I refused to have anything to do with them! (Just like most RAC Patrols!)

Re: National Service Network

Posted by Keith Simpson on June 7, 2008, 8:25 am, in reply to "Re: National Service Network"

I cannot understand why anyone would be tempted to do work for these companies that want a percentage off your bottom line, a subscription fee and also charge you for administration. Many dealers do not entertain this and why should you. The likes of Nationwide Autocentres and all alike are just busy fools. My advise is to stick to what you know and do it well.

Keith

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