Original Equipment Suppliers Aftermarket Association (OESAA) Garage Forum member, Wiseman Motor Services owner, has described the association with OE manufacturers as like being on the ‘front-line’ in advocating OE quality at workshop level.

Matt Wiseman recently welcomed technical manager, Alistair Mason, of OESAA member, Schaeffler, to deliver presentations and training demonstrations, featuring LuK wet double clutches, FAG steering & suspension, INA torsional vibration dampers and INA switchable water pumps.

Alistair gave ‘bite-size’ presentations, to update Matt and his team about systems, best practice, diagnosis and future technologies, which generated a lot of conversations about repairs that Matt had seen come through his workshop. The main topics were around the benefits of an OE switchable water pump, experience in finding inferior torsional vibration damping crankshaft pulleys and why Matt has changed the business’s buying policy to increase profit margin.

Matt commented, “I experienced a situation where a vehicle’s cooling system was not getting up to temperature, following a timing belt and water pump replacement at another workshop. We eventually traced the fault to the water pump; the original had been replaced with a ‘copy’ non-switchable water pump and, therefore, affected system temperatures and cost the customer another repair.” He added, “With Alistair’s in-depth knowledge of INA switchable water pumps, he explained the difference between the two and the costly effects of fitting the wrong one. This now gives me a better understanding and confidence of the systems, and I will be able to diagnose those type of issues more accurately and quickly in the future.”

Switching attention to the discovery of sub-standard torsional vibration damping crankshaft pulleys, Matt said, “Sadly, there are alternative parts available on the market which are simply not up to the job. I was horrified with the examples I was shown, which proves to me that I am doing the correct thing by fitting OE quality parts. Those components risked the safety of road-users, as well as the reputation of our workshop if we hadn’t of been aware of them.”

Speaking about how he has improved the business’s profit margin, Matt said, “I’ve learned that constantly revisiting the ‘main dealer’ to buy all the parts I needed was having a detrimental impact on my profit margin. After looking at OE suppliers into the aftermarket and talking to my suppliers, I am now receiving OE parts from my local motor factors and seeing my profit margin returning.”

OESAA Chairman, Nigel Morgan, believes the dialogue between manufacturer, workshop and organisation will be critical in OESAA’s objectives to safeguarding quality up-and-down the distribution chain. He commented, “Having the likes of Wiseman Motor Services as a Garage Forum member is critical. As a group of manufacturers, we need to smell the oil under workshops’ fingernails – we need to receive real feedback, so we can align our messages accordingly and help where appropriate. From conversations with Matt, we’re learned a tremendous amount; likewise, he’s shared his concerns and we can support him and other workshops in a variety of ways, whether that be technical or business advice.”