Simon Messenger Email & Phone Number

Taunton, Gb

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

South West England

Group Warranty ManagerAfter success at Yeovil Land Rover, I was redeployed within the parent group of the dealership to take on the new role of Group Warranty Manager responsible for all Volvo dealerships within the South West of the UK, covering Somerset, Devon & Cornwall. It was my responsibility to analyse claim data from all sites, highlighting areas of concern & pre-empting issues before they arise. It was my responsibility to bring each site back within compliance & audit tolerance & also to maintain this position – this was successfully achieved by analysing data & strategically focusing on key areas & details. I was also the direct liaison between Volvo Car UK & Helston Garages Group for any recall or warranty related matters. I was responsible for implementing all required procedures for recalls issued by the manufacturer as well as overseeing the successful repair of all affected vehicles within the South West of the UK. I was also responsible for managing & authorising holiday for Warranty staff members as well as providing relief to their respective roles during sickness, absence & holiday events.Due to the affect of Coronavirus, I was furloughed at the end of March & made redundant effective 14th October 2020. Proudly, in just 8 weeks I was able to achieve everything which had been asked of the role during its inception & with the procedures I have implemented I’ve no doubt the remaining team members will continue to be successful.

Yeovil, England, United Kingdom

Warranty ControllerFollowing relocation to Somerset, I jumped at the opportunity to work with the Land Rover Brand; something which had been in my sights for some time. Following a prolonged period of time without warranty being overseen, the dealership had fallen within the manufacturers audit radar and so the task was to solve problems quickly & effectively whilst also recovering lost funds from missed claims & bring the dealership back ‘up to date’. It was my responsibility to deal with all aspects of Warranty Administration & the claims process as well as responding to referrals in a timely manner & performing ad-hoc warranty assessments for repairs & defects. Beyond the remit of the role, I analysed the warranty claims data & processes applying scrutiny where required to improve our warranty output, claim values & successful claim rate. I was successfully able to increase revenue, decrease cost from charged back claims & bring the dealership swiftly back within audit tolerance per the national average. I implemented significant procedural changes & improvements throughout the aftersales department & also ran a complete mock audit assessment & subsequently used the data to train aftersales staff on warranty & audit compliance bringing the standard of administration up. I sourced & successfully trained my successor in the role seeing her promoted from a general administrator to my post as ‘Warranty Controller’.

As Warranty Specialist, it was my responsibility to ensure all warranty claims were processed promptly & accurately, to deal with claim referrals, rejections & appeals, to oversee & control the parts returns process, audit standardisation & preparation as well as audit review & appeal. In 2016, I achieved 97.14% resulting in a saving of £193,000 on the previous year & improved on those figures again in 2017. (HTC Fiat processes a higher value & volume of warranty claims YTY than any other Fiat Professional site). Additional to this, I liaise directly with both DAF & Fiat warranty representatives as well as those of our clients & am responsible for warranty assessment & authorisation. Our workshop averages 70 - 110 hours sold per day & as the Aftersales Administrator it is also my duty to keep un-invoiced work below 250 hours in total, to invoice retail clients in a timely manner & subsequently handle any queries, amendments, policy claims, sub contract costings, purchase order obtainment & cost authorisation, return to stock of unused parts as well as the generation of various monthly reports on hours sold, specific workshop efficiency & missed rebooked work. I also process all claims for vehicles with repair & maintenance contracts which carries a near identical set of duties to that of my Warranty Specialist role as detailed above, however, requires intricate knowledge of individual contract pricing, exclusions & coverage as well as keeping within strict KPI’s such as average claim submission, claim value & rejection rates. I also aid in the day to day running of the department & frequently am required in a service advisor capacity. As we often deal with specialist vehicles, such as motorhomes or custom heavy haulage, I am also required to have a strong understanding of LGV, HGV, Van’s & Commercial derivatives & Motorhomes. I am proud of what has been achieved here.

Chippenham

MRG Volvo, Subaru & Isuzu (CMC​)I returned to MRG and was quickly promoted to Service Department Manager. It was myresponsibility to oversee & control the daily running of this 3 Franchise department ensuringcustomer satisfaction in a targeted environment. It was my duty to create a fluid transitionthrough changes within the dealership, generate new & sustain existing business as well asreaching targets & designing a comfortable & relaxed working environment. Workingalongside the Aftersales Director my roles included staff attendance, absence & holidayauthorisations, workshop management & control, waste management, warrantyco­ordination similarly to my previous position with Porsche, overseeing workshop meetings,managing idle hours & hours sold, monthly projections, direct liaison with Volvo Car UK &their representatives, working hours rota, task assignment & delegation, interviews & regularreviews with the Managing Director & complaints handling. I was also responsible foroverseeing a massive change to the business as we helped spearhead a new workshopinitiative from VCUK. This was the introduction of a Multi Skilled Team of Techniciansworking together to improve workshop capacity & efficiencies as well as the customerexperience. These duties range from graph & spreadsheet creation to organising buildingmodifications & implementing direct liaison ability to & from the technicians & customers. Iwas also required to adapt existing & create new procedures to manage the transitioneffectively.

Swindon, United Kingdom

Porsche Centre, Swindon (Dick Lovett)I accepted this position to work with one of the world's foremost prestige auto makers &revelled in the opportunity to focus much more heavily on individual customer service as wellas all normal aspects of the Service Advisor position. It was my responsibility to providebespoke customer focus; a complete 'one to one' experience from the initial point of contactinto vehicle health check & handover through to administration & unbeaurocraticinterdepartmental co­operation, generating new sales and consistency within the business.As a personal, singular point of contact I would be handling any & all aspects of mycustomers enquiry ranging from personal collection & delivery of the vehicle to regular followups & direct contact. I also handled the dealerships warranty administration andassessment. My duties were to review & modify the existing methods used to maximiseclaim amounts paid, claim times authorised, keep strict claim timescales, direct liaison withPorsche Head Office via telephone, email and meetings, warranty parts returns & storage aswell as initial warranty authorisation & assessment. I was also responsible for attendingconferences at Porsche head office on new business implementation & applying the requiredchanges to the department through management liaison. I feel I hugely enhanced both myexisting skills & developed many more improving my abilities within a dealer during thisposition.

Bath, United Kingdom

Platinum Skoda / Renault is an exceptionally busy dual franchise dealership in the heart ofBath. Being dual franchise helped to enhance my familiarity with the Kerridge POS system &gave me extensive knowledge of Volkswagen / Audi Group’s ‘ELSAPRO’ systems.My role included all normally accepted elements of the service advisor position withadditional responsibilities that I was accountable for. These include covering the servicemanager during absence and having many of his responsibilities devolved such asmanaging staff attendance & payroll, workshop management & control & holiday & sick dayauthority. I was also responsible for training a service advisor enrolled with Volkswagen /Audi Group’s service advisor apprenticeship program.

Chippenham

MRG Volvo, Methuen Park, ChippenhamMRG Volvo is an incredibly busy dealership priding itself on the highest level of Customersatisfaction obtainable. The dealership has a very loyal & geographically widespreadCustomer base. My job role expanded through consistent promotion from 2006 & focused onproviding an impeccable Customer experience through effective planning & preparation. Itwas my responsibility to ensure that a bespoke service was provided to a unique Customerbase by utilising workshop control skills, dealing with additional work authorisation,Customer enquiries & consistent achievement of the highest standard possible. I have aproven record of ‘up selling’ work as well as liaising between Customer and technician,which requires a high standard of technical knowledge, & helped to form an award winningteam. In May 2012 I became accredited by the City & Guilds as Master of my professionjoining less than 30 likewise in the UK. From January 2013 to October 2013 I was personallyresponsible for £300k worth of ‘upsell’ & averaged £400k per annum over the previous 4years.