Tales Tour on
Technical editor Steve Rothwell visits businesses listed in CM’S Good Garage Guide
Coles Automotive, Henfield, West Sussex
▶ The address of Coles Automotive is Browns Meadow, which isn’t a reference to the past, but is a true description of where the garage now sits. Driving along the country roads to the garage I began to wonder how much trade Coles actually gets, being this far out.
I didn’t need to worry. Alex Cole and his dad Jim Cole have been here over thirty years and have six full-time technicians: Tony Laker, Shaun Grise, Carl Hawkins, Kane Farrant, Brad Farrant and Tony Rodrigues, as well as Richard Searles and Dave Jarrett taking care of the reception and management side of things. Alex also has a list of parttime mechanics and a valeter who can be called upon if things get too busy.
One of the greatest advantages of being out in the sticks, Alex tells me, is that they have plenty of space, and that is certainly true – with a large car park and two workshops, plus a dedicated wash bay and comfy reception and waiting room.
I was given a warm welcome when I entered the reception area, and one of the first things I noticed was a dashboard from an aircraft. This was from Jim’s days as an airline pilot.
Alex took me up to his office above the reception area where he has access to the booking and invoicing system on his computer, run by GB Pro. From here he can see how things are doing. Not that he spends all his time in the office – he loves to be hands-on and is normally kept busy down in the workshop.
How it all began
Alex started out by going to university for a mechanical engineering course, but found he was more interested in cars than the mechanical engineering side and didn’t finish the course.
His dad had just retired as an airline pilot and was always tinkering with motors, so Alex and his dad started working together in a small shed on a farm in Albourne. The plan was for Alex to go on a day-release course in motor vehicle engineering, but Alex’s involvement in road rallying and racing meant he was forever working on vehicles and had little spare time. He soon learned his way around the ins and outs of a motor. From doing a few jobs on friends’ cars, the business started to expand rapidly.
After around five years the business had begun to grow too large for the one shed they occupied, and after finding the premises they now occupy (which had been used to keep monkeys for medical testing) they began to develop the business as it is now. Expanding even more over the coming year, Alex is intending to raise the roof to enable the business to carry out Class VII MOTS.
Not impressed by long service intervals, Alex believes that vehicles should be seen every six months. Staggering the annual service and MOT is a good way to ensure customers’ cars get seen at more frequent intervals. “Owners don’t generally lift the bonnet nowadays,” he says, “and by seeing the motor every six months we can ensure things are kept in check.”
Alex feels that the customer needs a lot more help to maintain their vehicle than ever before. With the complexities of body control modules and the like, it’s not easy for a problem to be solved and a new part to be simply bolted on. Faults need to be diagnosed, and even when armed with a set of fault codes the solution is not always that clear. Using Autodata to assist with their technical information and a collection of five different diagnostic scanners plus genuine Land Rover software ensures they always have the right tool and the right information.
Even though they are in heart of the country, Coles does not venture into the repair of agricultural vehicles – although they do of course see quite a few Land Rovers and the odd light commercial vehicle. Land Rovers are actually quite common at the premises as Coles do work for Bowler Motorsport in testing and development.
The fact that Coles Automotive are a little off the beaten track doesn’t affect business as they have around forty vehicles at their disposal to loan to customers. This includes vehicles that are available for sale, another area of the business that has slowly grown. Regular customers normally look towards Coles to supply their next vehicle, knowing that it will be a good purchase.
As I began my tour of the workshop I noticed a shelf high up on one wall, full of trophies which Alex won during his early days of rallying and racing. I also met his dad Jim who still plays an active part in running the workshop. He recalled a time in the early days when they were in Albourne, when he was horrified to see Alex drive the front half of a Mini into the workshop, with the back half dragging along the ground.
An evolving industry
Every technician at Coles is sent on at least two training courses a year to keep them up-to-date with the changes in the motor trade, and the £70 per hour labour rate is good value for the level of skill on the workshop floor.
A Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid was being serviced on the day of my visit proving that Coles are on top of modern technology. Alex believes the next few years will see a mixture of hybrid and smaller, fuel-efficient petrol engined vehicles entering the workshop. Widespread use of fullelectric vehicles he believes is a little way off yet, depending on a charging infrastructure which isn’t yet available. Not everyone has a driveway or garage to charge their vehicle, and he can’t see the possibility of cars parked in the street all connected up to power points.
One of the harder aspects of running the business is persuading customers that tests must be carried out before replacing components, but Alex insists that this needs to be done. “Nobody wants to be told we have fitted a part for £400 but the problem is still there.” Another worry is customers providing their own parts purchased from the internet. “It’s all too easy for suppliers to get a nice box made, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that the parts inside meet the specifications,” he says.
Coles keep over fifteen different oils in stock to cope with the needs of the wide range of vehicles they work on. Alex understands that where oil is concerned, one size does not fit all.