The Tomsett Kent MOT Centre is situated in the small English village of Stockbury, Kent. Set up in 1996, Tomsett Kent has a staff of five which includes a sub-contractor with experience in air conditioning and bodywork. In a typical day the workshop averages ten MOTs and 3-4 vehicles for servicing and repair. It is also one of the few local workshops which has the capability to lift vehicles of up to 5.5 tonnes.
Conveniently situated near the travel routes to Europe, the workshop has a lot of repeat business from camper van and motorhome owners who arrange to have their vehicles serviced during trips to the continent. This adds to the range of vehicle information Tomsett Kent must have to hand or it runs the risk of turning away customers.
The Office Manager, Jamie, handles the administration but also supports the technicians with information research, which helps keep them free for the technical work. Jamie said: “When Dave became an automotive technician, he relied on hard-copy manuals in conjunction with the DVLA system, but found it limiting as it did not cover everything and he regularly had to get in touch directly with the manufacturers to get additional information. It took up valuable time that could have been better spent on more profitable activities.”
Discovering Autodata was fantastic for the business as Dave found the application had nearly all of the information needed. “It gave us vehicle specific, easy access to essential information such as repair times, electrical component location, wiring diagrams and much more,” he said. “I particularly like Autodata’s Estimate calculator which helps with work scheduling and is becoming an essential time management tool.”
A long time Autodata user, Dave’s workshop used Autodata in CD-format, before moving to the online product. This is proving very useful for his future plans which focus on developing Tomsett Kent’s growing specialisation in Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (EVs). Dave said: “Having online access is very useful as all new product updates become available as a soon as they are added. Vehicle technology moves on very quickly – particularly with EVs – so this especially useful given my future business plans.”
Word of Tomsett Kent’s capabilities has spread and Dave often gets referrals from other local, specialist workshops which know he can service a wide range of vehicles, should they be unable. “This is all down to Autodata,” he said.
Dave concluded: “Over the course of my career I have tried many different solutions, but most didn’t make it past the trial stage. Autodata contains an unrivalled depth of information, is user-friendly and the search facility is excellent. I would not look at anything else and I firmly believe we couldn’t do our jobs without it. Autodata is essential to our workshop, our technicians and our business.”
