Baigent Motors is a family own business, we’re in our 66th year of trading, you know
we’re a local icon I guess, one of the oldest businesses in Matamata. I think we’re the
third oldest business in Matamata. People have high expectations of mechanics
these days, it’s changed from the greasy grease monkey chap that rolls around under
a car in a pit and get covered in grease from their feet to their elbows, ya know?
The trade has changed, yeah, presentation is really important.
We have had an association with Baigent Motors for 40 years, which is the longest
period in the history of Apparelmaster.
We’ve had a really long relationship with Apparelmaster now, so we have a good work relationship with them.
They offer a really good service, it’s always prompt, just a really good bunch of guys.
Well, being local means, that attention to detail, we can answer all their needs.
We have a weekly drop off and pick up of overalls, mats, uniforms.
First of all, they need to look very clean, tidy, smart
We can’t have them looking ’tacky’
so we provide each mechanic with a daily overall
When a garment’s worn out, we replace them
If a staff member leaves, we take care of that
any alterations, we take care of that
A new mechanic starts, we make sure they are in the right gear and
they just turn up to work, it’s all done
Obviously, the automotive trade is pretty busy and there is plenty of things to try and keep on top of
so yeah, it is really reassuring to have a company as efficient as they are.
We invested in barcoding and more recently we are moving to RFID, ah.. chipping... in the garments, so we can track and trace
every individual piece of garment so if they have somebody leave we can provide them with
reports of where the garments are, how many have been returned, the quality of the garment,
how many washes they have had
No, their service is A grade... yup, yup, definitely!
We had a parts and service conference last year, where Apparelmaster was part of that
and presenting the new uniforms, so we were quite taken with them.
We worked out the pricing, the contracts and the rest was history.
It’s a pretty quick transition really, got to spit it out in a couple of weeks from when
we said yes and it sort of happened
They feel a lot better and stand out more
They definitely look a lot better yeah!
Nice and Comfortable, nice and thick
The domes are better because they don’t mark the vehicles
They’re definitely better quality Customers can recognise who you are
Yeah, I’d be more confident talking to customers, yeah
Yeah, the quality and presentation of them is far superior to what we had previously, yeah!
They’ve got a high-vis strip, which is becoming
increasingly important with health and safety. It’s a better fit rather than the old ones
where you roll up the sleeves and they’re always falling down. The domes are covered
so, when you are around vehicles, there is less chance of damage. They’ve got a lot
of corporate branding on them, so you know, people can go into a dealership in Hamilton
or Matamata, Tauranga, the guys have all got on the same gear on.
I think it’s important for brand visibility and I like all my guys to have name tags because
I think it is important for the customer to know who they’re talking too, ya know?
We’ve had a lot of positive feedback here, they do look pretty smart
We take away the capital outlay for Mitsubishi, we are prepared to make that commitment and
that only comes from having good relationships with your customers and
Mitsubishi is right on the top there.
We’re a pretty personable bunch and very
approachable and they’re the same, yeah they’ve just offered us really, really good
service over the years, so it’s a ‘no brainer’ to stick with them.