Successful Top Auto Conference in Killarney
Last weekend’s Top Auto Conference brought together over 150 garages for its fifth annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.
The Top Auto journey began back in 2019 as a national network of independent garages in developing a profitable business while delivering a professional service that meets the exacting standards of the modern car manufacturer and the high expectations of their owners.
Many of the large number of delegates pictured at the start of the Top Auto Conference in Killarney last weekend, with the host and presenter for the days events Declan Ennis of Top Auto, welcoming everyone.
The Top Auto Conference was a full house of garage owners and techs comparing notes with suppliers and trainers who were there to talk shop. By the time the final award had been handed out, many delegates remarked that their understanding of Top Auto Support Services was clearer than any brochure or web page could convey.
Top Auto Service Centers, a National Network of Independent Garages
We counted over 200 attendees that were all members of the Top Auto network of partners. When this many independent workshops give up a day to meet with suppliers and trainers, it tells you a couple of key things. The first is that the industry wants practical support, and two, they trust Top Auto to provide that support.
Oscar F. Oskarsson from Jurid.
OE Quality and Growth
Throughout the day we had the pleasure of listening to talks from – OE suppliers and manufacturers from all over Europe and supported by Group Eina.
The exceptional James Dillon from Tech Topics.
Key guest speaker James Dillon, along with the host and presenter for the days events Declan Ennis of Top Auto, spoke so confidently about the systems you must have in place to run a profitable business. The lessons he taught on how efficiency combined with quality created a value offering that allows your business to strengthen and grow.
Adhering to Manufactures Service Schedule and Profit
The Top Auto Program is based around stocking systems that are OE/ BER certified to comply with manufactures specification and support garages in following manufacturers’ service schedules to provide a service and business offering that is a true alternative to the franchise dealer model.
The content ranged from market leading technical support and training to stocking solutions for the modern workshop, but the thread tieing it together was business reality: how to make each hour, each bay, each shelf more profitable.
It wasn’t product-for-product’s-sake. It was “Will this actually help me turn vehicles faster and with fewer comebacks?” Over and over, the answer circled back to workflow, stock control, and training – the very things Top Auto Services are built around.
What are the pillars of Top Auto Support
On-site consultancy: The Top Auto team visits a garage, studies the space and the flow, and designs storage and stocking solutions so the fast-moving consumables – filtration, pads, fluids, wipers, bulbs etc. are always at hand. Less time hunting, more time on the workshop floor.
Structured training access: From supplier workshops to technical training, garages aren’t left to forage for knowledge. They’re plugged into the European wide market leading Grup Eina network of OE data and technical training and support.
Margin and efficiency focus: Its simply “Having what you need, When you need it” – improving turnaround, reducing parts-related delays, protecting and improving margin while increasing the quality of your offering without cutting corners.
Peter Thilthorpe from Herth+Buss
Recognising Excellence and Consistency
The Top Auto awards presented last Saturday weren’t a sideshow; they were recognition of consistency – workshops that adopt the practices, invest in training, and keep delivering for customers. Those stories are worth telling more widely. They translate the technical into the relatable: real garages, real gains, and probably real reasons to join.
Supporting members build their brand
Top Auto remains in the background and is only there to support each independent garage to grow and build their reputation and their name.
Support in marketing their business to their client base is key. A suite of marketing material and advice is tailored to each individual garage to assist in communicating the professional service they offer.
Top Auto is not a franchise, participating garages are encouraged to build their own brand with their own unique visual identity, and where future growth and good will is the property of each garage that adheres to the ethos and professionalism of the Top Auto programme.
Top Auto Services is a division of the Top Part Motor Factor Group. The full story and pictures from the Top Auto Conference will feature in the next issue of the Auto Trade Journal (December-January).
Michel Metral-Boffod from NTN-SNR.