8:49 am, August 8, 2008
HANDBOOKS. Blokes don’t need them. They’re for wimps.
Not any more. Today, nine out of 10 people admit to having consulted their car’s handbook.
This, says Peugeot, who conducted the survey of over 2000 motorists, is because cars have a mind-boggling amount of jargon associated with them.
It means that you, too, should be fully familiar with all aspects of the handbooks from the cars that you sell. If you’re looking for some holiday reading, you could do a lot worse than get parts to package you a full set of owner’s manuals.
‘What we found most interesting about our handbook survey,’ said Andy Bye, Peugeot’s quality director, ‘is that our customers learnt the most about the features of their car they didn’t know they had, from its handbook. 79% indicated that, had they not read their handbook, these features would have gone unnoticed.’
This is noteworthy. You can’t point out everything, but you should try to be aware of every feature on the cars in your showroom, so you can highlight it should the opportunity arise. And, we know, that is not easy, now cars have become more complex than ever.
The problem is, just seven per cent of customers said they would go to a local dealer for information on their cars.
Luckily, Peugeot, at least, aims to make things easier for you. ‘The survey has been an eye opener and has given us feedback from customers so we can now look at ways of improving the information we give in our handbooks,’ said Bye.
