Hino Shelly Beach won the Hino Truck Dealer of the Year award for the second consecutive year when the Toyota, Lexus and Hino annual awards were handed out at the Kyalami Conference Centre recently. Now Gansen Chetty, the Team Leader at this livewire dealership on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, says he is already planning a strategy to make it a hat-trick when the 2019 awards are made next year.

“We were also very proud to be runners-up in the truck section of the Toyota Financial Services awards,” said Chetty. “Our philosophy is to make sure every single customer is happy and then awards such as Dealer of the Year will follow. This includes providing tailored financial packages to suit our customers’ specific operations.”

Chetty says his team is virtually unchanged from the combination that won the 2017 Dealer of the Year award, with two additional technicians, which had come through the ranks in the company, further strengthening the service department.

“Our major project in 2018 was setting up a Grade A Certificate of Fitness roadworthy testing facility and I am pleased to say we are now being certified. When this phase is completed, we will be able to offer an important, additional benefit for our customers,” added Chetty.

“I am transparent with the team members about all aspects of our business and believe in ‘walking-the-talk’ with them by having daily meetings with the parts and service staff and getting together once a week with the sales team

“We know that there is always room for improvement, and we encourage all staff members to continue coming up with suggestions to further improve the services they offer to our customers. To this end we have ongoing training programmes which involve all our staff members. Going forward, we will continue to be different, but in better ways!”

Hino Shelly Beach is a member of the Halfway Group. The imposing dealership near the N2 freeway, was built in 2007 and refurbished in 2017. The focus on customer service extends to having a fully-equipped and -staffed service centre with eight drive-through bays capable of handling compete rigs, with trailer maintenance available. This facility and four mobile units, for on-site servicing, currently handle between 18-25 trucks a day. Pre-booked after hours and weekend servicing is available to keep downtime to a minimum.

“We owe everything to our customers and always strive for 100 per cent ratings from them in the quarterly Comparative Customer Experience surveys.

“We are fortunate in having a devoted and professional team at the Hino South Africa head office in Sandton, who provide us with excellent support. In addition, we have the full backing of the Halfway Group especially from the chairman, George Baikie, and the financial director, Rob Newton,” concluded the proud team leader.

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