Following on from all the excitement of the Conference and Awards, it's been back down to earth this week, readying the next issue of Service Dealer magazine for the printers.

Before that's published you can catch up with all the winners here and when the next edition does land on your desk, you'll be able to read a full report on the day's presentations and breakout seminars written by my colleague Martin Rickatson. Also coming soon, the team at TAP will be posting a round-up video, giving an overview of all that occurred, including interviews with speakers, sponsors and delegates. We'll give you a head's up on here when that's available.

Alongside all the formal speeches and interactive sessions at the Conference, one of the crucial elements that truly gives the day its life and makes it an essential return each year for many dealers, is the opportunity it affords peers and colleagues from dealerships around the country to interact with each other on an informal basis. Stories are swapped and experiences shared. 

Many delegates last week told me this was one of their most favoured elements of the day. There are not that many times throughout the year when this many dealers have the opportunity to get together and chat - so when those moments do come along, the chance to pick the brains of others who'll know what you've been going through, is truly appreciated.

For example one dealer who I won't name of course, was telling me last Thursday that they had been given the opportunity to take on a new franchise for their business - but they wanted to talk to some other dealers first, who already stocked this brand, to hear their honest take on the manufacturer. They told me this in the morning - and by the time I caught up with them again in the evening, I believe they had been able to gain some genuinely invaluable and helpful insight.

Alongside all the on-point content from the expert speakers, it's this extra benefit that dealers gain from having these off-the-record conversations with each other, that really adds to the Conference's overall DNA.

Warranty rates

One discussion area that came out of dealers talking with each other at last year's Conference that I'd like to revisit today via a short survey we're running, is the always contentious area of manufacturers' warranty rates. 

This cropped up last year when one dealer I spoke with had concerns over warranty work - specifically the discrepancies as they saw it, within the industry on the rates paid by different manufacturers.

This dealer's point was that some of the rates offered were quite simply far too low, making the undertaking of work economically unviable. And when we put this proposition to our wider readership last December, there was quite the outpouring of agreement.

Some comments we received from our dealer readers included:

• "Most implement, horticultural and handheld manufacturers pay ridiculously low hourly rates."
• "The main problem with warranty is that the manufacturers do not have any real understanding of warranty work and the time, effort and cost that goes into it." and
• "Warranty would be much fairer if they paid proper diagnostic times, admin times, more generous repair times and not this clinical surgery operation they all strive for."

And these were just the tip of the iceberg. Last year this survey was one of our most responded to we've ever run. It's fair to say that not one single comment we received from our dealer readers could be considered as praising manufacturers!

Therefore in this cost-of-living crisis that we are in the midst of, it'll be interesting to hear if the situation is any different today? We'd appreciate a few moments of your time to answer a couple of brief questions and to leave your thoughts on the subject. It'll be fascinating to compare the findings we receive to last year's.

As ever we'll publish the results and a selection of your comments in the next edition of Service Dealer magazine. Thanks in advance for your help.

TAKE THE SURVEY