Exeter Dealer secures coveted Mercedes-Benz Vans quality accreditation

26 Oct 2018 | by MHW Magazine Team | ,

Mercedes-Benz Vans customers across the South-West are assured of industry-leading levels of service after the newest member of the manufacturer’s official Dealer Network achieved a demanding standard of excellence in record time.

The Mercedes-Benz Van Centre Exeter has been awarded prestigious accreditation as a Mercedes-Benz Van ProCenter, just 10 months after it opened for business from a stunning new showroom and workshop development on Hennock Road Central, Marsh Barton.

The Van ProCenter programme is a Europe-wide initiative by Mercedes-Benz that puts customer care at the very top of the agenda. The Dealer’s success – which follows a comprehensive audit by the manufacturer – reflects the quality of the people it employs and the procedures it operates.

Director Alex Domone declared: “The Van ProCenter scheme is designed to ensure that customers enjoy the finest acquisition and ownership experiences.

“Only the very best Dealers have been able to meet all of its stringent requirements, so the fact that we’ve done so within a year of our appointment as a Mercedes-Benz Vans Dealer is a source of great pride for the entire company team.”

He continued: “My colleagues have lived and breathed this project for a number of months, and I’d like to thank them for all of the hard work and commitment they’ve put in. Every member of our motivated and expert team is fully committed to the Van ProCenter programme, and to delivering the class-leading levels of service that Mercedes-Benz Vans customers are entitled to expect.

“We’re still a very new member of the Mercedes-Benz Vans family, but following the investments we’ve made in recruitment and training, and with the full backing of our manufacturer partner, we now have the perfect platform from which to grow the business.”

The Mercedes-Benz Van Centre Exeter sells and supports the award-winning Mercedes-Benz Vans range, which comprises the recently-launched, third-generation Sprinter, as well as Vito and Citan models, and the X-Class, the first pickup to wear a three-pointed star.

Part of the family-owned Snows Group, which represents a variety of vehicle marques and has been serving motorists in southern England for more than half a century, the Dealer began trading from its purpose-built, £1.4-million premises last January.

Mercedes-Benz Van ProCenter Dealers are required to demonstrate ‘best-in-class’ brand and product presentation. The light and airy Exeter showroom – which boasts a huge, nine-screen interactive TV display as well as numerous other high-tech solutions – represents the best example yet, of a facility that mirrors Mercedes-Benz Vans’ increasingly retail-focused approach.

Van ProCenters must keep extended opening hours for customer convenience and meet the manufacturer’s strict requirements on everything from sales staff numbers, their training, qualifications and expertise in specific models and business sectors, to advice on bodybuilding options and the availability of demonstration vehicles for test drives at short notice.

They are also required to provide a broad range of top-quality used vans, and offer customers fair and transparent trade-in deals on their own vehicles.

From an aftersales perspective, meanwhile, Van ProCenter Dealers must have specially trained service advisors and technicians, and ensure customer mobility by laying on replacement vehicles, and collection and delivery services.

Mercedes-Benz Vans Managing Director Steve Bridge commented: “When selecting our new Dealer partner last year, we had to ensure that not only would it be the right ‘fit’ for our business now, but that it would also be best-placed in the future to adapt to the changing requirements of our customers’ businesses.

“By meeting and in several cases exceeding so soon after their appointment all of the many strict standards necessary to become a Mercedes-Benz Van ProCenter, Alex and his highly professional team have confirmed that we made the right decision a year ago.

“Our commitment at Mercedes-Benz Vans is always to keep businesses moving. I have every confidence that the Mercedes-Benz Van Centre Exeter will deliver on this pledge, and that its customers can look forward to the very best service, not only when ordering and taking delivery of their new vehicles, but also once they’re on the road.”