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Douglas Park
Chairman and Managing Director |  |
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COMPANY HISTORY
PARK'S is one of Scotland's largest and most successful motor groups, operating a diverse portfolio of luxury, niche and volume franchises from various locations throughout Scotland.
In addition to motor vehicle retailing, our group also operates a caravan and motorhome centre, 6 petrol forecourts, two large body repair centres and a fast-fit outlet as well as one of the largest trade parts wholesaling operations in Scotland. Completing the line-up is Park's of Hamilton, Scotland's leading luxury coach operators with in excess of 120 coaches, which cater for both business and leisure travel throughout Britain and Europe.
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Our coaches division was strengthened in 1996 with the acquisition of Trathens Travel Services Ltd, an express coach operator incorporating Star Riders, based in Plymouth.
The company is wholly owned by Douglas Park who founded the business in 1971 as a small, three-coach operation. Park's moved into the Motor Trade in 1977 with a Datsun franchise in Hamilton and added a second in Strathaven one year later. A steady progression since then has included our appointments as agents for Honda and BMW in 1986 and in 1992, our completion in East Kilbride of the UK's first ever multi-franchise complex.
In June 1998, Park's added a further 7 showrooms by the acquisition of the share capital of
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Ayrshire-based Robert Wyper (Motors) Ltd. and in 2003, we completed our development in Ayr of Scotland's first P.A.G. (Premier Automotive Group) site, incorporating the franchises of Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. In 2004, the Company enjoyed its first expansion into Fife with the acquisition of two further motor dealerships in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy.
In December 2006, Park's consolidated their position as one of the UK's foremost BMW dealers with the acquisition of Henry Bros BMW businesses in Glasgow and Hillington, thereby becoming Scotland's largest BMW group.
Park's Motor Group has itself become a strong brand name synonymous with quality and value for money in all segments of the market.
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TREATING CUSTOMERS FAIRLY
What Does This Mean To Park's Motor Group?
At Park's Motor Group we believe that Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) is our number one priority and that by TCF, we are providing the best possible service to our customers in a clear and fair manner. We see this transparency as an essential way to do business and we know that, as well as being beneficial and reassuring for our customers, it serves to grow and build our business on a reputation of trust through personal recommendation and referral.
We have made TCF the responsibility of each and every member of staff at Park's Motor Group and we maintain this awareness through continuous staff training and development based on an on-going and regular review of our TCF plan. This review is done on a yearly basis, or as frequently as developments in this field demand, and it forms a major part of Park's Motor Group business strategy.
Park's Motor Group Approach To TCF
We have decided what TCF means to our business and this is reflected in our aims:
> to recommend insurance products that are wholly suitable to the needs, wishes and understanding of our customers;
> to ensure our customers are given all of the necessary information about the services and insurance products that we may recommend, and ensure this is explained in a way that is understandable to our customers; and
> to handle complaints fairly.
We realise it is not enough to merely say we will treat customers fairly and therefore have identified the following key areas of our business which we will continually develop with the ethos of TCF to ensure that TCF underpins our day-to-day dealings with our customer;
> Culture
> Customer Service
> Quality of Advice
> Financial Promotions
> Complaint Handling
> Management Information
Culture
We have built our business and reputation over the years by providing a quality service and a duty of care to our customers. Evidence of this is the fact that we still enjoy a strong relationship with many of the customers and business partners who we first dealt with when our business was established.
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Our culture is founded on the basis that we will always treat our customers in the same way that we would expect to be treated and we believe this is reflected in the very low volume and type of any complaints received by our company. recognise the need to be vigilant and to continually review our ethos with respect to this. At Park's we will continue to ensure that the culture we engender as a business is translated directly into our dealings with our customers.
Customer Service
We recognise the importance of ensuring that we follow good TCF practices when dealing with our customers. To this end we constantly monitor the quality of the service we provide through customer service checks which include direct feedback from customers on the question of TCF.
Quality of Advice
Here at Park's Motor Group our aim is to ensure that the advice provided to customers is of the highest level. We are committed to ensuring our advisors demonstrate their competence in the recommendations that are made to customers. Therefore they are required to regularly undertake the training and development in order to be able to apply their knowledge appropriately.
We conduct regular file checks and test the knowledge and aptitude of our advisors and in doing so we are able to identify if the products we are offering to our customers are appropriate to their needs and circumstances. These regular checks also afford us the opportunity to observe each advisor's technique during the sales process thereby ensuring that their approach and behaviour takes account of the customer's needs, attitude to risk, level of understanding and rights.
Where we identify areas for improvement they are incorporated into our advisors' personal development plans for the following review period and their rewards are influenced by their ability to implement these improvements.
Financial/Qualifying Credit Promotions
Our Company's aim is to ensure the advertising that we undertake, which includes our website and newspaper advertising, are clear, fair and not misleading. We have in place a formal procedure for the approval of financial / qualifying credit promotions to ensure that no unauthorised advertising is undertaken.
Complaint Handling
Our complaints handling procedure is designed to ensure that we treat any customer complaint with sympathy and understanding. All complaints are investigated positively and treated as an opportunity to identify areas for improving our products and services.
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In order to ensure that any complaints received are treated with transparency and impartiality they are reviewed by an non-involved manager of suitable competence and influence within the business.
Management Information
We recognise the importance of detailed and accurate management information to ensure TCF is being applied appropriately.
Management information is produced at Park's Motor Group on a regular basis to ensure the TCF objectives are being met by the Company's advisors.
The following provides examples of the information that is produced:
Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators, both for individual advisors and for the business as a whole, allow us to measure the trends within our range of products sold, and regular reviews with the advisors ensure we obtain justification in any areas where benchmarks are exceeded.
We regularly review all aspects of our business and organisational structures to identify risks that might have an impact on our ability to treat customers fairly. Any area where a risk is identified will be immediately explored by management to ensure that ParkÕs Motor Group puts processes and remedial action in place to counteract this risk. The type of management information we gather to ensure our ability to treat customers fairly includes: staff competence and qualifications, customer satisfaction, customer complaints by type, product and advisor, and file check results.
Summary
We believe our business culture engenders an atmosphere and environment which supports our aim of Treating Customers Fairly. However, we recognise the need to be vigilant and to continually monitor and review our approach to this critical aspect of our business. To this end we will ensure that we continue to align our major business decisions with TCF in mind. In addition to this we will endeavour to gather management information which is proportionate to the size and complexity of our business to allow us to make informed decisions which support our ethos of TCF. We will also make positive behaviours and attitudes towards TCF the keystones of our staff selection process and, once selected, reward staff in a way that recognises their contribution to TCF.
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