Well we all made it, we got through the snow and Blue Monday now the team at John Austin is welcoming 2013 with open arms.  Last year was such big year for the country, with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics – we certainly all felt inspired by it here.

But it was also a big year for us too; we ran our quarterly Pit Stop Workshops, opened our MOT centre, erected amazing signage opposite the Marks Tey roundabout (so you really can’t miss us) and introduced our customer loyalty and customer referral schemes.   Then late last year we were proud to be finalists in the Essex Business Awards for Customer Service. We believe this year will be just as eventful!

If you’d like family and friends to learn about basic car maintenance, you can book them onto one of our Pit Stop Workshops; please can you call Paul on 01206 211483, or email me on and we’ll take the details. You can read more about past workshops on our blog: http://johnaustinaudi.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/pit-stop-workshop/

If you’re not already enjoying the benefits of our loyalty schemes, please ask Paul about them when you’re next at the garage.  Here’s a summary: ‘Rewarding Service’ entitles you to a free air conditioning service when your rewards card is complete.  There are 20 stamps on the card and you ‘earn’ a stamp for every £20 you spend; but you don’t even have to use it, you could give your completed card to a family member or a friend to redeem.

‘Pass it On’ will give whoever you hand this card to (providing they are new to John Austin, not a current customer) a 10% discount on their first service or repair with us.  As you referred a new customer to us, you’ll receive a 20% discount on your next service or repair – and it CAN be used in conjunction with any other discount promotion we’re running.  If you’re not already involved, you should be.

And finally, we’re going to be sending out our customer satisfaction survey by email in future;  we hope you won’t mind completing it, it’s the best way of finding out how we’re doing and whether we’re meeting your expectations not.  We’re not looking for pats on the back – although they’re always welcome – but information to help us give you a better service.