GARAGES AND OVERHAULING MOTOR COACHES.
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Is There Much Prospect of Garages Reaping Benefit from the Winter , Overhauling of Motor Coach Chassis ?
By 44 Vim.11 THE CALENDAR SHOWS that thes official winter is fast approaching, and the shortening of the days bears out that the official period of warmth is drawing to a close. It will soon be time for the motor coach to seek its hibernating quarters, or to suffer metamorphosis and to emerge as a lorry. Not every motor coach will come off the road for the whole of the winter months, but, for the majority, one or other of those changes in existence is predestined. What the garage industry wants to know is whether any of the valuable repairing work which will have to be put into the laid-up or converted vehicles is likely to come their way.
Frankly, unless garages make a big effort to secure the business, they won't get, much of it. Most owners of motor coaches have managed to carry on with their own personnel all through the season, effecting such repairs as have been necessary with very little, help from professional repairers ; and, now that the slack months are upon them, there is a, general feeling that they can undertake the more serious task of stripping down and overhauling on their own premises and by their own men. They who intend to attempt this feat have no .misgivings respecting the ability of their drivers and mechanics to perform the work satisfactorily. It is not for me to suggest that they are over-optimistic, for some of them are extremely fortunate in having in their employment regular jewels in the shape of experienced motor mechanics, but I do think that it is open to doubt whether the game will be invariably worth the candle. Circumstances alone will settle this question, and it is up to the garage proprietor who wishes to obtain these overhaul contracts to investigate the actual resources . of the coaching firms in his vicinity.
Retaining Services of Driving Staff.
At the bottom of the self-help intentions of many motor coach owners is the desire to retain the services of their staffs through the winter, not only for humanitarian reasons, but because good men are not easy to find, and, once found, must not be lost. is a right principle, and one to be commended to less considerate and—shall we say ?—less intelligent employers. Motor coach driving must not be allowed to become a casual occupation, whatever the cost of preventing it may be. The prosperity of the industry and the safety of the public depend on the attractions offered to the best stamp of man to take up the driving of passenger vehicles. If, therefore, the recognized car-repairing trade is to step in and win any appreciable portion of the overhauling business, provision must be made for employing the staffs who have been engaged all the summer in running and maintaining the coaches. Hew that is to be done is another matter altogether. • Foremen of repair shops, quite naturally, object to having customers' employees "knocking about" the place, for they often prove difficult to control, and sometimes carry away tales that do a firm no good. It may be argued that a firm whose every practice is above-board has nothing to fear from the tale-bearer, but, unfortunately, affairs and actions which are perfectly correct in themselves do not always appear so until they have been explained, and so the temporary employee not infrequeiltly gains wrong impressions. Also, the regular repair shop hands seldom care about having outsiders for helpers, and occasionally take strong exception to "teaching other people their jobs."
Yet another point for consideration is that one of the main objects which would be before a garage proprietor, when soliciting contracts for overhauls, is to find work to keep his own staff going through the quiet months. It would be rather absurd of him to take on both the work and the men to do it, for that would be to accept a big responsibility without deriving any benefit from it ; the strangers within his gates would be guaranteed employment, while his regular staff might be standing off half their time. Tact will overcome difficulties with the foreman and mechanics, but nothing — bar only advanced socialistic teachings !—will create work for two out of work for one.
Proper Equipment Necessary for Overhauls.
Against the drawbacks may be set the fact that complete overhauls are jobs that necessitate appliances, skill, and supervision far in excess of the resources of the average motor-coaching firm. The staff and equipment of a decent public garage are usually such as few coaching firms possess. In undertaking the overhauling of their own vehicles,' all but large firms may easily find that they have bitten Off
more than they can digest with comfort. Constantly, throughout the progress of the work, they will be wanting the use of tools and machines which they have not got, and which would be, white elephants to them during most of the year, if they bought them just for the occasion. These deficiencies they will endeavour to remedy by sending round to the nearest garage to borrow portable tools and to beg the use of machines; but they can hardly expect this assistance to be given indefinitely, seeing that, by being generous in this direction, garages take the bread out of their own mouths. Actions that were willingly perforthed to help a struggling industry will not be so ungrudgingly performed now that the motor-coach business ism a prosperous state.
Above, we have the pros and cons of the situation. Setting one against the other, it will be gathered that, while it would really be to the advantage of those coach owners, whose fleets are not so extensive as to warrant their making permanent provision for more than running repairs, to contract with garages for the annual overhauling, the condition— that employment be found for their men—is an awkward obstacle to co-operation. Where the owners mean to retain ,some of their vehicles in commission, either as coaches or lorries, it might he feasible for a garage to relieve them of a few of their superfluous men, on the understanding that all the chassis would be sent in in rotation for overhaul. The number of men who could be thus taken over with the work would, of course, depend on the number of chassis to be overhauled. One thing seems clear: that pnlesa motor traders can discover some plan for co-operating with owners of small fleets, the latter will be forced to develop their repairing resources beyond their normal requirements, and, as a consequence, -to enter into competition with the established garage industry by accepting outside work. So important is the whole question to motor coach owners and garage proprietors alike, that it deserves more attention than it is receiving. A free interchange of opinions should soon show whether the obstacle is surmountable or not.