The Beresa Group has once again proven itself to be a benchmark in the German automotive industry. The Mercedes-Benz partner with 17 locations in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony has fully digitalized customer contact in the service business and won the Service Award 2021 with this project, among many other achievements. This is the second time since 2019 that the company has won Germany's most important cross-brand and manufacturer-independent workshop award in the automotive industry. This had previously only been achieved by one applicant, the Robert Kunzmann car dealership from Aschaffenburg, which took part in the Service Award for the first time in 2021 after a long break and immediately took second place. Third place was shared by Hahn Automobile (Weinstadt location) and Glinicke Automobile (Baunatal location).
The trade media brand "kfz-betrieb", together with industry partner Loco-Soft, awards prizes to car dealerships that stand out for their innovative service concepts and sophisticated marketing strategies. The competition is aimed at brand-bound car dealerships and is held throughout Germany on a cross-brand and manufacturer-neutral basis. Evaluation criteria include independent marketing ideas, clear processes and outstanding customer service.
The core of Beresa's application this time was the contactless vehicle dispenser developed in-house. The reason for the development was the coronavirus pandemic, in which human contact should be avoided as much as possible. But as it turned out, such a system also offers advantages regardless of the pandemic. This is because more and more customers are coming outside of opening hours to drop off their cars.
Beresa's ambition was to make the delivery process as easy as possible for customers. It should take no longer than two minutes. All they have to do is take a photo of their vehicle registration certificate (or more precisely: the registration certificate part I); the data is read out by the system and compared with the order and appointment data available to the dealership.
But even beyond these digitalization projects, Beresa Osnabrück impressed the jury, which included editors from "kfz-betrieb" as well as representatives of the sponsor Loco-Soft, with its clever marketing strategy and high level of customer orientation. In general, all of the top ten companies showed how naturally digital communication channels are already being used and how innovative the companies are in the highly competitive service market. Ralf Koke, Managing Director of service award sponsor Loco-Soft, commented on the applicants' achievements as follows: "We can see that many companies are now collecting data - but the question is what they are doing with it. Are they using it to create an advantage for customers? Sending an e-mail once a month is nice, but customers like it better if they are informed immediately that the repair has been completed, for example, or that the vehicle has been finished earlier. And I've seen great approaches to dealing with this at all the companies I've visited."
These are the top ten companies in the Service Award 2021
The elaborate application concept guarantees the high quality of the award-winning businesses. After an online entry test, the participating businesses must complete a comprehensive questionnaire describing their workshop business in detail. The ten companies with the highest scores are then visited by a jury. Not only the Beresa employees can be pleased, but also all the winners of the Service Award. Because they have proven that they are among the best service companies in Germany. Here is the list of award winners:
1st place: Beresa GmbH & Co. KG, Osnabrück
2nd place: Robert Kunzmann GmbH & Co. KG, Aschaffenburg
3rd place: Hahn Automobil-Holding GmbH, Weinstadt
3rd place: Glinicke Automobile GmbH & Co. KG, Baunatal
Further top ten placings:
- Autohaus Durst GmbH, Ostfildern
- Autohaus Bernegger GmbH, Rosenheim
- B&K GmbH, Bad Oeynhausen
- Autohaus Koch GmbH, Oberursel
- Autohaus Mulfinger GmbH, Schwäbisch Gmünd
- Autohaus Pichel GmbH, Hartmannsdorf
"kfz-betrieb" is the most widely read trade magazine in the automotive industry and has been informing the automotive trade and service sector for over 100 years. "kfz-betrieb" is the official organ of the German automotive trade (ZDK), the professional interest group for around 38,000 car dealerships and workshops. News from the entire automotive industry can be found at www.kfz-betrieb.de and in the daily newsletter. "kfz-betrieb" is a media brand of the Vogel Communications Group. With 750 employees and a turnover of around 100 million, the group of companies is a leading provider of specialist communication and information. Five complementary communications agencies, three service companies and 14 specialist media divisions are bundled under the umbrella of the Group. Vogel Communications Group offers 250+ services for corporate communications, 100+ trade journals, 100+ digital platforms and communities as well as 300+ business events per year.
