While customers are impatient to get their cars back, it is also important to make the best possible use of working hours in the workshop to get as many cars through the workshop as possible - at the best level of service, quality and price. That's why the foremen are busy getting the next car onto the lift so that the mechanics can concentrate on repairing another vehicle. This means that the bill is not always ready for the customer to pay when he or she picks up their car.
"Customers are quick to pick up their car from the workshop. It is a necessary good for them, which they depend on to get ready," says Margot Stougaard.
She wishes there was always a bill ready when the customer comes to collect his or her car. But sometimes foremen are not able to give the customer a ready-made invoice so that he or she can pay immediately and drive off right away.
"The workshop is a busy department where the bill is not always ready," says Margot Stougaard.
Andersen & Martini A/S is a dealer of the car brands Opel, Saab, Cadillac, Corvette, Kia and Fiat, which are sold from seven different branches spread across Greater Copenhagen. The company was founded more than 70 years ago and is today listed on the stock exchange and is one of Denmark's oldest and largest car dealerships with over 235 employees.
With a turnover of over half a billion Danish kroner every year, many invoices pass through the administration. Most of the bad payers are private customers who have fallen behind with their workshop bills. Margot Stougaard and her accounting colleagues try to agree an installment plan with the customers who cannot pay their bill. But if they are unable to collect the debt themselves, it is sent to Købmandstandens Inkasso Service. Even though the debt collection customers account for less than a dime of every DKK 100 sold, it is important for Andersen & Martini A/S to get as much as possible out of their debt collection partner.
