Everyone Wants to Be the Best

However it is annoying when the clock is ticking and you are sitting at the side of the road. Any delay is bad for business. But now there is help in more and more countries: for example, if a technical error paralyzes Vito or Sprinter a service technician rushes to the location to repair the damage.

The driver can continue directly on his way. This way dealership stays one step ahead of the competition, because for many customers when buying a van or truck emergency support is just as important as the vehicle itself.

Mercedes-Benz has invested heavily over recent years in its Service 24h roadside assistance and recovery scheme, which provides round-the-clock cover 365 days a year. Latest statistics show that, on average, a technician will reach the scene of a breakdown in just 53 minutes, with more than four out of five faults being fixed at the roadside. Best of the best, though, is Pentagon Commercials, which has headquarters in Fareham and other dealerships in Andover, Poole, Portsmouth and Southampton. It boasts a average attendance time of 38 minutes, making it the quickest of all Mercedes-Benz dealers for the second year running. At just under 26 minutes, meanwhile, Andover-based Chris Hillier is the country’s fastest-responding Service 24h technician.

“When a vehicle is off the road it’s costing its owner money, so we accord maximum priority to breakdowns,” confirmed Michael Gunner, Group After Sales Operations Manager at Pentagon Commercials. The company employs nine highly trained Service 24h technicians, who take their vans – which are comprehensively fitted out with tools and spares – home with them on nights when they are on call. “The guys are well spread geographically so we can invariably get one of them to the scene of any breakdown in Hampshire or Dorset pretty quickly,” continued Michael. “We make a point, too, of highlighting the individual performances of our Service 24h technicians,” added Michael. “This has helped to foster a healthy spirit of competition within the team – the joke doing the rounds at the moment is that in order to achieve his turnout times Chris Hillier must sleep in his van on nights when he’s on call!”