In the latest Fleet News Group podcast published this week, Adam Pay, managing director of mycar Tyre and Auto talks to host Caroline Falls about the growth of the business’s fleet service and its tie up with China electric car maker BYD to service the brand’s vehicles in Australia, among other things.
mycar has 275 stores around Australia, and “We’ll be taking that to anywhere between 330 and 350 over the next few years,” said Pay. He said the team comprises some 1500, mostly technicians and store people. He said mycar is the largest single employer in the country of apprentice technicians: 465 of them.
Pay discusses how mycar is expanding its capabilities to service electric vehicles, with a rollout of EV-ready workshops and mobile service vans to meet growing demand. mycar currently has 43 stores ready to service EVs.
“By the end of this year, we’ll have somewhere in the mid 60s, and all of our mobile service vans are now EV ready,” said Pay, adding, “We’ve got to make sure that we meet all of the new safety requirements to make sure we protect the team and our customers. We’ve got to continue to attract and retain technicians who want to be or who indeed are already EV trained. But ultimately, for us, it’s about building a team that’s as fascinated by EVs as the customers are.”
Pay commends mycar’s focus on creating an environment that makes people want to stay for the brand’s ability to attract and retain apprentices and qualified technicians.
Pay also talks about belonging to the board of the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (familiarly known as the double-A, double-A) and its successful campaign to lobby for legislative change to enable sharing of information for motor vehicle service and repair — the so-called right to repair law.
The Competition and Consumer Act (Cwlth 2010) was amended in 2022 to make it illegal for car companies to withhold information from qualified independent mechanics.
Service manuals, specifications for oil blends, software updates and the whole gamut of all things related to repairable and serviceable vehicle items are now, thanks to the change in that law, available to independent repairers at a fair market price.
Pay also talked about mycar’s stewardship of end-of-life tyres and batteries.
“All of our waste is dealt with in a sustainable fashion. We use the right partners. We use national providers for tyres, batteries, etcetera. We take it really seriously.”
Fleet News Group podcast is published every first and third Monday of the month. It’s available on major platforms including Spotify podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
