IMI Magazine

ATA anniversary

Some people turn up for ATA assessment sessions with the misguided belief that they are on some kind of training course. Paul Lovick knows different. He logged onto the ATA website to familiarise himself with what was in store and two days later set off from his home near Fakenham in Norfolk for a three-hour drive in torrential rain to one of the assessment centres, Delphi Automotive in Leamington Spa. There, he underwent nearly eight hours of tests, with a half-hour break for lunch.

"It was pretty demanding - some things I was familiar with, but one of the tasks came as a surprise," said Paul, a tyre and exhaust technician with Kingsway Tyres in Fakenham.

He was joined on the day by Andrew Nicola from Meadway Garage in Southgate, North London, and Andy Ellard from Douglass Motors at Wolston, near Coventry.

Proceedings began with an introduction by Rob Lewis, Delphi's lead technical trainer for ATA, who likened the scheme to the Gas Safe register (formerly Corgi) for gas engineers, and added: "It could also be described as a kind of MOT for those who work on the vehicles."

Rob then explained that the day comprised six practical exercises, each lasting 45 minutes, covering braking, electrical, transmission and mechanical. But first there was a 45-minute online test, featuring 30 questions out of a 100-strong list selected at random to determine the breadth of theoretical knowledge.

On your own
"I'm here to assist as well as assess, so feel free to ask for help if you're not clear about any of the questions, and that applies to the practical tasks as well," Rob reassured the candidates. But he added: "We still get some people turning up thinking this is a training day. It's not - so I can only help so far and then you're on your own!"

The practical sessions saw the trio dealing in rotation with an intermittent non-start engine, ABS warning light, crankshaft measurement, gearbox strip-down, a rear wiper fault and an air con fault.

Between sessions, Rob Lewis commented: "One of the attractions of ATA is that it encourages those taking part to expand their area of expertise. Someone doing an air con assessment might decide to go for the light vehicle assessment as well, and vice versa."

He said that at the start of the year assessments at Delphi were running at around 50 to 60 a month, with an equal mix of light vehicle and air con. However, that shot up to 300 in May alone, driven by the new regulations on air con maintenance which came into effect on July 4.

During the lunch break, the three candidates briefly had time to reflect on their progress.

Methodical job  
"So far, I'm fairly confident that I've done well," said Andy Ellard, 34, who has been at Douglass Motors for two years. "My employer's very health and safety conscious and that teaches you to do a job very methodically."

"It's a good mix of electrical and mechanical," said Paul Lovick. "Best bit was the gearbox stripdown and on the whole I'm finding it very worthwhile."

Andrew Nicola, who has been a technician at Meadway Garages for seven years, was more non-committal, limiting his comment to "it's OK".

As for the Which? observer, it's a case of wait and see - the magazine's report is due to appear in September.

Chris Phillips

Imagine you're a customer service agent who gets a telephone call from a distressed father. "Help! My son's just fuelled his diesel car with petrol," explains the caller. "What can I do?"

On this occasion, 'father' was a role-playing actor brought in to help test CSAs at Mercedes-Benz on their customer skills. And watching how they coped was an observer from Which? magazine.

Mercedes-Benz is one of the driving forces behind ATA customer service, a 'soft skills' segment of the scheme's expanding portfolio, and is committed to achieving accreditation for all its customer service agents.

Assessment focuses on the candidate's people skills and technical knowledge to provide 'outstanding customer service'. 

'In-tray' exercise  
The Mercedes-Benz base at Milton Keynes is part of the IMI-approved assessment centre network and on the day of the Which? visit candidates were being tested for ATA level 2 customer service accreditation, lead by Nigel Byard of Business Measures. The day began with an 'in-tray' exercise, answering technical and product-based queries, before moving on to a series of role-play sessions.

In the example of the car filled with the wrong fuel, candidates first talked to the customer over the phone, followed by a face-to-face meeting when the car was delivered and another meeting after completion of the work.

In sessions like these, candidates are expected to deal with a series of issues, ranging from extra requests from the customer to complaints and queries, while keeping to company guidelines and demonstrating knowledge of working procedures. The role-plays are carried out in mock show rooms with two assessors marking candidates against the ATA criteria.

At this assessment, all candidates passed and were given their results at the end of the day in a debrief with the two assessors, who also provided detailed feedback, including areas which could be improved in the future.

As with the technician assessment at Delphi Automotive, the Which? feature is due for publication in September.

Simon White