Repairs on Cars That Never Came In

01The situation

The service records were perfect. The customers had never been told.

A dealer group's workshops showed warranty and free-service claim rates well above other dealers. The manufacturer threatened to withhold payments and asked the group to investigate.

02How it worked

1. 01Service advisors used customer vehicle details from earlier visits to open job cards for repairs that never happened.
2. 02Warranty parts were drawn from stores against those job cards.
3. 03The parts were sold to local garages for cash.
4. 04The workshop manager approved the claims and shared the proceeds.
5. 05Some free services were billed to the manufacturer for vehicles already serviced at other workshops.

03The challenge

Work through tens of thousands of job cards in the dealer management system, separate genuine work from fabricated claims, and protect the dealership agreement.

04Our approach

1. Workstream 01

   Dealer system analytics

   Job cards, claims and parts movements reviewed in full.

2. Workstream 02

   Customer verification

   Independent confirmation of visits on a sample.

3. Workstream 03

   Stores reconciliation

   Parts drawn against physical stock and throughput.

4. Workstream 04

   Interviews

   Service advisors, stores staff and workshop management.

05What we found & did

• Warranty and free-service claims raised on vehicles not serviced.
• Warranty parts drawn and sold to outside garages.
• The workshop manager approved and shared in the claims.
• The dealer principal was cleared.

06The impact

07Lessons for your business

The controls that would have stopped this, or caught it sooner:

• Confirm warranty visits with customers.
• Reconcile warranty parts drawn to parts fitted and returned.
• Benchmark claim rates against peers.
• Separate claim approval from workshop management.