Abstract: Success of many organization’s depends on the quality of services provided to the customer. Vehicle maintenance is categorized in two types which is preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance. And that maintenance in most of the cities in Tanzania and especially Mbeya region is held at dealers (formal) or local (informal) garages located in different areas of the city. Preventive maintenance is the kind of maintenance which is done based on the scheduled dates fixed in agreement between either the garage or dealer and the customer, while corrective maintenance is the kind of maintenance or repair done to the vehicle after fault has occurred.
With currently change in technology most of the maintenance and repairs conducted in local garages has been claimed to be of poor quality. The study has looked on the factors which lead to those challenges on the quality delivered by local garages (informal garages) and the case study was local garages located in Mbeya city.
Total of 97 respondents who are mechanics, customers and owners of different informal garages were given questionnaires. The results has demonstrated the followings reasons to be the factors which lead to poor quality delivered to customers; the reasons are Lack of right equipment for repairing, No formal education on repairs and maintenance, No genuine spares, working environment, Lack of incentives. Further it was noticed that most of the reasons mentioned are within the control of the garage and can be rectified.
Based on the reasons for the poor quality delivered by many informal garages to their customers, it is advised to the owners of the local garages to introduce the Customer Relationship Management and quality section in order to control the quality of the service delivered and to manage feedback of the services delivered to their customer.
Keywords: Quality, formal Garages, Informal Garages, Maintenance.
Title: FACTORS LEADING TO QUALITY RELATED CHALLENGES FOR INFORMAL GARAGES: A CASE STUDY OF MBEYA CITY, TANZANIA
Author: Francis Daudi Sinkamba
International Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Technology
ISSN 2348-7593 (Online)
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