Cleanliness and customer safety a priority for local car dealers

The world is certainly a different place than it was a few weeks ago, but for local car dealers it’s (mostly) business as usual — just a lot more cleaning!

“When people test drive a car we clean it out, we sanitise all the touch points and they take it for a drive and when they come back we clean the car again before we put it back on the lot,” said Joe Connaughton from Orange Quality Used Cars.

“So there is no problems with that sort of stuff , we have all the sanitisers here to do the right thing… there's plenty of space to follow social distancing rules, all the cars are locked up and it’s only when people come into the yard and want to test drive them we open the car up.

“People are still looking for cars out there and I just want them to know that it is quite safe for them to do it here at Orange Quality Used Cars!”

While most of us are staying home a bit more these days, Joe said there are good deals to be had.

“We are here, we're open and we are looking to sell some cars and it might not be a bad time to come down!”

But you don’t even have to come to the yard if you don’t want to, said West Orange Motor General Manager Geremy Combis.

“We can do everything over the phone. So if someone want to test drive a car, we will take a car to their house, wipe it down after we get out of it, drop the keys, they can drive the car and when they are finished, we can pick it back up and re-clean it,” Geremy said.

And the same applies for getting your car serviced. Call West Orange Motors and they will pick up your vehicle from your home, have it serviced in their workshop and return it, said Geremy.

Even organising finance can be done over the phone.

“We can do everything over the phone. People don’t have to come in… you can sit down in an armchair at home and purchase a car if you wanted to.”

For those looking in person, West Orange Motors has also introduced strict safety measures on their lot.

“We have definitely had to take precautions for the customers, we make sure everything is sanitised and clean, making sure social distancing rules apply, so the salesmen have got double desks to separate people,” Geremy said.

“We are keeping all our cars locked now outside, so if someone wants to have a look at one, we know which have been opened so we can wipe them down and sanitise them — the same thing for our courtesy bus.

“It is business as usual for us, just a lot more of making sure everything is clean and safe.”