ASR "Roadshow" - General information on interstate services....

[Phreddy]

Are you not in the Sydney area, but interested in having some ASR enhancements to your Commy?

There are more than many emails received, to which I often need to type and re-type the same old stuff in the reply to provide explanations of how to go about making a booking on my next "roadshow" tour. Sure everyone needs their quote for their particular job, but from now on here is where you'll find the genreal explanations, and hopefully answers to your less specific questions.

ASR A&E is based in Penrith - at the base of the Blue Mountains in the outer Western metro area of Sydney. Beginning several years ago with a trip to Brisbane for five days, I managed to find enough customers up there to justify packing up the workshop into the car and driving for a total of 24 hours. A mate helped me out with somewhere to sleep, so it all went very well. Since that time there have been several more trips to Brisbane, along with Melbourne and Adelaide. Some other "along the way" towns have also been included in past roadshows, and will continue to be - with a couple of conditions. (more below...)

How often do I run a trip? That really depends on numbers, pure and simple. When there are enough jobs to make it worthwhile, I'll come to town. By way of example, in 2010 I ran four trips to Melbourne, three to Brisbane, and two to Adelaide. Lately I have tried to post up approximate future roadshow dates, but these MUST be taken tentatively - they're by no means carved in stone. As I receive inquiries, I file them by city - and when numbers are sufficient, I notify everyone in the folder via group email. (again, more info below)

Where do I do the work? Most often at your place - your home or your place of work, if that wouldn't upset your boss or create any OH&S issues. I don't need a whole lot of space, but I do need mains power. The work can be a little noisy and/or dusty for certain jobs, so inside isn't altogether ideal, but I do prefer an area that's under cover. (garage / carport is ideal) I definitely DON'T like to work in the elements, and it's not all that great for the components of your car to be exposed in that way.

What about travelling costs? (or What is the "Travel Split" fee that I refer to?) Both simple, and complicated... Let's tackle the "simple" side first.... It costs me in several ways to get to town, to exist as a human being whilst I'm in town (ie - sleep, shower, eat, etc.), to get around town whilst I'm there, and finally get back home. To begin with there's obviously fuel, there's also wear and tear on my vehicle. A very large aspect that is often overlooked is the time it takes to travel also - while I'm belting along the highway, I'm otherwise completely unproductive. (I can't even really take calls when I'm on the road - I can't take notes, and I can't devote the concentration I need to...) There's at least two full days taken up in getting to where I need to be, and that's before I've even pulled a screwdriver out of the tool box. Now the somewhat more complicated side.... Take into account here that your travel split will cover some of that fuel, some of that time, and a percentage of what it will cost me for a place to sleep that night. When I process your job quote, I will also add a travel split fee - how much that fee is will depend on how long your job will take. A short duration job (2-3 hours) will attract less of a travel split than a half-day job. In the same way, a full day job will attract a fee a little higher again. (because of the overnight accommodation aspect) In the long run though, I believe the travel split theme to be fair - no individual person is spending a load of cash just to get me there, and it gets me TO YOUR DOOR. The work is done on-site for you, and your car's "down-time" is kept to a minimum. You don't have to spend a load in fuel and time getting to me, or have to pull your car to bits and send it around the country - waiting for several days to get the work turned around and returned to you.... The best way I guess is to think of it as your "call-out" fee - and in most cases I'll bet you could pay more for a locally based tradesperson for an on-site call.
(as a guideline, the travel split fee you could expect would be between $65 - $95 for Brisbane / Melbourne customers. A little more for Adelaide, or for a full day job...)
If you're not actually in one of the roadshow city destinations, but "along the way" without too much of a deviation, then I would need to lift the travel split a little in your case to cover the extra travelling.

How do you get a quote / booking? The first step is to send me an email with "ROADSHOW" in the subject field, describing where you are, and a brief rundown of the work you would like done. (and I don't mean "hey mate - how much to change my lights?" - I need something a little more specific than that...) Usually it's best if you can do a little "homework" - by looking around the forum here, the ASR website, or the ASR Audio Facebook page, then give me a few details about your model and so on. I may not get straight back to your email, but I will file it in the appropriate folder. When I begin planning the next trip to your location, I send a group email to all members of the folder. At this time we will get among the specifics of your job, and arrange a quote.

Why do you need to pay a deposit? Once you're happy with your quote, to confirm your "spot" in the schedule, I need to receive a deposit - usually by direct bank transfer (the account details will be provided with the quotation) - this is regrettable, but necessary due to my encountering too many "pull-outs" at the eleventh hour. I also need to go to considerable expense before I even pull out of my driveway, in setting up all the components and parts I'll need, spares and comsumables, and prepping / fuelling the car for the trip. I generally expect that the deposit be at least the travel split fee - more is welcome, and will be deducted from the job total of course. To be fair all around, if you cancel your booking BEFORE I leave on the trip, I'll refund 50% of it. If you decide to pull out AFTER I set off, you forfeit your deposit altogether. (if you've paid more than the travel split fee, any excess is refunded...) Basically though, if you haven't paid your deposit then don't count on seeing me.

There might well be some other general questions that haven't been covered, I encourage you to ask through this thread and I will post an answer when I can. (I say again - GENERAL questions... Anything specific to your car or location I'll answer via email when the time comes.)

OK, I'll leave it there for now. Need some coffee.

Cheerz!

[Ricnat]

Hi Phreddy, obviously Perth is too far for a road trip, do you recommend any where in Perth where I can get the same
Type of work done? Thanks

[rch-13z]

Hi Phreddy, obviously Perth is too far for a road trip, do you recommend any where in Perth where I can get the same
Type of work done? Thanks

wrx884 does all the WA work! Welcome to ASR Audio & Electronics Home Page

[rch-13z]

wrx884 is the WA install guru - The booking form is here....

[Ricnat]

Sweet, thanks. I'll check it out.

[Ricnat]

wrx884 is the WA install guru - The booking form is here....

I did see this on-line, but only YT - VZ models were listed so I wasn't sure if they handled VE's as well. I'll have to do some more investigation.

[wrx884]

cheers Rich, PM sent Ricnat there is a reason y the VE's rnt on the ASR site 4 me yet, have explained in the PM 4 ya

[rch-13z]

Ahhh I must've been off with the fairies when I posted.... As to why I didn't just ask Ricnat to PM i don't know

[Essassin]

Thanks for posting up this thread mate, I was a bit confused about how the whole roadshow thing works. Will be sending an email tonight

[Matt02SS]

Any more info for an Adelaide trip?

[ashbox]

adelaide roadshow happen about 4 months ago...
althought i am keen to get more work done...i have more pressing issue. Like saving for an overseas trip

[BAW]

add me to the adelaide list
emailed phreddy, yet to hear back

he said somewhere that adelaide is roughly 2 roadshows per year.
considering his last one was in august, hopefully the next will only be a month or two away (sooner if we can drum up more interest)

[The 10th Doctor]

I'm up for an Adelaide one! Guess I better register my interest via the website

[BAW]

I'm up for an Adelaide one! Guess I better register my interest via the website

yeah man, shoot him an email with "ROADSHOW - ADELAIDE" in the subject bar.
this isnt the kind of thing you want to hesitate on, then get in too late and have to wait another 6 months.

[ashbox]

It took a while to get him to adelaide the first time, was just on a year.
be patient, his work is good, but it takes ALOT of interest to get him down here

[BAW]

be patient, his work is good, but it takes ALOT of interest to get him down here

all the more reason why i dont want to miss out

[Mk2]

Just curious if there has been any progress in the VX Calais climate control unit? I want an ASR conversion done but I don't want a half job and then need to call Greg back down. If it's something that there has been improvements made upon I'm willing to wait until he's finished with it before having work done.

Oh, and Adelaide here as well.