Andy Patterson, based in south-east London, was working in the UK hospitality industry in the late 1990s when he spotted an opportunity to do something altogether different. Having always loved cars and been good with his hands, Mr Patterson, a 42-year-old father of three, trained in dent removal and founded Automotive Repair Systems. His company carries out Smart (which stands for small medium area repair technique) repairs to cars. The British managing director speaks here about a typical workday on a trip to the UAE.
7am
I normally set the alarm for this time and have breakfast in the hotel. I travel to Dubai every four to six weeks and tend to stay in a hotel where we have a corporate rate in Al Barsha and then travel from there to our office in Al Quoz. I founded the business in the UK in 1997. Because of my background in hospitality, I realised that the service offered back then was generally very poor. After training in dent removal I offered my service to local dealers in London. The business has grown from there. Today we are the largest in the UK with 135 operators or technicians. We came out to the UAE in 2011 because we saw there was a big opportunity here. Many expats working in the dealerships out here had an understanding of Smart Repair, but no dealerships or companies wanted to invest into it.
8.30am
I get to the office. I normally fire up the laptop and see if there are any additional emails from other international business or from the UK the previous night. The UK is definitely more profitable and our turnover and the expectations in terms of speed of service is far higher in the UK. However, in Dubai, the standard of repair expected is probably higher as people often see Smart Repair thinking it’s a bodyshop repair just done quickly, which it isn’t. It’s a cosmetic repair, repairing that small area, not the entire panel or bumper – therefore keeping the cost down.
9.30am
I travel to the various sites or meetings that I have throughout the day with managers at different dealerships. We find that the challenges we have over here is people saying they are going to turn up when they don’t. I think some of it is just the culture here, but we try to accommodate everyone the best way we can. To combat this, we tend to overbook every day and we always call a customer the day before.
1pm
Lunch is usually with a customer or I just get something in a local coffee shop close to the office or where I have had my previous meeting. I like to get hands on and meet and greet some of the customers. Most of the car damage we repair is not down to an accident or a crash repair where a police report is required. It is more cosmetic damage where a car might get scuffed by a shopping trolley, or someone has opened a car door on to a wall or damaged their wheel when parking the car.
3pm
Around this time it’s a combination of different meetings; either meetings with customers, internal meetings with my managers here or with my finance team, as well as catching up with any emails I might have.
5.30pm
I leave the office and go back to the hotel. I have a quick freshen up and then I will sit on my computer probably for another hour to catch up on UK work.
7.30pm
For dinner, I like to try different restaurants but my favourite when I am on my own is the Belgian Café in the Madinat Jumeirah. I’ll try different restaurants if I am with a customer or a friend. Sometimes it is business and socialising at the same time. I love the UAE and during my time here, 75 per cent of it will be work orientated and 25 per cent will be a bit of relaxation.
11pm
I head back to the hotel and go to sleep.
business@thenational.ae
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