Autoplex Moves From Being Open Saturday To Strengthen Its Mon-Fri Operation

Autoplex is refining its operations to a five-day business after Waitangi weekend, as the company negotiates changes in staff as its older generation moves on.

Owner Daniel Blain said Ian Hogg (74) would be retiring and another staff member reducing his hours, and so now made sense to drop back from its current 6-day working model.

This was the reality across many industries as New Zealand adapts to its aging population, and the challenges that come with finding flexible trained staff to replace them.

“Our beloved baby boomers are retiring, which is a massive hole to fill, and it makes it difficult to replenish our weekend roster,” he said.

Arguably one of the biggest Warrant of Fitness specialists in Southland, Autoplex has been going for 32 years, opening on Queens Birthday in 1992.

Daniel bought the business off his father David almost 10 years ago and Ian (Hoggy) was already a veteran of Autoplex at that time.

“It’s going to be a bit of a shock for Southland without people like Hoggy, He has always been there for a chat with your weekend WoF,” Daniel said.

Saturdays have become Autoplex’ busiest day of the week in recent times, and the weekend before Christmas there was 12 cars lined up waiting for a check.

Ian said Autoplex had become part of his life, and the garage was often a meeting place for people, including truckies who would stop in for a cup of coffee.

“I met some really good people and made a lot of friends there as well, surprisingly.”

A jack of all trades, he did his apprenticeship at Macauley Ford back in the day before heading to the Chatham Islands to fish and then later dive for paua and then crayfish.

He went back to being a mechanic in Southland and then also a welder/engineer at both freezing works, before his job at Autoplex.

“Saturday the 3rd of February will be our last Saturday and we will be Monday to Friday thereafter,” Daniel said.

He wanted to thank the people of Southland for their understanding, “as everyone knows, Saturday was our busiest day, and we’ve always been known as a weekend destination for WoFs and repairs.”

Daniel has said that, while he can’t replace his existing staff with WoF technicians who are willing to work weekends, he has taken the opportunity to bolster Autoplexs weekday roster.

“Our Monday to Friday operation will have greater capabilities and we thank Southland for their support of our weekend service, and the coming transition.”