Castrol has commissioned its biggest survey of franchised service departments across the UK.

The initiative, which follows the completion of a qualitative research project examining the role of service advisors, will be managed by market research specialists Sadek Wynberg Millward Brown, and will interview nearly 600 service advisors across a range of franchises, locations and dealer sizes.

Adrian Brabazon, Castrol OEM and workshop marketing manager for UK and Ireland, said: "Our qualitative research confirmed that there are some serious challenges confronting franchised workshop operations that demand further, quantitative analysis."