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Top Technician Competition Open for Entrants

The competition to find the UK’s best mechanics, Top Technician 2010 has opened for entries and nominations at the website www.toptechnician.co.uk. The winner will be announced after three competitive assessment stages at Workshop 2010, the industry’s own parts and equipment exhibition, at the NEC Birmingham on 15 April, 2010. S/He will be awarded £2,500 tax-free, alongside thousands of pounds’ worth of prizes and – a press release for the competition states – “priceless publicity for you and your business.” Entrants must complete the initial online test by 8 January, 2010. The prize is sponsored by Blueprint, Comma Oil & Chemicals, Delphi, Euro Car Parts, Lemforder and Motor Codes.

10th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Recognition For Car Parts Entrepreneur

Wembley-based motor industry entrepreneur, Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia of Euro Car Parts, has been nominated for the Business & Commerce Award at the forthcoming Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards, taking place on Saturday 7th November at London Hilton, Park Lane.

Starting as a teenager in a "one-man business", Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia has built Euro Car Parts Ltd into the UK's largest independent distributor of replacement car parts. Early in this career, he identified that the UK's 30,000 independent car garages needed immediate access to a wide range of car parts for the huge array of vehicles on the road, allowing repairs to be completed the same day, sometimes even while the car owner waited.

5th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Blackcircles.com Adds Online Car Servicing

Blackcircles.com has gone the route of bricks and mortar retailers before it, by adding car servicing options to its online tyre portfolio. The move, made in conjunction with Unipart will allow motorists to book and pay for car servicing online to be carried out at its network of 1,200 independent garages. According to Blackcircles.com the service will be up to 60 per cent cheaper than franchised dealerships.

Mike Welch, founder and managing director of Blackcircles.com, said: “We are moving into the vehicle servicing sector with the same innovative business model that has allowed Blackcircles.com to capture around £13 million of the UK tyre market.”

22nd October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Survey Unearths Safety Sloppiness Amongst Company Car Drivers

A survey conducted by TyreSafe has again shone a spotlight onto the UK motoring public’s inability to regularly check tyre tread depth. The organisation probed a sample group of 1,552 company car drivers from across the UK and was astounded to find an alarming 25 per cent had never – ever – checked the depth of their vehicle’s tyre tread. A further 41 per cent had not deigned their own safety and that of others sufficient reason to kneel down and take a look under the wheel arches during the last six months. Yet, notes TyreSafe, responsibility for tyre safety on fleet vehicles is the responsibility of both companies and employees, and those not making the necessary checks face fines and other penalties. To simplify the task of checking tyre tread, companies are being encouraged to promote TyreSafe’s ‘lifesaver in your pocket’ initiative – which encourages simple monthly checks using a 20p coin – to their employees.

22nd October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Blackcircles.com to Launch New Service This Month

Online tyre retailer Blackcircles is set to launch a new service that will see the company foray deeper into the aftermarket. (For full report see November’s Tyres & Accessories magazine) Earlier this summer the company announced that it would expand its network of independent garages by 30 per cent by the end of the year in preparation for the move. Blackcircles currently counts 1,200 independent garages in its network. The South East and North West are said to be prime regions for new garages to meet demand.

In recent years Blackcircles.com has grown to a turnover of in excess of £10, after having only launched in 2001. In an earlier report, the Financial Times quoted Welch as saying sales were as much as 80 per cent up year-on-year. While year-on-year sales growth is currently quoted at 60 per cent it remains nonetheless impressive. 2008 turnover was £11 million, but in 2009, it is predicted to be £15 million.

2nd October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pro-Cut Means Good Vibrations For EBC

Pro-Cut On-Car Brake Lathes have supplied EBC Brakes with their first brake lathe for their Northampton base. EBC Brakes manufactures the world's largest range of brake discs for cars, trucks and motorcycles in the UK. The company contacted Pro-Cut concerned with vibration and imbalance issues garages were experiencing when fitting new pads to existing discs.

By resurfacing brake discs when fitting new pads it improves brake performance for customers, eliminates brake vibrations, fixes noisy brakes, cures imbalances and extends brake and pad life. James Hallett from EBC Brakes said "You can replace brake discs as many times as you like trying to solve vibration but the problem will not go away until the disc is resurfaced."

1st October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Safety Month Gets Underway

TyreSafe hopes lives will be saved and avoided in as it launches October's Tyre Safety Month. Throughout the month hundreds of garages across the country will be encouraging motorists to check the depth of their tyre tread by using a 20p coin, to ensure they stay safe and legal. "As we move into the wettest months of the year, adequate tyre tread depth is a critical element of road safety," explains Stuart Jackson, chairman, TyreSafe. "There are still far too many accidents and fatalities occurring every day which could have been avoided if the driver had paid more attention to the condition of their tyres. The 'lifesaver in your pocket' campaign gives drivers an incredibly easy and simple way to check their tread depth which will help them stay safe and on the right side of the law."

During 2008, 34 motorists died on the UK's roads where an illegal, defective or under-inflated tyre was a contributory factor in the accident. At least 900 other motorists were also injured in accidents where tyre neglect played a part. Independent research commissioned by TyreSafe found that more than half of all drivers could not correctly identify the legal tread depth and a startling one in five drivers had never checked their tread depth. The AA reported that in 2008 nearly one in ten of every breakdown it attends, is for a tyre related call out.

30th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

New Floor Tape Applicator from Laser Tools

The arduous task of indicating hazardous areas in workshops and garages is significantly easier today, thanks to the release of a new Floor Tape Applicator from Laser Tools. Applying hazard warning tape is an essential requirement of tyre-related workplaces for health and safety reasons, and the applicator – according to Laser Tools – makes this job quicker and easily. The company also supplies rolls of tape separately.

30th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

“Waste Crime Problem Increasing”: Peter Taylor

The BBC has followed up its investigation into tyre dumping scams in North Wales on the Radio 4 consumer affairs programme, You and Yours including a statement from the secretary general of the Tyre Recovery Association, Peter Taylor. The segment was broadcast on 23 September and can be heard on Auntie’s splendid iPlayer, using the link at the bottom of the page (segment begins at circa 45 minutes).

25th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

GfK: Japanese Tyre Makers Control 70% of Major Indonesian Replacement Markets

A GfK Indonesia retail audit, covering the area of Jakarta and Surabaya, of passenger car tyres in July 2009 reported close to 110,000 units of car tyres traded in retail level, with sales worth more than $6.75 million. According to the retail census, there are currently a total of 435 shops retailing car tyres which consist of: 300 Car Tyre Specialists, 110 Car Garages and 25 Fast Fitters. Car Tyre Specialists made up the bulk of the passenger car tyre retail sales with 85 per cent of units sold through this core channel. These results clearly show consumers’ preference to “specialised” shops when replacing tyres.

9th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

XPart Trebles Battery Range with New Applications

Parts distribution specialist XPart, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Logistics Services UK Ltd, has increased its battery range 280 per cent, offering batteries for motorcycle, commercial vehicle, leisure and marine applications. The expansion of the “competitively priced range” will also include nearly 50 percent more car batteries, and will be available to order from all XPart wholesalers and AutoService centres, with same day delivery.

8th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Battery Market Brands Growing, say Manbat, Johnson MDs

The UK battery market is seeing branded products in growth at the expense of private labels, though the latter still hold over two-thirds of the total market, according to Paul Matarewicz, the managing director of Johnson Controls Batteries and VARTA. Meanwhile, Manbat’s MD, Steve Sheppard believes that the rising brand awareness in the UK is a result of the general economic slump, to which consumers are responding with a desire for greater reliability and longer lifespan.

7th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

20p Coin a ‘Life Saver in Your Pocket’: TyreSafe

The latest TyreSafe campaign materials are soon to be released on the not-for-profit organisation’s website in time for October’s Tyre Safety Month. Focusing on tread depth, the new resources will encourage drivers to check and replace any illegal tyres on their vehicle by introducing the theme of a ‘life saver in your pocket', which suggests that motorists can check the safety and legality of their tyres using the edge of a 20 pence coin. Materials are provided free of charge to the trade and include a reception poster, a point of sale leaflet, a website banner and a safety advice movie.

1st September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bosch Launches New Tyre Service and Alignment Range

Through its recent acquisitions of Beissbarth and SICAM, Bosch has enhanced its product range and now reports it can offer workshops a complete range of tyre service and wheel alignment equipment. Its latest release is a new garage equipment line-up that it says focuses upon "around the wheel" products.

21st August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese Company Fined for Producing Fake Conti Drive Belts

ContiTech reports achieving a further victory in the fight against product forgeries after proving that a large Chinese manufacturer produced fake ContiTech automotive drive belts. "This is a major step in the prosecution of illicit reproduction cases, since it was the first time that we were able to determine the manufacturer directly," reported Helmut Engel, head of the ContiTech Power Transmission Group’s Automotive Aftermarket sector. "Often, only the dealers and importers are held to account, and the producers of the copies remain unknown."

20th August 2009/by Tyrepress Editors