garages Archives - Page 31 of 33 - Tyrepress

Posts

Euro Car Parts Launches Aftermarket Training Academy

Euro Car Parts has launched what it claims is the first aftermarket training academy of its kind to deliver Government-approved training to its sales team trainees. The new training centre, Euro Academy, has been established to ensure Euro Car Parts’ specialised sales teams continue to have the most comprehensive knowledge bank throughout the industry.

The academy’s first 32 young people will begin the three-year Level 3 NVQ Apprenticeship in Parts Operations, which gives 16 to 24 year olds the opportunity to develop their knowledge to the most advanced levels in the UK aftermarket. The apprenticeship will be awarded by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), which is the leading awarding body for vocational qualifications in the automotive sector and the industry’s professional association.

18th August 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Time to Heed the Wake-Up Call

With so much to gain, why is the service and repair industry not heeding the wake up call asks Beissbarth UK’s managing director Phillip Hodges. “This is the last chance saloon for those in the industry who are plainly not up to the job, and giving competent operators a bad name, “ added Mr Hodges. If the industry cannot regulate itself then government will do it and the smaller firms will sink without trace under the weight of the subsequent red tape. This is the final wake up call.”

Mr Hodges cites a litany of damning consumer research reports ignored by the industry, compounded by threats from the National Consumer Council (NCC) to make a super complaint’ about the service and repair sector to government ministers, which could result in an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.

20th July 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

AA Calls For Government Tread Depth Review

The AA Motoring Trust and County Surveyors’ Society (CSS) has called for the government to lead a review of the 1.6 millimetre tread depth limit. The call comes in response to “research evidence from real crashes,” says the report. At the same time the report called for greater investment from local authorities in road surface renewal.

27th June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Hazardous Waste Awareness Levels Low

Only one in five motor vehicle service and repair garages are aware of the hazardous waste regulations due to come into place in coming weeks, according to new figures revealed today by the Environment Agency.

The findings, which are the result of a survey of more than 1000 small and medium sized businesses in England and Wales found that only 17 per cent of garages interviewed knew about the new regulations which will take effect from 16 July 2005.

27th June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Make Money from Fresh Air

Automotive air conditioning specialists Autoclimate claim that garages are missing out on valuable profit opportunities by not offering an in-house air conditioning service and repair facility.

This is partly due to a misconception that air conditioning is both tricky and hazardous to repair, with mechanics facing a potential risk of frostbite. This view is both outdated and erroneous, says Autoclimate, with better equipment design and new and impending legislation having eliminated any such risks.

22nd June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Automotive Hazardous Waste Service Launched

A service to help garages, workshops and automotive centres deal with the disposal of hazardous waste in line with the new July waste regulations has been introduced by waste disposal specialists, the OSS Group.

The HazTech package provides a guaranteed scheduled collection for all hazardous wastes including oil, filters, batteries, solvents, brake fluid and aerosols. Under the service guarantee late collections will mean customers get the next collection free.

Costs are based on a set pick-up price after which customers are only charged for the actual number of waste containers emptied at the time of collection. Containers that comply with regulations for each waste type are supplied on a weekly rental basis and the frequency of the collections depends on individual customer needs.

21st June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Opens New Education Centre

At the end of May Bridgestone inaugurated its new 3,000 square metre European Education Centre (EUEC) situated within the tyre manufacturer’s European Proving ground at Aprilia near Rome.

16th June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

New Hazardous Waste Regulations

New hazardous waster disposal regulations are come into force on 16 July 2005 and are expected to impact on around 20,000 sites related to the motor industry, with the Environment Agency having the powers to issue £300 on the spot fines to sites which are in breach of the law. Some things have a way of sneaking up on you, and the new Hazardous Waste Legislation is not different. Of course it doesn’t help when businesses bury their heads in the sand and pretend it’s not going to happen. And to some extent that’s what the UK tyre industry has been doing over these latest environmental rules and regulations. The issue raised its head at the NTDA’s Spring Conference, and highlighted a serious need to raise the industry’s awareness, something the association is trying to do, and quickly.

3rd June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Gassing on About Nitrogen

In the UK the implementation of nitrogen inflation is still a relatively new topic. But when ATS Euromaster began a nitrogen inflation trial at 25 of its UK outlets earlier this year, it stirred interest about the subject within the market.

2nd June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Getting the Message Across

“The UK aftermarket industry must play a key role in bringing the findings of new research into tyre performance to motorists’ attention” – this was RoadSafe’s message at its recent ‘safety in the wet demonstration,’ a message it successfully managed to impress on guests.

MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) and RoadSafe welcomed both journalists and ‘opinion formers,’ including representatives from the AA, police and RoSPA, to the association’s test grounds in Nuneaton last month, to host comparative tyre tread depth tests and to promote the industry’s 3mm tyre replacement cause.

Guests were offered the opportunity to take part in a practical demonstration that aimed to further impact the tyre safety message. Four cars, each with one of the specified tread depths, 8mm, 4mm, 3mm or 1.6mm were available for guests to complete wet braking tests. The results were strikingly clear, the lower the tread depth the longer and further it took to stop the vehicle. A simple exercise, a simple message; yet despite the simplicity a large percentage of motorists drive on illegal levels of tyre tread. What the 3mm working group says is that it’s up to the UK tyre industry to do something about this and promote change.

1st June 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Reality TV Comes to the Garage

British garage technicians are being offered the chance to star in a television series being made in Spain. ‘The Garage’ will follow the progress of an independent garage set in the expatriate community on the south coast of Spain. Endemol UK, the production company involved, was responsible for the highly successful ‘fly-on-the-wall’ series about a hairdressing and beauty operation, ‘The Salon’.

19th May 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Test lanes – The Way Forward

Test lanes are working well in Ireland and are becoming increasingly popular, so why are we so slow to catch on in the UK? asks Beissbarth UK’s managing director, Philip Hodges.

He said: “There is no doubt that test lanes are the future. They make absolute sense on every level from efficiency through to profitability. A lot of companies which haven’t invested will lose out because they won’t be able to offer the best service, and consumers always demand the best. Garages are reluctant to look at what they can earn from investing in new equipment and are stuck on how much the initial outlay costs.”

30th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Plant Aims to Beat

Michelin’s Vitoria factory has set itself the challenge of beating its own record and making 11.5 million car and giant excavator tyres, Spanish news sources have reported.

All four Michelin’s Vitoria business units, giant tyres, car tyres, cable and rubber, registered growth in 2004, thanks to a 12 per cent upturn in the world tyre market. During the year, more than 10.8 million car tyres left the Vitoria plant for car manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Ford, Seat, Renault, Opel, Peugeot and Citröen, who accounted for 30 per cent of the units produced. The other 70 per cent went to the spares market, to workshops, garages and inspection centres.

22nd March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

MOT Industry Calls for Reduced MOT Test Fees

The MOT Trade Forum is urging the Minister of Transport, David Jamieson, to amend the MOT Test fee structure and introduce a reduced but mandatory fee and a new scale of re-test charges.

The Forum’s membership represents the interests of the country’s 19,500 MOT testing stations and has proposed a complete overhaul of the MOT Test fee structure that would both reward motorists who keep their vehicles in good condition and encourage those running badly maintained and potentially dangerous vehicles to improve their maintenance standards.

21st March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors

EU Commission Probes Car Makers

The European Union Commission has said it is probing four car makers on suspicion that they restricted access to technical information required for vehicle maintenance in a way that may contravene EU competition law, Tire Review reports.

10th March 2005/by Tyrepress Editors