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’.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
Tenneco Automotive is embarking on a new safety campaign called ‘Testing Days on Tour.’ The manufacturer is putting a fleet of testing vans on the road to travel across Europe, testing motorists shock absorbers, springs, exhaust systems and catalytic converters checked, free of charge at participating garages.
Pirelli have appointed Elite Garages as their recommended Motorsport Tyre specialist for the Pirelli PZero Corsa road/track tyre.
The Pirelli Corsa is described as the ultimate extreme performance tyre. It has been designed for enthusiasts who take their road car on the race track whether for a track day or for club racing allowing them to maximise their cars’ performance, without the need to change wheels or tyres when moving from road to track.
The Pzero Corsa is the successor to the renowned PZero C tyre and has a directional and asymmetrical tread pattern. The tyre will be available in nine sizes for 17 and 18 inch rims and carries a Y speed rating. Being a street legal ECE homologated racing tyre, the Corsa offers a level of performance not seen in standard road tyres, claims Pirelli.
A third of garages, tyre dealers and tyre repairers have had old tyres illegally fly-tipped at their site, according to a new survey published by the Environment Agency. Around 10 per cent said that it happened on a regular basis. The survey questioned 225 randomly selected garages and tyre firms about their knowledge and experience of tyre disposal. According to the Agency, fly tipping is usually carried out by cheap, unregistered companies that are operating illegally. Illegal disposal costs the industry, local authorities, the Environment Agency and landowners around £2.5 million a year, the report added.
Beissbarth UK has been awarded the Institute of Transport Management’s (ITM) ‘UK Company of the Year 2004/5’ accreditation.
This is the second award to be received by the company within the space of six months. After winning the industry’s equipment provider award of 2004 ‘Best Garage Equipment Provider.’
Crypton Technology Group has relaunched the Wheelforce brand with the introduction of a range of high performance wheel balancers and tyre changers. The new range is to be sold exclusively through Unipart Automotive, which includes Partco, Brown Brothers, Serck Intertruck, Plunketts and Express Factors.
Recent research carried by car care company, motoreasy has found that one in eight vehicles has at least one illegal and potentially dangerous tyre. Based on more than 1,000 tyre inspections taken at a number of the company’s approved independent garages across the UK. According to the research a further 24 per cent of tyres had tread so close to the legal requirement, a replacement would be needed “imminently.”
Regionally, Londoners were found to be the worst offenders, with a fifth of the cars tested running on tyres below the legal limit. In contrast, motorists in Scotland had the highest pass rate with only 6 per cent of cars in need of a replacement tyre.
The current legislation requires tread depth to be at least 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the width of the tyre. This rule also applies to the spare tyre. Even so 17 per cent of those inspected were illegal, or would be following what the company describes as “a short usage.”
Quite apart from the obvious safety benefits of having correctly fitted tyres (shorter stopping distances, reduced likelihood of aquaplaning), according to this research, drivers are foregoing the main financial benefit of using safe tyres, i.e. improved fuel economy. Not to mention the legal costs: three penalty points and a fine of up to £2,500 per tyre.
“Added to this, insurance companies are within their rights not to pay out on claims if the vehicle insured is not in a roadworthy condition. It’s shocking that so many motorists seem to ignore the conditions of their tyres – something that should ideally be checked every fortnight,” commented Motoreasy managing director David Gerrans adding: “A simple method of checking the tread is to use a 5 pence coin. Slot an upside down coin into the tread of the tyre and the depth should come up to the top of the Queen’s crown. If you don’t reach the crown, it’s likely your treads are nearing the end of their life and should be replaced.”
If Motoreasy’s research is correct, millions of drivers are failing to meet the minimum legal standard. In light of this, it makes the manufacturers and UK trade associations attempts to introduce a three-millimetre minimum tread depth look a fair way off.
The UK’s first “DIY garage” has just opened its doors in Aberdeen. The new workshop facility is targeted at those who enjoy carrying out motor vehicle repairs, but don’t have access to the necessary tools or facilities.
A long-running civil strike in Northern Ireland, that began earlier this year, has had a “devastating effect on the industry,” say market representatives. The dispute has had adverse affects on the operations of the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency Northern Ireland (DVTA) which handles all MOTs and HGV tests and there is call to privatise all vehicle testing.
In light of the recent ‘Which?’ report criticising the quality of MOT testing the emphasis has once again been drawn to what the industry and government can do to improve standards. Computerisation appears to be the government’s answer to improving the quality of the MOT test, but what will this mean for those at the sharp end of MOT testing?
Industry members are becoming increasingly concerned by the imminent arrival of MOT computerisation. However, government association representatives have contradicted these uncertainties by claiming that historically this was not the view of the trade. The Vehicle Operating Service Agency maintains that computerisation was introduced in accordance with the trade’s past response that it was the answer to improving the standards of the MOT test. Whichever side of the argument you are on one thing is certain – MOT computerisation is underway and will set the standard for future changes to build upon.
VOSA has been condemned for continuously delaying the delivery of the computerised system, and this in itself is increasing concerns about the system’s impact on businesses. The official line is that testing of the computerised system has been delayed by “slippage in SBS software.” VOSA spokesperson Miranda Roberts explained: “We have completed trial stage one of the introduction process and are currently installing the equipment into five test stations and 38 MOT garages. We will then begin a wider roll out involving more stations before the system goes live before the end of the year.” The agency predicts the roll out will take about six months to complete. The agency openly admits that some garages are experiencing problems with the software, and so VOSA is trying to make sure the equipment “fulfils all the requirements and is as effective as possible.”
When the system is cleared of all its glitches all 19,000 MOT testing stations will be provided with PCs, monitors and printers, and gas analysers will be fitted with a smart card reader. The equipment will be connected to a central database of vehicle information, test results and details of authorised examiners and testers. Access to the system is designed for authorised users only, via electronic smart cards and a password, however anyone with any computer experience knows how hard this method of security is to maintain in a hectic and pressurised work place.
The majority of mechanics disapprove of computerisation because of the cost and the fact that it has been forced on them, but more simply because it means change. Upgrading equipment will be a cost they didn’t budget for, although installation of the equipment is free, the consequences such as updating equipment are not.
The RAC is putting pressure on garages to provide free tyre pressure gauges in order to help prevent accidents. According to the RAC, only one in three motorists check their tyres before a long journey, despite the obvious safety risks associated with wrongly inflated tyres.
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