Groupauto, the company responsible for the Approved Garages scheme has increased its sponsorship activity in the British Touring Car Championship for 2014. The company is now a partner sponsor of the Power Maxed Racing VW Passat, following a successful ticket sponsorship deal with Donington Park in 2013.
Autoparts UK has launched its latest winter promotion with a heavy emphasis on crash repair and winter products, with a number of spend incentives also available to garages.
“It is extremely concerning that access to manufacturers technical information is still limited for independent garages” said Stuart James, Independent Garage Association (IGA) Director. A new study by BOVAG, The IGA’s European counterpart, has found that only six of 13 manufacturer websites examined in the study allowed the researchers to successfully establish a connection between the vehicle and the manufacturer’s website.
The IAAF’s conference has once again lived up to expectations with the delegates discussing the wide range of opportunities and threats for the ‘next generation’ of automotive aftermarket pioneers. Held at Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel at the National Exhibition Centre, delegates expressed their appreciation at the breadth and quality of the topics covered and the informed speakers who made presentations to nearly 100 aftermarket personnel.
Many forward-thinking garages now offer nitrogen tyre inflation as an additional service to customers, but it’s safe to say that the inflation performed by Nie Yongbing would draw bigger crowds. The 63-year old from China’s SichuanProvince is able to inflate car tyre inner tubes using his nostril. During a demonstration held on 6 December, Nie inflated four inner tubes using this unique method in just 20 minutes.
Ibstock’s Jeff Fowkes Wheels has been rewarded for “an amazing level of effort to raise awareness about tyre safety issues” with the inaugural TyreSafe Independent Garage Award. TyreSafe chairman Stuart Jackson presented Grace Fowkes from the family run Leicestershire business with the award at a prestigious luncheon.
Autoparts UK, one of the fastest growing motor factors, has launched an exclusive brand of batteries into the UK automotive aftermarket and signalled the introduction of more new brands in the future.
The Goliath brand of batteries joins Padtech brake pads, Disctech brake discs and Ultratec oils in being exclusively available from Autoparts, which has recently been subject to a massive rebranding exercise and the amalgamation of Apanels, a leading supplier of crash repair, body shop dry goods and key mechanical products.
In a recent speech Roads Minister Robert Goodwill indicated that the number of garages that reduce the MoT test fee influenced his decision to freeze the maximum charge until 2015.
He said, “Some of the decisions taken to reduce the cost of motoring this week have not been popular such as freezing the MOT fee. But I know that many test stations discount the fee. In fact only 12m of the vehicles on the road paid the full fee.”
The announcement this week that the MoT testing fee will be frozen until 2015 has annoyed many in the motor trade, not least Stuart James of the RMIF’s Independent Garage Association. James said, “Whilst the RMI acknowledges the Government’s efforts to support the motorist it is outraged that it has failed to recognise the spiralling costs incurred by garages. The last official review of the MoT test price was in 2010.”
Duncan Wilkes has been appointed chief executive of Micheldever Group, taking up the position in the New Year. First announced last February as part of the Micheldever Board‘s senior management succession plan, current Micheldever chief executive officer Paul Fox’s retirement has been confirmed for 31 December 2013. Fox will remain both as a shareholder and a non-executive director on the Micheldever Board.
The exclusive UK distributer of American wheel alignment equipment specialist Hunter has made the company’s latest piece of innovative technology available in the UK for the first time. The Hunter Quick Check Lane continues the technological lineage of the company’s rapid preliminary wheel alignment diagnostic system, Quick Check, to widen the scope of its time-saving diagnostic applications beyond the wheel.
The ‘REDI-Sensor’ tyre pressure monitoring system marketed under Continental’s VDO brand has been sold in North America for the last three years, and the automotive supplier claims the product has enjoyed great success there. Now, with EU Regulation 523/2012 coming into effect in little over one year from now, the company is rolling out REDI-Sensor here in Europe. The multi-application TPMS sensor will be introduced into the European market in summer 2014.
Continental is expanding its range of trailer tyres to include an increased load index option specifically designed for regional delivery applications. Thanks to its 5 tonne load capacity, the HTR 2 XL 385/65 R 22.5 with load index 164 is suitable for vehicles with a curb weight (without trailer) of up to 25 tonnes, including the city semitrailers used for making deliveries throughout Europe.
Bringing a huge boost for consumer protection, Motor Codes has announced a 45 per cent surge in its independent garage subscriber-base, taking the number of formally-endorsed local businesses to more than 2,000 across the UK.
Garage equipment specialist Trade Garage Equipment Limited has been appointed exclusive distributor for Europe’s leading extraction and de-polluting system manufacturers SACATEC.
Based in France, SACATEC has designed and manufactured a comprehensive range of systems for more than 50 years; Thomas Galtie of SACATEC explains how the association with ‘Trade’ developed.
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