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Right to Repair Group Calls for Sector Specific Regulations to Remain

The UK Right to Repair Campaign (UK R2RC) has welcomed a statement from the European Commission that its evaluation of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation’ of 2002 does not prejudge any decision on the future of that legislation. However, UK R2RC also said that parts of the Commission’s proposals would add uncertainty, and penalise the independent aftermarket by making it harder to remedy incidences of market abuse. The independent aftermarket, the organisation added, needs simple and sector-specific legislation.

Jim Mazza, Chairman of UK R2RC, said “though the tone of the report is softer than expected, it still understates the benefits to consumers and the independent aftermarket alike of having a single piece of legislation regulating the availability of service and repair information and the supply of replacement parts.

2nd June 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Chinese CV Tyre Imports Continue Unabated in India

The Indian government’s July 2007 anti-dumping legislation is having little effect on the numbers of Chinese truck and bus tyres being brought into the subcontinent. Instead increased numbers of Chinese-produced radials are being imported into India. According to a Hindu Business Line report, there has been no reduction in the share of Chinese tyres in this part of the domestic replacement market; and the price differential between Indian products remains in the range of 10-30 per cent. Imports of commercial vehicles tyres have reportedly skyrocketed in the last five years, with the Chinese tyres making up 91 per cent of the overall tyres tyre imports, according to ATMA figures tracking the market between September 2007 and March 2008.

27th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Lower Rolling Resistance, TPMS by 2012, says EU

A host of new vehicle safety and environmental requirements, including several tyre related measures, will become obligatory as of 2012. On May 23 the European Commission unveiled its timetable for the introduction of these measures, of which European Commission vice-president Günter Verheugen said: “We are simplifying legislation. We are improving road safety. We are promoting fuel efficiency. We are presenting a modern integrated policy approach beneficiary for citizens, for the environment and the industry.”

Low rolling resistance tyres (LRRT) are to become obligatory from 2012, and the European Commission notes that, in order to avoid any negative impact on safety, explicit safety requirements are to be introduced alongside new standards on noise. Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems will also become obligatory from 2012. Deflated tyres, comments the Commission, can cause up to a 4 per cent increase in fuel consumption while reducing tyre lifespan by 45 per cent. Tyres can lose 3 to 6 per cent pressure per month, and this may not be noticed by the driver. According to research by TNO in the Netherlands, the fuel saving potential of LRRT and TPMS in passenger cars is 3 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. For new cars with expected engine test cycle performance of 130 g CO2/km this would mean additional reductions of more than 7 g CO2/km (3.9 LRRT and 3.25 TPMS). The CO2 reduction potential of LRRT+TPMS on a current car (with a test cycle of, for instance, 160g) would be greater than 7kg/tonne.

27th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

CE Marking to Disappear from Pirelli’s NA Motorcycle Tyres

Motorcycle radials sold by Pirelli in the North American replacement market will, from May 2008 onwards, be manufactured bearing solely the markings required by local legislation, including the DOT markings. Pirelli reports this change is taking place for logistics reasons. Pirelli’s North American market motorcycle tyres will no longer be marked with the European CE sign.

This change, said Pirelli, is intended to protect the consumer, and the company comments that all tyres supplied to any market must be purchased only through the legitimate distribution network.

14th May 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Fleet Encourages Participation in Road Risk Survey

Britain’s largest independent fast-fit operator, Kwik-Fit Fleet, is participating in a major occupational road risk management survey in conjunction with RoadSafe, the organisation responsible for managing the Government’s ‘Driving for Better Business’ programme. The survey was officially launched at the Fleet Business Show at the Business Design Centre, London on April 29. The survey’s aim is to gain information on what actions senior managers with responsibility for fleet operations and the use of privately-owned cars on business have taken to reduce their organisations’ risk exposure in the light of the implementation of the month’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in early April.

Mike Wise, head of Kwik-Fit Fleet, said: “The importance of companies managing occupational road risk has continued to increase in recent years. As a business we undertake hundreds of thousands of safety checks on vehicles and often find that cars and vans are not in tip-top condition. A failure by companies and their employees to ensure a vehicle’s safety-related equipment is in a first-class condition could be the difference between life and death.

30th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

TIA Formally Back R2R Bill Effort

The Right to Repair issue has been a hot button for the independent auto service industry for nearly a decade. And calls for such legislation have spread to Europe and Canada. Yesterday, TIA formally announced its support of the latest federal Right to Repair bill – Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act (HR 2694) – and “strongly urges Congress to pass the legislation in order to ensure that car owners and their trusted repair shops have the same access to safety alerts and repair information as the franchised new car dealer network.”

“We have always supported Right to Repair, but because most new vehicles are equipped with TPMS that are controlled by computers, we felt compelled to formally state our position,” said Roy Littlefield, TIA’s executive vice president. “Keeping these systems updated and in safe working condition requires ready access to complete and accurate information from the car companies.

17th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Canada Fined for Worker Injury

Goodyear Canada was fined CA$55,000 on April 11 after pleading guilty in connection with a workplace injury that occurred in 2006. Justice Katrina Mulligan heard in the Ontario Court of Justice that the injured employee was working at Goodyear’s Bowmanville facility on November 8, 2006, when the incident occurred. The employee was working on a machine making conveyor belts when he walked into the path of an electronic beam guard that stops the machine’s operation. However, the electronic beam guard failed to prevent the machine from being restarted by an automatic start button. The worker pressed the button and the worker’s arm was drawn into the machine at a pinch point and broken.

17th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Well Handled

Product News, UK News

Eliminating the hazards posed by manual handling and simplifying maintenance tasks to ensure compliance with regulations are two primary design aims under consideration when Penny Hydraulics introduces a new item of specialist tyre and wheel service equipment. And these are important factors to take into account when considering that, according to HSE statistics, the manual handling of heavy objects accounts for 38 per cent of all workplace injuries requiring three or more days absence from work – the greatest single cause of work-related illness.

15th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

TyreSafe Urges Greater Tyre Awareness in Light of New Act

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, discussed in previous editions of Tyres & Accessories, came into force at the beginning of April, and TyreSafe comments that defective or badly worn tyres could now become the Achilles’ heel of companies, and could result in prosecution under the Act. The legislation stipulates that employers have a Duty of Care to ensure the safety of employees driving for work, which means that businesses will be responsible for the maintenance of not only their own fleet, but also those of the ‘grey fleet,’ the thousands of private vehicles being used every day by employees to travel whilst on company business. It will be necessary for companies to show an audit trail indicating that regular vehicle condition checks have been carried out and documented.

11th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Still A Growth Market

With seemingly everyone increasing the attention they pay to green issues; and following the introduction of ‘green taxes’ like the London CO2 congestion charge, what does the future hold for the 4×4 tyre market?

In years gone by when 4x4s were practical vehicles, rather than milk-run-machines for city dwellers, a London-only surcharge on such cars wouldn’t have made much different. Now however, according the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), families who use larger cars in the capital could face bills of up to £6,000 a year. From 27 October, cars that emit more than 225 g/km CO2 will pay £25 to enter the central London charging zone. The scheme has been billed as a gas-guzzler tax, but in-effect it will have a disproportionate effect on SUV and 4×4 drivers.

The question is, is this kind of anti-4×4 legislation likely to affect 4×4 tyre sales now or in the future? Looking at the most recently published SMMT data there is no evidence to suggest that a dramatic 4×4 sales slow-down is on the horizon. The last SMMT UK vehicle parc census, which took place in 2006 found that over 3.32 million 4×4, Utility and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) below 3.5 tonnes are on UK roads. Likewise 4×4/SUV registrations have continued to grow – over 175,000 were registered in 2006 (up 7.5%), their fastest rate in over a decade. Interestingly more than a fifth of newly registered 4x4s were Land Rovers, meaning these fitments are likely to remain dominant in replacement tyre sales for some time.

During the same period the total 4×4 replacement tyre market continued its trend of rapid development. Alan Baldwin, wholesale director at leading 4×4 tyre specialist Southam Tyres (a division of Micheldever Tyre Services) estimates that the UK 4×4 tyre replacement market totalled 2.2 million units in 2007. Last year’s official ERMC data put the 2006 figure at 1.5 million, so even when grey, parallel and non-EU imports are added into equation the 4×4 replacement still appears to have grown by as much as 20 per cent year-on-year in 2007.

One explanation for this; and probably the most exciting news for tyre retailers is the reduction in the mileage capabilities of OE tyres. According to Alan Baldwin, high kerb weights, increased engine power and torque, excellent suspension systems with minimal body roll all mean much higher tread wear rates. “If you go back a few years for example to 235/70R16 Michelin and Goodyear OE tyres fitted on Land Rover Discovery, anything between 40 and 70 thousand miles was possible on a set. The new and stunningly successful Audi Q7 can do its boots in under 10,000, and even the less powerful, often more sedately driven Volvo XC90 rarely sees more than 20,000, often only 12,000.” Baldwin explained.

Commenting on recent market trends, he continued: “I still believe that there is good growth in all of the on-road 4×4 vehicle sectors, and CUV is very exciting, but so is the luxury sector. Facelift BMW X5 sales are very strong, the new Audi Q7…Range Rover sport is a massive success, with its 20-inch OE tyres often getting a hard life.”

What the arrival of the CUV may mean for the 4×4 tyre market

However, looking back to new vehicle figures, one of the clearest trends for the future is that the fastest growing sector is the so-called Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) segment. CUV sales are reportedly growing faster than any other market section at the moment. The traditional 4×4 vehicle, which tends not to be widely accepted by society, has according to Renault, come of age. Launching the new Renault Koleos crossover vehicle – which the company admits draws heavily on influences gained from its partnership with Nissan – the French car manufacturer explained that 4×4 technology’s “coming of age” is what has led to CUVs gaining ground in recent years.

The presence of SUV-type vehicles can be observed in all segments, in the same way that MPVs spread to other categories in the late 1990s. Indeed, the whole concept of market segmentation is more blurred than ever. In the eyes of a consumer what exactly differs between a car and a CUV; or an SUV and a 4×4?

Today SUVs account for five per cent of the total worldwide market compared with less than one per cent 15 years ago. The SUV/compact crossover market is constantly expanding in the top five European countries and strong growth in the past five years has seen total sales more than double from 222,500 to 522,000 vehicles. This trend can be observed across Europe: in a total market of approximately 15 million vehicles, the SUV/compact crossover category accounts for almost five per cent, with more than 700,000 vehicles of this type sold in 2007. The sector is extremely competitive, too, with 25 models available.

Renault also explained the company’s perspective on the kind of customers that are buying CUVs, an interesting insight for anyone wanting to sell replacement tyres to the same drivers down the line. According to the French carmaker, European SUV/CUV customers essentially come from the C and D segments. The majority of them already own a vehicle of this type (25%), while 22 per cent come from the D segment and 13 per cent from the C segment. Former MPV owners account for eight per cent of SUV/CUV buyers.

Looking forward

While the North American vehicle market clearly has many differences to the Europe market, the fact that the US is home to leading manufacturers such as Ford and GM means what happens in the US market invariably has some influence over what comes to Europe. With this in mind it is interesting to note the findings of a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) analysis. Writing on 14 February 2008, PWC US automotive analysts Michael Mckenzie predicted that assembly of full-size pickups and SUVs in North America would fall 14 and 13 per cent respectively. In fact with car assembly predicted to fall 3 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2008, the only segment in which assembly rates are expected to increase is the CUV sector (up 7%).

Mckenzie also produced a fascinating graph that plotted US fuel prices against pick-up sales between January 2007 and January 2008. He found that the there was a very clear correlation between increased petrol costs and a marked slowing of pick-up sales. Basically whenever fuel costs went up pick-up sales went down. Exchange pick-ups, which have relatively low sales levels in Europe, for the 225 g/km+ category of vehicle mentioned at the start of this article and it seems logical to predict a similar trend on this side of the Atlantic. Add in the fact that fuel costs roughly 50 per cent more in the UK than it does stateside and this seems all the more likely. Nevertheless market insiders told T&A that sales of pickups like the Nissan Navarra and Mitsubishi L200 both remain “very strong” despite some degradation in the tax benefits they previously offered to drivers registering them as commercial vehicles. Either way, keeping an eye on the OE fitments of the latest CUVs would seem to be very prudent.

13th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Private Business

As reported previously, the line dividing company fleet vehicles and ‘private’ company vehicles is becoming harder to define in regards to vehicle maintenance. With so much emphasis being placed on care of duty and the impact this has upon drivers who use their own cars for work, it is unsurprising that when looking at the fast fit retail sector in 2008, one cannot escape also thinking in terms of fleet business. Kwik-Fit Fleet chief Mike Wise reports that many motorists who previously would have come under the retail umbrella are now, for legal reasons, being afforded the same vehicle service arrangements as those driving company vehicles.

“A number of customers that already have tyre safety checks undertaken by Kwik-Fit Fleet on their company cars already extend the offering to cover so-called ‘grey’ fleet vehicles because they understand that existing corporate health and safety legislation extends to cover all vehicles driven on business, irrespective of ownership,” comments Mr. Wise. “As a result, I expect Kwik-Fit Fleet to undertake an increasing number of tyre safety checks on ‘grey fleet’ vehicles as well as company-provided cars and vans.”

In total, the company’s mobile servicing fleet expects to perform more than a quarter of a million tyre safety checks at the customer’s premises, a little over 13.5 per cent more than the number carried out in 2007. “We expect checks to increase by at least 30,000 this year,” Wise says. While Kwik-Fit Fleet does not release month by month figures, he notes that this increase should be fairly uniform, however he does add: “Although, as more companies wake up to the importance of the new legislation and its impact on fleet safety we would expect tyre safety check demand to rise significantly in the second half of 2008.”

“In addition, numerous industry surveys highlight the ‘grey fleet’ as being an area of occupational road risk management weakness in the vast majority of companies,” Wise further comments. “Therefore, as more businesses start to react to the legislation and best practice advice and monitor issues around ‘grey fleet’ vehicles such as service schedules and MoTs I expect more work to be directed towards Kwik-Fit centres due to their accessibility and seven-day-a-week opening – something that franchise dealers cannot compete with.”

The head of Kwik-Fit Fleet gives the case of Crewe based mobile phone company 20:20 Mobile as an example of how many drivers not previously covered by fleet service agreements are now benefiting. Not only does the company’s fleet of 147 vehicles receive monthly safety checks, 20:20 Mobile assistant manager Andrea Shipman reports that steps are taken to ensure the on-road safety of all employees. “Employees who are not au fait with how to check tyres for pressure and wear and tear have nothing to worry about; and we ensure that qualified and fully trained technicians carry out the checks and any repair and replacement work. The company employs more than 1,050 people and tyre safety checks are part of the benefits package that is available to all staff as part of 20:20 Mobile’s suite of affinity programmes.”

Ms Shipman adds: “Safety of our drivers is paramount. The forthcoming corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act further underlines the importance of tyre safety checks.”

Kwik-Fit’s all makes fixed price menu has proven popular with retail customers since its introduction two years ago, however Mr. Wise reports that there has been concern from some quarters that undertaking servicing on the late model vehicles typically used for business purposes, including company fleet vehicles, could compromise manufacturer warranties. Kwik-Fit has acted to counter any such fears. “Our new manufacturers’ servicing initiative will enable technicians to download each vehicle manufacturer’s exact service schedule on a model-by-model basis. The cost of each service will be individually calculated by adding together ICME service time, hourly labour rates and spare part prices.

“Most retail customers drive cars that are more than three years old and therefore outside of the warranty cover offered by most carmakers,” Mr. Wise points out. “Vehicles are serviced using long-established service procedures and even if warranties are in place they are not impacted.”

Recently Kwik-Fit made a range of additional services available to both retail and fleet customers, services that – for the time being at least, round out the company’s fast-fit menu. “Last year Kwik-Fit Fleet completed its one-stop shop of motoring services with the roll-out of a new vehicle windscreen repair service,” says Wise. “The launch came on the back of adding air conditioning recharging, vehicle servicing and MoTs to our menu of services.”

With Kwik-Fit’s extended range of services now in place, the company intends to focus upon making itself more attractive to both retail and fleet customers. As Mike Wise says: “With regards to our 670-strong centre network and mobile fleet we will continue to roll-out our multi-million pound fast-fit centre modernisation and refurbishment programme and, earlier this year, we announced that we would add a further 30 units to our 200-strong mobile fleet in 2008 to cope with the boom in demand for tyre safety checks and mobile tyre repair and replacement.”

In closing, Mike Wise comments on what he believes sets Kwik-Fit apart from its customers. “Time is money,” he says. “Our seven-day-a-week opening and our ability to offer an MoT and service within typically 48 hours of booking rather than the 14 days of most franchised dealers makes our expansion into all SMR sectors very attractive…Additionally, it should be remembered that the whole ethos of fast-fit is a drive-in service, something which, in today’s 24/7 world, is significantly more customer-friendly than the rigid opening hours of franchised dealers.”

5th March 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Fit for Duty?

Although not given the sort of media attention reserved for terror threats or Britney’s latest escapade, a piece of legislation coming into effect on April 6 stands to affect the lives of many throughout the UK. Known as the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, it will lay a framework for pursuing convictions against organisations whose failure to manage their activities leads to a fatality. And what exactly, you may ask, does this Act change in relation to tyres? Come the second week of April and companies will be liable, and prosecutable, for any death resulting from an unsafe tyre (or any other part of the vehicle) during a journey undertaken for business purposes – even if the employee is driving their own private car.

These vehicles that make up the UK’s “grey fleet” – and it is thought that as many as a million employees use their own cars when travelling for business – have been described by many as a health and safety timebomb. According to a study conducted between June and August 2007 by the fleet management expert Arval, the emergence of this grey fleet during the past decade has been driven by a move towards the provision of more flexible employee benefits; the day of the company car as the standard non-cash incentive has passed into workplace history. But while seen as a win-win situation by many employers and employees, those that opt out of a company car scheme because they only travel for work sporadically are, when the need to travel does arise, obliged to do so in a vehicle perhaps not maintained to the same standard as one from a corporate fleet.

Arval found more than 37 per cent of companies reported clocking up at least 10 per cent of their business mileage was in grey fleet vehicles; 13.4 per cent said that more than 26 per cent of business miles could be attributed to this so-called grey fleet. These figures are worrying, as the majority of employers surveyed had little policy in place to make sure the vehicles used were up to the job. Few requested that drivers produce a MOT certificate for vehicles more than three years old – only 26 per cent requested this as a matter of course, and this figure drops to around 20 per cent for those operating fleets of fewer than 50 vehicles. Almost three-quarters of employers placed no age restriction upon private vehicles used for company business and, perhaps most worryingly, some 52.8 per cent had no procedure in place for checking that grey fleet vehicles carried appropriate insurance cover.

This suggests, comments Arval, that “the offer of cash, which is likely to be used for a vehicle purchase, does endenger some feelings of responsibility on the part of employers.” However a sense of having passed on all responsibility together with the cash is an attitude that bears little weight against the upcoming Act, which builds upon current legislation. Under the existing Health and Safety at Work Act, driving for work is classified as a business activity, therefore the vehicle is viewed as a place of work and must meet the same risk management criteria. “Work-related road safety can only be effectively managed if it is integrated into your arrangements for managing health and safety at work,” states the Health & Safety Executive in a document targeted at employers. “You should look at your health and safety systems and consider whether they adequately cover this area of work.”

This should be familiar territory for most employers. But while current health and safety policy has been in place for more than 30 years, the new Act, with its creation of the offence known as corporate manslaughter (corporate homicide in Scotland), sharpens the legal teeth of those wishing to bite companies failing in their responsibility to maintain a safe workplace.

When accidents do occur, the issue of who is ultimately responsible is looked at much more closely now than in past times, not only in terms of legal liability. With business drivers experiencing collision rates some 30 to 40 per cent higher than private drivers, the long arm of the law is already a firm believer in the new legislation. According to Metropolitan Police superintendent Mark Bird, businesses “must face up to their duty of care responsibilities and realise that they are responsible for the welfare of their employees when on the road for business purposes, whether they are driving a company car or not.”

“Just as employers would make sure that employees are safe in the workplace, so they should while they are on the road,” he added. “In the event of a collision or injury, the police take seriously all the reasons that have led to it happening including the condition of the vehicle and why the driver was on the road, including if they were travelling for business reasons. More and more we carry out follow up investigations with companies after collisions to ensure that work-related road safety is embedded within company policies.”

The exact penalties organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter will face have yet to be decided upon. However, a consultation document produced by the Sentencing Advisory Panel recommends punishment should take the form of publicity orders and fines of between 2.5 and 10 per cent of the organisation’s average annual turnover. And even considering the financial impact of a penalty at the upper end of this limit, representatives from the business lobby group The Confederation of British Industry appear to believe the Act is a necessary measure. “It is clear that the message (that) work-related driving is a health and safety issue for employers, regardless of vehicle ownership, is not getting through fast enough,” commented the organisation’s head of health and safety, Janet Asherson.

The silver lining in all this talk of increased responsibility and penalties for non-compliance comes mainly for those in the vehicle maintenance and servicing business. While no figures exist to indicate the added value the Act’s introduction will inject into the UK fast fit market, at least two retail chains, Kwik Fit and Nationwide Autocentres, report making preparations for a greater influx of business come April; further details can be found in this section.

28th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kwik-Fit Increases Mobile Fleet to Meet Growing Demand

Workplace safety is increasingly a high profile issue, and this is no less the case for professional drivers and those using company or fleet owned vehicles. Kwik-Fit Fleet reports carrying out more than 220,000 vehicle inspections during 2007, a total markedly up from the previous year’s 188,000. To cope with a growing demand to ensure at-work driver safety, Kwik-Fit Fleet is preparing to add an additional 30 units to its mobile fleet this year.

It is likely that the April 6 introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act will place added pressure upon businesses to comply with workplace health and safety legislation. Thus this year the company expects even stronger demand for its mobile service, and anticipates its mobile technicians to undertake more than 250,000 tyre safety checks in company car parks or at a driver’s location of choice.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Nationwide Autocentres Provides Peace of Mind for ‘Grey’ Fleet

April’s Duty of Care law is looming ever closer and time is short for companies to ensure vehicles used for business purposes provide no grounds for the new regulations to be breached. It is expected that businesses will take a keener interest in the verifiable and regular servicing of cars used for work related journeys come April, and to accommodate this anticipated higher demand, independent vehicle servicing and MOT testing chain Nationwide Autocentres has launched a 19 point ‘Duty of Care’ inspection service.

Alarmingly, reports Nationwide, a study released in January found that 60 per cent of privately owned vehicles used for company business were not safe to be on the road. In addition, 52 per cent of companies do not operate a policy of confirming the insurance details of these vehicles, which have in recent times become known as the “grey” fleet. Such an oversight will become a potentially costly one for companies; those failing to implement a Duty of Care process to ensure grey fleet vehicles are fit for purpose could be liable for prosecution should one be involved in a fatal road traffic accident.

15th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

AEP Promotes Tyremech Tyre Handling Machinery

Gwent-based, Aylward Engineering and Pneumatics is promoting its Tyremech tyre inspection bay as a way of complying with the latest EU manual handling legislation. Used to reduce operator effort during various manual inspection and retreading operations, the Tyremech TM206 80kg capacity tyre inspection bay has been developed to ergonomically hold a tyre casing whilst providing maximum access during retreading procedures.

12th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors