LKQ Euro Car Parts has increased its braking offering ahead of the beginning of what it calls “MOT season”. Data from the DVSA showing that faulty brakes account for 29 per cent of dangerous MOT defects, making them the second most common cause behind tyres at 60 per cent.
LKQ Euro Car Parts has become the ‘tier one’ supplier of car parts to more than 150 RAC Mobile Mechanics across the UK. LKQ will also be the preferred supplier to the RAC’s Approved Garage network – comprising of 900 garages that have been evaluated by RAC as providing a guaranteed high level of service.
Aftermarket motor parts group LKQ Euro Car Parts will return for the second consecutive year as headline sponsor of the Automechanika Birmingham Garage Awards 2024, hosted by the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation (IAAF). Celebrating the country’s best automotive technicians, the awards will be presented on Wednesday, 5 June at the UK Garage and Bodyshop Event at NEC, Birmingham. The second awards will feature an expanded number of award categories, going from eight in 2023 to 10. They demonstrate commitment and dedication in the garage sector to ensuring affordable mobility in the UK over the past few years. The awards are accepting nominations until the closing date on 29 March here.
LKQ Euro Car Parts is partnering with Protyre Autocare as the tyre retailer’s primary aftermarket supplier for the next five years.
Protyre Autocare, which claims to be the UK’s fastest-growing tyre retailer, also offers MOTs, vehicle servicing, wheel alignment and air con maintenance. With 184 branches across the country, Protyre Autocare boasts one of the UK’s largest DVSA-approved networks of test centres.
The UK Garage and Bodyshop Event (UKGBE), presented by Automechanika Birmingham, will participate in this year’s Bangers4Ben rally. Its team, dubbed the Dublin Driving Dolls, will travel 1,500 miles across Ireland over four days (7-10 October) alongside other entrants in their very own ‘bangers’, all of which cost less than £750. The rally will cross the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin, hitting the winding roads of Ireland, before completing the tour back in Dublin and the ferry back to Britain. UKGBE has partnered with LKQ Euro Car Parts and established aftermarket business owners Louise Baker and Rachel Murray on its entry.
Kevan Wooden, chief commercial officer of LKQ Euro Car Parts, has commented on how the rise of electric vehicles is altering the global automotive manufacturing base, while noting the need for more technician training in the UK to support the proliferation of EVs. While Japan and Germany remain powerhouses in car manufacturing, China’s strength in EVs is demonstrated via the country’s global leadership, spearheaded by the world leader – not Tesla, but BYD (Build Your Dreams), which recently launched in the UK market, as well as Nio, with China’s largest car exporter, Cherry, coming next year. MG, now owned by Nanjing Automobile, is already in a leading position at the lower cost end too.
LKQ Euro Car Parts is continuing its support for Ukraine and this time has been able to hand over the donation in person as Sisters from the Congregation of St Joseph in Ukraine visited its headquarters in Tamworth. The company has been supporting Ukraine since the start of the conflict last February. To date it has raised enough money to buy and deliver seven ambulances to the Congregation, who have then sent these to hospitals across the country.
LKQ Corporation, the parent company of LKQ Euro Car Parts, is seeking to divest GSF Car Parts (GSF) following its acquisition of the factor’s Canadian owner, Uni-Select. With the transaction subject to the receipt of anti-trust clearance in the UK, LKQ Corporation made the offer as part of its application for the UK competition authority’s approval. In the interim, LKQ Corporation will not be involved in the day-to-day running of the GSF business with the existing management team remaining in place and the organisation ringfenced from LKQ. LKQ announced its plan to acquire Uni-Select for around US$2.1 billion on 27 February.
The CEO of LKQ Euro Car Parts, Andy Hamilton, has explored the challenges and opportunities being posed by this period of unprecedented change for the UK automotive sector in an interview with Automechanika and The UK Garage & Bodyshop Event organisers Messe Frankfurt’s digital platform, auto:resource. The first in a series of three interviews trailing the contents of the upcoming show offers an insight into how garages can futureproof their businesses, embrace emerging technologies and meet ever-changing demand.
Automotive parts distributor LKQ Euro Car Parts, has opened its latest branch, in Cirencester. The new store will give drivers and garages in the area convenient, local access to LKQ Euro Car Parts’ 160,000-strong range of car, light commercial vehicle and specialty parts.
LKQ Euro Car Parts has launched an electric vehicle (EV) trial on the Isle of Wight. The trial will see an electric Vauxhall Vivaro and an electric Renault Kangoo join the island’s fleet for six months, with two charge points installed to power them. The Isle of Wight was chosen for the trial following a review of LKQ Euro Car Parts’ national fleet, taking into account charge point infrastructure, to identify branches with vans whose typical mileage is suited to the range and capability of an EV.
As part of its ongoing support programme for the independent aftermarket, LKQ Euro Car Parts has launched a new campaign to help garages enhance their service, maintenance and repair (SMR) offering and bring in more revenue. The SMR campaign will focus on the products, technology, training and tools independent garages need to complete every job efficiently and to a high standard – with the evolving make-up of the UK car parc in mind.
Customers shopping in LKQ Euro Car Parts branches have collectively donated more than £10,000 to automotive industry charity, BEN, by adding £0.25 to their total when they check out. The funds have been raised via a new partnership with Pennies, an award-winning provider that gives people the option to make digital ‘micro-donations’ when paying by card, as a way of encouraging them to give to good causes.
Figures released by the SMMT reveal that used car sales in Q2 2020 were 1,039,303 units; -48.9 per cent down on the same period last year (2,034,236). Year to date, the figures are slightly less depressing, with YtD clocking up 2,891.222 sales, as opposed to 4,054,380 for the first six months of 2019 – a -28.7 per cent fall.
As part of its ongoing efforts to future-proof the independent aftermarket, LKQ Euro Car Parts has introduced a new, cloud-based version of its Garage Management Software (GMS), CarSys. Exclusively available to customers of LKQ Euro Car Parts, CarSys is a user-friendly software platform that allows garages to streamline the way they work – boosting productivity and efficiency in the workshop, while delivering a more professional customer experience. The system houses customer and vehicle databases, meaning technicians can easily look up MOT and service histories, as well as all the data needed for accurate quoting and invoicing.
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