As reported on the e-bulletin of the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation, the EU looks set to finalise its requirements for vehicle testing in a format which will allow the UK’s MoT regime to remain in its present form. The agreement follows many months of hard lobbying both in Brussels and here in the UK.
For the last year Goodyear has teamed up with Lancashire County Council’s highways maintenance department to test a range of winter tyres in some of the coldest and slipperiest conditions found on UK roads. Goodyear’s UltraGrip winter tyres were fitted to the council’s winter gritting vehicles in late 2012 to see if they could improve safety and stability during the vital task of applying salt to the 1,550 miles/2,500 kilometres of roads in Lancashire that are treated within four hours of a freeze being forecast. As a result of the successful trial, Lancashire County Council is extending its relationship with Goodyear. It is now looking to introduce a winter tyre policy for its gritting vehicles to ensure continued service in all conditions.
Magna Tyres Group and tyre wholesaler Profil Plus have announced the establishment of a strategic relationship. The agreement, which begins in November 2013, relates to distribution and servicing of the Magna OTR tyre brand in France.
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 proprietor of AJS Tyres and specialist AJS 4×4 in Lower Kingswood for over 35 years, Andy Sargeant was British Off Road Champion in 1989 and has competed in more off-road rallies than he cares to remember. He says the most important thing in any form of motorsport – or indeed in general driving – is to keep a full set of inflated tyres under your vehicle to have full control. So when he defeated the tough conditions of the recent Rallye des Cimes in his Defender 110 TD5 – the self-styled “Cimes Tractor” – the fact that he did it on the new General Tire Grabber MT made quite an impression. Sargeant says he will now pass on this experience to Land Rover owning customers.
The e-bulletin of the Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation quotes a story in the Oxford Mail, where Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron has been told of the need for regulation in the independent motoring trade by a businessman from his constituency.
The annual Labour Rates Survey carried out by Warranty Direct, suggests that garages are charging an average of £8.16 an hour less than last year to carry out service or repair work. The average hourly labour rate in 2013 of both franchised and non-franchised workshops is £74.70, down 9.84 per cent from £82.86 in 2012. Data from more than 12,000 cases were analysed in the study.
Federal-Mogul Corporation has appointed Andrew Bevington as managing director, Vehicle Component Solutions UK & Ireland. Bevington previously worked at EXIDE technologies, where he has honed his skills and expertise over the last five years. During this time he has developed a number of key relationships in becoming a well-known figure in the marketplace, and is relishing the opportunity to apply his insight to the continued delivery of excellence for Federal-Mogul’s established distributor customers.
ATS Euromaster has opened what it calls a flagship centre in on the Gatwick International Industrial Estate in Crawley, West Sussex following more than £450,000 of investment. The new facility occupies a 7,574 square foot site and is set up to accommodate all vehicle types under one roof, including cars, vans, trucks, buses/coaches and industrial vehicles. Its opening follows the merger of two former centres in the local area; one of which serviced cars and vans, and the other commercial vehicles.
Kwik Fit is showing signs that at least part of the vast independent fast fit network is evolving in the direction of autocentre style garages. According to online news sources this is part of a bid to increasingly target fleet business – an area the business is historically strong in – with the offer of servicing and mechanical work.
The Bosch Car Service network is celebrating a decade of existing and scoring 99.5 per cent customer satisfaction for its car servicing and repairs. Originally launched in 2003, the network of independent garages has gone from strength to strength. The latest independent customer satisfaction survey results show that an amazing 99.5 per cent of Bosch Car Service customers would use the network again, based on their overall experience. The scheme was also the first car repair code to achieve key accreditation, helping ensure that customers get a fair deal – first with the Office of Fair Trading and more recently with the Trading Standards Institute.
Pro-Align, UK distributor of the Hunter range, has been awarded ‘Platinum Partner’ status by the wheel servicing equipment manufacturer. This distinction was bestowed at a recent global distributor meeting and given to Pro-Align for its 2012 performance, which saw the UK distributor ranked third place globally, just behind Germany and India.
Research conducted among 625 motorists from vehicle remarketing company, British Car Auctions (BCA), reveals that 23 per cent of motorists have ignored red warning lights on their dashboard, choosing to continue driving before addressing the problem rather than stopping as soon as safe to do so. And whilst over half said they would stop immediately and call for assistance a small minority (5.5 per cent) said they would deal with it when they had time with some hoping it might just go off of its own accord! When it comes to amber advisory warnings, 36 per cent of motorists who responded to the BCA research said they had ignored amber advisory dashboard warnings and did not respond to them with any urgency. Over half (59 per cent) of those polled would continue on to their destination if an advisory light appeared and then address the problem. The research does not reveal how many – if any – of the warning lights were related to TPMS and runflat tyres.
North-east Scotland Grouptyre member Kenway Tyres has celebrated 30 years in the tyre business, wholesaling tyres into the 8,000 square mile region and operating three retail sites in Aberdeen and Dundee. Kenway has expanded during its lifespan to capitalise on the success of its original site in Aberdeen. “We’re extremely proud of our achievements here at Kenway Tyres”, says managing director Alan Kennaway.
Following its employment of a full Michelin tyre policy for its trailer fleet in July 2011, Manchester based logistics specialist Davies Turner estimates it has saved more than £20,000 as a result of the decrease in tyre failures. The company says that pre-Michelin it dealt with at least one tyre-related breakdown per month from competitor remould tyres. The haulier’s 42 trailers collect hanging garments from North Africa, transporting them through Europe to the UK, with third party hauliers providing the traction. Each tyre failure that occurred overseas cost approximately £900 in call-out charges, tyre replacement and associated downtime.
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