NEWS

FORD Granada driver Derek Miller has won a £10k makeover for the car he’s owned for over 2 decades.
All Ford dealers ran the competition that was tied in with a free Visual Health Check earlier in the year.
The ‘Spring into Summer’ offered all entrants the opportunity to won a makeover for their motor – [...]

CAR owners face a £300 million hit in car repair costs as 1 million motors come out of their warranty period.
A 2007 boom in new car sales – 2.4 million new cars were sold – means the 3 year warranty period will be ending for many.
Warranty provider Warrantywise estimates these owners risk a spike in [...]

GARAGES are taking a hit on profits as well as customer safety says dealer management experts Pinewood.
This week’s Which? survey into car garages has indicated some low safety standards at garages, says Pinewood.
However, this is directly leading to missed profit opportunities too!
Any garage undertaking a good vehicle health check would have found these problems – [...]

VILLAGE Motor Company says that business has doubled since it won the BSI Kitemark four years ago.
The car garage in Wallasey was one of the UK’s first car dealers to be awarded the Kitemark, after strict vetting that assessed quality and customer service areas of the business.
These included:
•    Customer service
•    Customer satisfaction
•    Customer facilities
•    [...]

JLR has revealed the winners of its competition to find the country’s best technicians of 2010.
302 JLR technicians who’d attained Level 4 were entered into the running, from which 12 finalists were selected.
These competed in a big annuals skills final day at the Academy’s Warwick HQ on 6 August – from which two overall [...]

A leading warranty-provider is championing a new training concept to maximize aftersales profits.
The Warranty Group aims to train new aftersales ‘superchampions’ to get the most out of dealer profit potential.
Designed and introduced in 2008 to develop on the successful ‘champion’ concept – which typically achieves a fourfold uplift – the firm has high expectations of [...]

VAUXHALL has launched a lifetime warranty deal on all new cars sold through its car dealer network from now.
The new car warranty removes any ‘total years’ stipulation.
This means the warranty is potentially better even than Kia’s market-leading 7 year warranty.
However, there are some notable clauses with the Vauxhall scheme. It is only valid up [...]

MOTORISTS face a ‘postcode lottery’ in the policing of British roads, one supplier of GPS speed camera-data says.
A study carried out by RoadPilot found that motorists in Greater London are 100 times more likely to get caught speeding than in the rest of the UK.
16 per cent of Britain’s speed cameras are to be found [...]

GREATER awareness of DAB digital radio is being called for by one leading trade association.
The SMMT is urging digital radio broadcasters to improve their digital offerings and boost consumer awareness of the benefits of DAB radio.
The move comes after JATO released figures revealing that the number of cars fitted with digital radio as standard or [...]

MOTOR Codes is now collaborating with the IMI in a move to further drive up the credibility of aftersales.
The two bodies aim to work together and maximise the advantage of strong support from the Government.
Work will now commence on combining the benefits of the Motor Codes standards with the IMI’s Automotive Technician Accreditation scheme. [...]