IMI Magazine

News: Bulletin board

Swindon’s Civic mars Honda quality record
The reputation of Japanese carmakers for reliability just keeps on growing, apart from one black spot – the Honda Civic – according to Which? Car.

In the magazine’s latest reliability survey, Japanese manufacturers occupy the top seven slots, led by Honda.
However, the Swindon-made Honda Civic (post-2006) falls well short of the brand’s usual reliability standards. It languishes at joint-bottom in the medium cars table (along with the Citroën C4). Honda’s Japan-built Civic Hybrid, on the other hand, tops the large car chart.

It’s not great news for some other cars made in Britain. Land Rover’s reliability is judged to be poor – joint bottom of the table (with the American brands Chrysler/Dodge), while Jaguar and Mini rate as no more than average.

Volkswagen reliability also features in the ‘poor’ category, with German prestige brands Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all emerging with ‘average’ scores.

Commented Richard Headland, editor of Which? Car: “Japan continues to show the rest of the world how to make consistently reliable cars, although the new Honda Civic shows they’re not infallible. Some British-built cars, on the other hand, don’t exactly run like clockwork. Land Rover, in particular, needs to raise its game.”

Industry finally cracks three-year code challenge
After three years of deliberations, motor industry organisations have finally responded to consumer complaints about poor garage standards with a code of practice for service and repair.

More than 5,500 garages are said to have “signalled their intent” to sign up to the voluntary code, which “aims to promote and safeguard the interests of consumers by helping them identify subscribing garages, and provide an easily accessible and robust dispute resolution mechanism when required”.

Garages will be required to meet standards that include “open and transparent pricing” – particularly when it comes to invoices that match quoted prices.
The code itself will:

• provide a free consumer advice line
• provide free conciliation and low cost, legally binding arbitration 
• offer consumers more rights than required by law

“Industry response has been extremely encouraging and we expect many more garages to subscribe over the next few months,” said Chris Mason, director of Motor Codes Ltd, which has been set up to co-ordinate and operate the code.

Joining Mason at the official launch were Alec Murray, chairman of the Retail Motor Industry Federation; Sue Robinson, director of the RMI National Franchised Dealer Association; and Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

“We want to see unnecessary and unfair practices driven out of the motor industry service and repair sector, and the code aims to do exactly that,” said Murray. Everitt added: “Considerable effort has gone into developing this industry-wide code to make it affordable for businesses and accountable for consumers.”

Aftermarket alarm over block exemption
The UK Right to Repair Campaign – a coalition of independent aftermarket providers – has expressed concerns that the next review of Block Exemption will harm its interests.

Commenting on the European Commission’s preliminary report, campaign chairman Jim Mazza 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.”

He added that the proposed changes would make it harder to be certain about the law and make it much more difficult and expensive for the independent aftermarket to obtain redress. “Its ability to compete – and to provide motorists with freedom of choice – will be severely reduced. We hope the UK Government will support us.”

Yaris tops green car league 
The Toyota Yaris has been named Green Car of the Year 2008 by the Environmental Transport Association. Condemned as the most environmentally damaging was the 8-litre Dodge SRT-10 sports car.

The ETA examined more than 1,300 models for power, emissions, fuel efficiency and even noise.

The Yaris came top in the supermini category, with other category winners named as: small family, Honda Civic hybrid; small MPV, Renault Modus; city, Citroën C1; large family, BMW 3 Series 320d saloon; sports, Vauxhall Tigra 1.3CDTi 16v convertible; MPV, Peugeot 207 SW; executive, BMW 5 Series 520d saloon; off-road, Toyota RAV4; luxury, Jaguar 2.7L diesel saloon.

“The discrepancy between the best and worst – the greenest and the least green cars in Britain today – is striking, but the market is changing and a combination of consumer pressure alongside government leadership will result in an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars,” said ETA director Andrew Davies.

“The big problem is not the Dodge SRT-10s and Lamborghinis because there are not many of them on the road,” he added. “The concern is that people are buying cars that are much too big for their real needs.”
The ETA Car Buyers’ Guide is designed to check how much CO2 a particular car emits and as a result how much road tax it will pay. It can be found on  www.eta.co.uk

Most environmentally friendly car nominated by WhatGreenCar? magazine is the Focus 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic. It achieves CO2 emissions of only 115g/km (65.6mpg on a combined test cycle) and, with a diesel particulate filter fitted as standard on the 110PS engine, a WGC rating of only 33 – the lowest in its class and lower even than the bench-mark Prius hybrid (rated at 35).

Service targeted at empty lorries
A new website service – aided by eBay – has been set up to help fill empty commercial vehicles travelling on the nation’s roads.

Shiply.com points to department of transport studies which indicate that a quarter of all lorries and 15 per cent of vans on Britain’s roads are completely empty for varying periods.

Announcing the service, managing director Robert Matthams said: “Anything that needs to be moved, from a small box, to cars, boats or even entire household removals, can be listed on the site – free.

“The idea is that users will receive competitive bids (like a reverse auction) from service providers wishing to utilise excess capacities.”

Shiply, a certified member of the eBay Developers Programme, has also developed eBay tools, which allow bidders to import eBay items into the Shiply site to receive bids from transport providers.
Further details on www.shiply.com

Dealers should seize new company car opportunities
Dealers should aim to capitalise on the return to traditional company car schemes – prompted by factors such as driver duty of care and corporate environmental responsibility - says motor industry consultancy Network Automotive.

Managing director Colin Bruder said the resurgence of company cars was accompanied by employers starting to limit choice and taking more control over how the vehicle is used. “In effect, we are seeing the partial return of the schemes of the 70s and 80s.

“This is quite a fundamental change. New car sales teams, for example, may find that employers who have previously offered a wide choice of vehicles may now be much more open to the idea of solus manufacturer schemes covering a relatively limited range of vehicles.”

Bruder went on to say that because of concerns about driver duty of care and corporate environmental responsibility, dealers may need to answer new questions. “For example, can you prove to fleet customers that you are an environmentally aware business? Will you be able to help them construct risk management audit trails to prove to legal standards that vehicles are being properly maintained?”

Castrol warns of service adviser crisis
The retail motor sector is facing a crisis over recruitment and retention of service advisers.

According to a survey carried out among 600 service advisers by Castrol Professional, more than 40 per cent plan to quit either their current jobs or leave motor retail within two years. Main grievance (reported by 42 per cent of those who took part in the survey) is what Castrol describes as “lack of empowerment to resolve customer issues”.

Castrol also blames dealers for failing to recognise the importance of service advisers in increasing profitability.

“Service departments of franchised dealerships have long seen very high levels of staff turnover, and this research has highlighted the true extent of the problem,” comments Adrian Brabazon, Castrol OEM and workshop marketing manager. “Considering the time and money invested in recruiting and training these staff, this clearly has implications for the overall profitability and efficiency of many dealerships.”

Castrol’s research indicates that high levels of staff turnover are hitting dealer profitability in other ways.  For example, service advisers who have been in the position for fewer than three years – one third of those surveyed – are less likely to see upselling as a key part of their role. 

“Not until very recently has upselling been seen as a major part of the service adviser’s role,” continued Brabazon. “However, as profit margins on new car sales are squeezed, it is a side of the role that is becoming increasingly important.”

Castrol Professional is currently working with the Institute of the Motor Industry to ensure that the structure of its current and future service adviser training programmes meet the needs of the industry.

IMI chief executive Sarah Sillars said: “For many customers, service advisers are the face of the industry, and they occupy one of the most pivotal roles in our sector. It is important that businesses should train, coach and support their staff to manage this hugely demanding and pressured role to the benefit of customers, employers and the staff themselves.”

The car that calls for help
Coming to a road near you… the car that calls for help after a crash, alerts the police if it’s stolen and puts an end to high-speed car chases.

A new system from car parts supplier Unipart will automatically alert police if a car is involved in a serious accident or is stolen.

Called Neo-Trac, the black box pinpoints the position of the vehicle using satellite tracking, linked with computerised mapping.

So even if a motorist ends up upside-down, unconscious in a ditch, the system takes over – alerting the police.
And if a Neo-Trac car is stolen, police can track it at a distance without the thief knowing and, when the car stops, remotely disable the engine.

Unipart’s project leader Chris Skillen said: “For around a pound a day motorists can enjoy all these benefits.”  He added that the system has Thatcham accreditation and is supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers. It’s also expected to meet the requirements of eCall, the European Commission ‘rapid assistance’ project based on the 112 (one-one-two) universal emergency telephone number adopted by GSM mobile networks.

Neo-Trac’s technology includes a motion sensor that detects abrupt changes in speed or direction of the vehicle and is activated within split seconds.

It’s available in a range of packages from £615 upwards, plus a £185 annual fee.
Further details on www.neo-trac.co.uk

The four wheel debt threat
Cars are the biggest culprits when it comes to tempting people into spending beyond their means – with men nearly twice as likely to get into four-wheeled debt than women.

Despite the rising costs of living and the spiralling costs of running a car, a third of UK adults admit to being influenced by how people perceive them and would most likely get themselves into debt just to give the impression that they are wealthy, according to research by information services company Experian.

The urge to keep up with the Jones’s, though, brought with it the increasing risk of cars being sold with outstanding finance. “Buyers should check out the status of the car through services such as Experian’s AutoCheck,” said managing director Kirk Fletcher.