Let me start this month’s bulletin by congratulating all the winners and finalists of the recent Independent Garage of the Year Awards held at Aston Villa Football Club. The IGA were hugely proud to sponsor this event and celebrate the independents at their best. We felt the overall event accommodated the audience of independent garage people very well, and following this success, the IGA will now look into hosting a major national awards ceremony just for the independent sector. This will be on a large scale to rival any other awards in the industry and project just how the good and the great in the independent sector are positioned to lead the way for the industry.

We are receiving more and more feedback from members about customers asking garages to fit parts they have sourced online themselves. Apart from issues of quality, fit and warranty, many of these parts are actually counterfeit. The IGA is working with the Intellectual Property Office on a major campaign to raise consumer awareness of the risks of buying these parts. The message is going to be very clear - that they should allow garages to own the whole job, supply and fit the parts and have the security of knowing that, should anything untoward happen, it would be covered under warranty.

We recently met with the DVSA to discuss a number of issues affecting MOT sites; mainly periods of time for new bay sign off’s and in some cases VT8’s to be signed off. Please make us aware if you are having difficulties in these areas and we can raise this with the DVSA as a collective on your behalf.

We are now delivering the new Level 3 Hybrid Qualification in both RMI Academies. This is a totally new qualification providing a higher level of understanding of electric/hybrid high voltage systems within routine maintenance situations. Levels of demand for these courses is increasing as electric vehicle sales grow and we would urge you plan ahead for this training to future proof your business.