BBC 3 - Young Mechanic of the Year

The BBC have been in touch with the Motor Codes office to tell us about a new competition they are running this year to identify and acknowledge the best young talent in the country in several different trades.

As we all know, it takes more than talent to make a decent technician in today's motor industry, but I'll bet the best is employed in the garages of subscribers to the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair - where else would they be!

If you think one of your team would do well when pitched into technical battle against their industry counterparts, then lets be seeing them on the big screen.

See the promo poster via this link and you can request an application form direct from youngtalent@bbc.co.uk - go on, it could create some good coverage for you and your team!

http://service.motorindustrycodes.co.uk/images/stories/documents/bbc%203%20appeal%20for%20talent.pdf

All the best
Chris

RMIF - Press release 20/02/09

A significant announcement today via press release from the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

While endorsing Code subscription to their 8,000 strong membership, they state ‘Those that intend to have a future in the industry must help to increase its viability and raise its public perception will want to join the code. To those who have not yet done so, we suggest that you may wish to join us and get off the fence.’

Couldn't have put it better myself...


All the best
Chris

Motor Codes Sponsors Garage of the Year Award

I'm very proud that Motor Codes are sponsoring the Motor Trader Garage of the Year Award 2009. It seems to me to be a great fit for Motor Codes and what we are achieving with our subscriber base of over 5,000 garages now.

The best garages need to be recognised, and this award has proved year after year to actually acknowledge garages that look to 'do the right thing' and as we know, that's what subscribers to the Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair do - day in day out!

Here's a copy of our press release with further detail attached.


All the best
Chris

Car Dealer magazine

The people at Car Dealer magazine kindly offered me the opportunity to write a regular column for them on the Code and our approach to self regulation in general - which you'll appreciate, I was more than happy to do. We get the opportunity to explain how our industry self regulation works, and get some pretty good coverage for the Code too!

Here's the first two installments, I think it looks pretty good...

All the best
Chris

Get off the fence! say the RMIF

RMIF are being as good as their word in supporting the Code. They are fully behind it and have played an important role in developing it, see further RMIF comments on the Code information film we made last summer (all contributors correct at time of filming!).

http://service.motorindustrycodes.co.uk/consumers/home.html

Here's another piece from their member magazine - both articles appear in the February edition.



All the best
Chris

Independent Compliance Assessment Panel

The first meeting of the Motor Codes Ltd, Independent Compliance Assessment Panel was held on January 22 2009 - we call it ICAP..

It is integral to the overall operation and holds significant weight in the process of ensuring we are providing a Code with the 'teeth', as this is what codes of practice are so often accused of lacking.

ICAP has the full power to decide on code compliance matters, whether that be changes required to the code or its operating structure/processes or subscriber performance and the process of dealing with any non-compliant subscribers.

This is how self regulation is intended to work. Make sure the code is operating well and therefore demonstrate that its subscribers are the 'good guys', whilst sanctioning and removing those that either can't or won't comply with the requirements. Making code subscription valuable as a marketing tool for those that can and do - its subscribers.

These decisions and processes shouldn't be handled by the people administering the scheme though, it needs independence to operate and then direct the code administrators to carry out its findings and instructions.

Read all about it in the first report.

All the best
Chris

Independents - don't lose your independence