Part-worn tyres good or bad?

On the face of it, it sounds ok doesn’t it?  Buy a tyre that has been used but is still legal at a price cheaper than a new one.  The argument for part-worns seems, on the face of it, fairly intuitive:  low cost, plenty of tread left, will do for a while.

In these austere times this is perfectly understandable, surely?  But, consider the argument against, which is equally strong:  history unknown, buyer beware.The economic argument is questioned in this piece by tyre industry expert Stuart Carr – food for thought http://www.hiqonline.co.uk/tyres/partWorn/economyAndSafety/  

Ultimately, it is a case of consumer choice, as long as the tyres are being sold legally.  That means within The Motor Vehicle Tyres (Safety) Regulations 1994 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/3117/regulation/7/made

However it appears that there is a growing evidence showing that a significant number of part-worn tyres are being traded illegally, with no real attention being paid by the retailer to ensuring that the tyres have been appropriately checked before being offered for sale.  Here’s one of a number of examples of Trading Standards findings http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Part-Worn-Tyres.htm

The 1994 regulations state that the tyres should also be clearly marked as part-worn when presented for sale – I’m not sure this is happening consistently, within a market that was suggested to be anything up to 6 million units in 2011.

So, the debate gathers apace – should we continue to accommodate the legitimate retailing of part-worns within the industry?

Motor Codes is currently carrying out a closed study of subscribers through the three questions next to this piece. If you’re not a subscriber (why not!) you can enter the debate by answering question 4 ‘Part worn tyres good or bad’

All the best

Chris

Car Dealer magazine Profit Clinic

In December I spoke at the Car Dealer magazine Profit Clinic. I took the opportunity to talk to the 100 or so delegates about how Motor Codes is a cost effective, localised marketing tool and how we can be used to develop an effective on line strategy that will encourage custom.

In these hard economic times, any opportunity to drive more business should be explored. Any opportunity which can demonstrate it is driving business should be utilised to the max.

With Motor Codes subscription, garages can use our direct marketing to advertise to motorists within their postcode area that are actively looking for a garage to use. Furthermore, they are looking for a local garage to use that they can trust. In the second half of 2011, there were 270,000 garage profile page views via www.motorcodes.co.uk

With our OFT backed code, garage profile pages, customer driven feedback and free to access consumer and business advisory service - consumers can chose to do business with a Motor Codes subscribing garage safe in the knowledge that the business is committed to looking after them, their property and their cash.

Don't take their word for it, see what their previous customers thought and make your own mind up.

The deal for garages, as I said at the Profit Clinic, within 24 hours you can have a government-backed business, with full OFT approval, and a Motor Codes rating - it really is that straightforward.

See full coverage of the event and my presentation at http://www.cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/profit-clinic-motor-codes/59762

All the best
Chris

Motor Codes Garage of the Year competition is open for 2012! Public voting begins on February 24th, that gives garages plenty of time to prepare.

All Motor Codes subscribing garages are automatically entered. So first off, download your free marketing pack at www.motorcodes.co.uk you can register here as well if you are not currently a Motor Codes subscriber (why not!).

The posters, leaflets and web banners look great:

Then get your team fired up and make sure all your customers vote and get you through the first round - see the sequence of events here http://tinyurl.com/86srfu2

Some of the smarter entrants last year stirred up some great local media attention through the competition - that's why we've given you a month to get your plan together.

Ken Gibson from the Sun is right behind us, saying this in today's Motors supplement '...the Motor Codes organisation and the Garage of the Year is a great way of driving motorists to garages that give them the best deal'

What more can I say, apart from it's great to have Ken on board the judging panel this year - along with some other notable people, and er...me.

http://www.motorcodes.co.uk/motorist/garage-of-the-year/judges.html

Time to get busy!

All the best
Chris

Adding value - not cost

January 2012 and the development of Motor Codes continues. When we created the business we did so with an objective of making all our services as easily accessible for the industry and their customers as possible.

This includes pricing. We agreed with Government that we would hold subscription costs for three years. The great news we announced to the network yesterday is that for the fourth year we have managed to hold the price of annual subscription to the Service and Repair Code to £75.

So, now as a subscriber to the Code, for 75 quid you get a Government backed Code and you are an Office of Fair Trading approved business. Worth the fee in itself...

You can reference this in all your marketing and advertising materials to give you the edge over less customer focused local businesses, that's the idea!

Think about it - on your adverts, on your website, business stationery, works vehicles and business premises you can display this logo:
 

You also get a free mini website to advertise your business via unique profiles on motorcodes.co.uk.

Just over 270,000 profile page views occurred in the second half of 2011. That's motorists viewing garage information having entering their postcode in the Garage Finder search facility on our homepage. Local motorists, who are active in their search for a garage to use. 270,000 times in six months. That's got to be driving business to our subscribers.

Here's a great looking profile, featuring adverts that can be individually uploaded by the garage, or centrally uploaded by a group or parent company, Garage Rating and verbatim customer comments from survey returns (all qualified to customer, vehicle and invoice number).

Why not get engaged in the survey that comes with your subscription, order a pack of 500 invoice stickers like the one below from the Code Shop and let your customers provide feedback on line, which you can view in real time via your back office log on to motorcodes.co.uk and they get entered into our monthly prize draw to win back the cost of their invoice (up to £500), very nice!

More value through our expert team working the Motor Codes Advice Service. They'll helped around 10,000 callers in 2011, less then 90% of these went any further than firsts call advice.

This is great news for our network, low levels of customer complaints - but fairly high numbers of motorists needed help, expert help. So we've scrapped the per case conciliation fee from now! Great news, this means we not only provide the best advice to garage operators and their customers at no cost but we also now provide the best dispute resolution free of charge, which has to be good news for all.

Contact the team on 0800 692 0825 - they waiting to help!

More to follow, 2012 is looking like a busy year for the Motor Codes team....

All the best
Chris