www.aftermarketonline.net FEBRUARY 2024 AFTERMARKET 3 CONTENTS BUSINESS 8 Big issue: Ready for SERMI? 13 MAM Software: Cold comfort? 14 Q&A: Continental TOP TECHNICIAN/TOP GARAGE 18 TOPDON: Driving excellence TECHNICAL 20 Technical update 22 Aftermarket of the future 24 Frank Massey: A month in the life 27 Motul: Next generation thinking 28 Repairify: SERMI explained 30 ACtronics: Ether/Or IN FOCUS 32 Snap-on: Connected MOT equipment 34 MOT 38 Batteries and chargers 42 Brakes 46 Diesel 48 Oils and lubricants 52 TPS: Quantum Leap PLUS... 54 Competition/General products 55 On the road: IAAF Annual Conference 58 Garage visit: AAK Autos 58 EVs and hybrids 60 Training update 64 Recruitment 66 Teabreak BLUE MAN GROUP Editor | Alex Wells alex@aftermarket.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 345 Head of Sales | Angela Lyus angela@aftermarket.co.uk | +44 (0) 7823 736 629 Managing Director | Ryan Fuller ryan.fuller@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Contributors Neil Kennett | Frank Massey | Ben Nicholls | Phil Peace Operations Manager | Emma Godden-Wood emma.godden-wood@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Marketing Executive | Hope Jepson hope.jepson@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 371081 Finance Department accounts@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Chief Executive | Ian Atkinson ian.atkinson@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Published by | DFA Aftermarket Media Ltd 192 High Street, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 1BE Alex Wells, Editor Average net circulation July 2022 to June 2023 17,274 @aftermarketmagazine @aftermarket01 @aftermarketmagazine ISSN 2516-9149 Aftermarket is published 10 times a year and is sent free of charge to applicants meeting the publisher’s criteria. All others may subscribe at £60 per anum, £120 Europe and £150 rest of the world. While every care is taken to provide accurate information, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or ommisions, no matter how caused. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher. The views of contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Copyright: DFA Media Group 2024. Welcome to the first edition of Aftermarket for 2024. We hope you had a good Christmas and New Year break. It’s always great to get away from the grind and get some perspective. That being said, you can never entirely switch off. Even when I am on my hols, I take note of automotive businesses. If I see a little garage, I will pass my eyes across it as I walk by. My family and I were in Granada in southern Spain over Christmas. We visit regularly. At the start of the 2010s, a Peugeot dealership that conformed to the marque’s then-current Blue Box corporate identity programme opened in the city. This saw dealers across the world setting up shop in, yes you guessed it, a building that was essentially a blue box. The dealer in Granada can’t have been there for more than 18 months before shutting the doors though, and the site lay dormant until a couple of years ago. It has come back to life as a Chinese-run supermarket, a typical discount retailer seen in Spain where you can buy almost anything that can be shipped in a crate from Shanghai or Guangzhou; Imagine a decentralised Woolworths, running amok. My son, for example, within a few moments found all the components necessary to emerge from the aisles dressed as a Mexican Grim Reaper. The front of the shop was in what would have been the showroom, and was a good enough size. When I ventured through and down a flight of stairs to where the workshop would have been though, I gasped in amazement. It was vast, huge, enormous. Cavernous even. There was merchandise as far as the eye could see. It was so big I half-expected an employee in overalls to come around the corner pushing the crated Ark of the Covenant on a trolley. “How many bays did they have in here?” I asked myself out-loud. “How many technicians were on staff?” It was at this moment that I realised some of the reasons why this dealership may have packed up. While dealers exist to sell cars, much of the income would emanate from the aftercare; Servicing, repairs etc. When a car is under three years old and most likely to be visiting the dealer, the work being performed is unlikely to be that lucrative. So how were they affording the staff to work in this huge area? I guess they weren’t, in that the site was now given over to selling waving cats, plastic foliage, lurid ladies fashions and 1,001 other useless things. So, what is the lesson here? I think it is this; Know your market, set your labour rate correctly, and keep your workshop profitably active, which is not the same as busy. Oh, and if somebody asks you if you want to move your currently solvent business into a giant blue money pit, say: “No.” Of course, this being the start of the year, you want to kick off in a positive fashion. Say “Yes” to life and all that. With this in mind, accept the challenge and take part in Top Technician and Top Garage 2024. Both competitions are open, and Top Garage now includes yet another grouping to widen participation in the form of Mobile Mechanic of the Year. All the details on entering are in News on pages 4-7. It’s not all fun and games however, as the UK’s SERMI scheme should starting soon. You can find out more about how this will affect you in Big Issue on pages 8-11. Enjoy!
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