July/August 2019

impacts the sector is a lack of knowledge on the part of users, and that includes those in the trade according to Andrew: "The first thing we said was that we wanted to protect and educate the end user. This is the most important point of what we were trying to achieve. The fact was that the general level of lubricant knowledge, not only within the automotive industry, but also industrial, agricultural etc, is very minimal. Farmers are a great case in point. 'Oil is oil – that'll do'. It is a case of trying to get that education out there." It's not through lack of trying: "We have got some of the world's biggest companies – Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Total and BP – out there trying to educate people, and yet, as an industry we've never really succeeded." He continued: "It was quite apparent to us that we need to help actually protect the consumer who is going into a Halfords or a motor factor T he RAC Club on Pall Mall is a pleasant place to spend a Thursday afternoon, doubly so if you are getting lunch, and some education too. With this in mind, when Aftermarket was invited to a lunch being hosted by the Verification of Lubricant Specifications (VLS), we knew we had to say yes. It has been six years since the members of the United Kingdom Lubricants Association (UKLA) set up VLS. Its purpose was and is to provide a credible means of verifying lubricant specifications, hence the name. The organisation helps protect lubricant users by investigating and checking compliance to industry standards and performance claims made about lubricants available in the UK. Through its work, VLS raises awareness by reporting the findings from investigations on the quality of lubricants being sold. This work is very relevant to our sector. Of its cases, 74% concern automotive engine lubricants, making up the biggest share. Keeping it in the family, the second most commonly occurring product they see, at 14% of cases, is automotive gear oil. When you look at case types, 60% have been about non-compliance with ACEA specifications, ACEA being the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Anyone with concerns about claims being made by a lubricant can get in touch with VLS, who will then investigate. If a product is found to be not meeting the standards it claims, VLS will publicise the fact. They have done so on 64 occasions. Self-policing Back to the lunch though. In the company of various members of VLS, 56 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2019 ON THE ROAD www.aftermarketonline.net A WELL-LUBRICATED LUNCH WITH VLS Above: The RAC Club Six years on from its inception, VLS show that while lubricants education is getting through in some quarters, there is still some way to go we learned a lot about the organisation and what it has been doing to help those who use lubricants, including you. Andrew Goddard, Chairman of VLS, (and Chief Executive of Morris Lubricants) explained the reasoning behind why VLS was set up: "VLS was set up because the UKLA realised that there was a problem in the lubricant industry of so-called Holy Grail products that supposedly offer the properties of a multi-purpose lubricant. There was a lot of this in the marketplace, but it is not feasible. People were marketing this stuff but it was not fit for purpose for the consumer. We asked ourselves what we were going to do about this? As a result, VLS was set up six years ago with a view to have an industry wide organisation self-policing lubricant quality, maintaining and policing a level playing field throughout the lubricant market." One of the most serious issues that