October 2019

T PS has launched its ‘Genuine Causes’ fund, a new scheme set up to help carry out essential repairs on vehicles required as a lifeline for individual, community and charitable causes. The initiative will offer individuals, community projects and charitable organisations the opportunity to apply to local independent garages, which have a TPS account, for help with repairs needed to keep their vehicles on the road. The garage will provide the labour free of charge and TPS will provide the genuine parts, in a partnership aimed at helping those most in need. Campaign Leanne Thomas, TPS National Operations Manager, said: “Launched in September, the Genuine Causes fund is part of TPS’s new Genuine Heroes campaign which puts mechanics at the heart of the campaign based on the heroic acts they perform every day to keep their customers’ vehicles on the road. Genuine Causes is a way to bring this to life by helping those in need to become real heroes. “We strive to be a genuinely better network, and we believe we all have a part to play. By listening to our customers and each other, we recognise that we can be better collectively and can make anything happen.” Awards Listening to their customers’ stories, the garage can help them by referring them to the Genuine Causes fund. They can do this by applying to their local TPS centre for two different types of parts award. The TPS Manager Award, enables the garage, as a customer of TPS, to apply to their local TPS centre for a parts award up to the value of £150 towards genuine parts. Centres will have six awards to be given over a three- month period on a first-come-first served basis to customers that meet the minimum qualifying criteria. The second-tier award is the Regional Award and will allow garages to apply for a select number of awards to the value of £1,000. These will be awards for larger scale repairs and the most deserving of causes. Both awards will be assessed on customers meeting the minimum criteria required for assistance. In the event of more entries than awards being available, a panel of judges including an independent judge will choose the successful entries based on the merits of their submission. Leanne continued: “The Genuine Causes scheme goes further than ‘just’ free parts. It’s about reaching out to the hearts and minds of our wider network, to harness the goodwill of our customers and the ‘free labour behaviour’ that already exists. “The ‘Genuine Causes’ fund is designed to provide a lifeline to individuals and communities facing challenging circumstances. It could be the school which can’t afford to repair the minibus, the car driver whose Polo has seen better days or the hard-up single parent who needs their vehicle to help juggle the responsibilities of looking after an aging relative and the school run. Partnership Leanne continued: “We are working in partnership with our customers to enable them to be heroes to their customers who are most in need by keeping them on the road, and their lives mobile.” Leanne added: “The Genuine Causes scheme is running from now, and will continue for three months, taking it into the festive period. At a time traditionally when money is tight and sudden costly vehicles repair bills can threaten to spoil Christmas, the Genuine Cause fund will provide some festive cheer for those most in need.” For more information on the ‘Genuine Causes’ fund, including how to apply to the scheme, visit the Genuine Causes site at tps.trade/genuine-causes. 18 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2019 BUSINESS www.aftermarketonline.net TPS: ‘GENUINE CAUSES’ COMING TO THE RESCUE TPS has unveiled its Genuine Causes fund, which is intended to help deserving drivers carry through on car maintenance