October 2020

I t’s Halloween at the end of the month. That’s no bother though. Do you know what scares me? No, not vampires or zombies, not ghouls and goblins. You’ll be surprised when I tell you. Any guesses forthcoming? Really? Nothing. I’d better lay it on you then. What scares me is not being able to make my customers happy. I pride myself on being able to satisfy my customers. They come in with a problem. We identify the source of the problem, and we solve that problem in a timely fashion. They might not always be thrilled by the cost, but they are invariably happy with the result. What I don’t like is that sometimes, I never even get that far. On a MOT recently, a customer of ours discovered there was a recall outstanding on his vehicle. Somehow, the VM had managed to miss him on their mailout. He was not the original owner, but he has owned it for most of its life. These details are a matter of record, you’d think they could find the current owner of a car that is having an MOT in my garage with all their resources, when we can find him without own hand-built digital database to remind him his MOT is due, but I digress. So, my customer’s car would have passed, apart from this recall. It pained me to say it, but I had to give him the details and point him towards the local franchised dealers up the road. I’m proud to say there is practically nothing they can do that we can’t match or do better. Well, the coffee’s probably fancier up there, and the magazines in their waiting room have this month’s date on them. Some of ours don’t have this decade listed. There is no reason why we can’t perform a recall but them’s the rules, and until they change we are stuck. Rules can change though Remember when we couldn’t work on cars before they were three years old? Nothing can stop us now. Well, hopefully. The current Block Exemption is due to end in 2023. With the UK out of the EU, and those pesky VMs keen to get a piece of our action, who knows what will happen. In some ways you can’t blame them. We all do such a good job, and without their help. It’s bound to wind you up isn’t it? These issues are covered in Aftermarket, so keep an eye on the magazine, and the website and all that. Let’s make sure we keep our rights to service the vehicle. Luckily, access to the OBD port will continue, it was recently revealed. Some vehicles don’t have one any more you know. Have you come up across that yet? It’s a pain, let me assure you! Back to recalls though, by way of memory. We fought hard for the right to work on new cars, and we proved it was the right decision. Maybe recalls will be our next battle. Right now, I have to fight my way past the children of one of my mechanics, who despite COVID-19, and my general temperament, still think trick-or-treating Mrs P in reception is a good idea. Listen kids, if anyone is going to egg Her Majesty, it’s going to be me. Just don’t tell her I said so! RECALLING A GOOD SCARE 58 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2020 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net Egging Mrs P! Ghouls & goblins Pesky VMs Recall notice Feed the dog @?!