December/January 2022

trains, heralds the start of the next motoring revolution. Now really is the time for any garage that wants to be part of that revolution to accelerate the pace of training and reskilling. Of course, making any sort of commitment to future training will be a daunting prospect, but there are routes to funding that can really help with that and the IMI team can work with businesses right across the sector to help them capitalise on the government funding available.” Equipment position For his look at what 2022 might hold, GEA Chief Executive Julian Woods started with the MOT scheme: “The primary issue that needs addressing is levelling up of the MOT workload to help garages spread out work over the year. “From an equipment position, we are looking forward for the release of the next phase of connected MOT equipment. This will be either the electronic headlight beam setter or an ANPR camera. Both have the potential to add great improvements to the MOT scheme. The current HBT unit has been around for many years and reading the screen can be very subjective, especially when assessing newer style light systems on vehicles. Having software make the decision will help improve the quality of the MOT test as well as the speed of testing. Many variations of electronic beam setters are currently on the market but we do not recommend you invest until the DVSA publishes its own requirements. ANPR cameras in the MOT is a new item the DVSA are investigating. What the DVSA can see are errors from MOT testers entering the wrong vehicle registration details, thus adding a MOT certificate to the wrong vehicle. The potential of using a camera to verify the correct vehicle is being tested and will help to reduce these types of mistakes. “Connected MOT equipment has certainly proven its worth since the first item was introduced in 2019. Many equipment manufacturers are now offering upgrade options to their MOT equipment for those stations that want to keep up with technology.” To see if your MOT equipment is upgradeable, visit www.gea.co.uk Full access Looking towards electrification and hybridisation, Julian observed: “The car parc is changing with hybrids and full EVs becoming commonplace. These vehicles will still need a MOT and servicing for wear items such as tyre and brakes, but obviously mechanics skills and training will become an issue for these types of vehicles. However, many systems remain the same on these vehicles, such as ADAS. As more safety related items are mandated for vehicles, such as automatic braking, lane departure and active cruise control, the need to diagnose and repair such systems will increase in the marketplace. As a result, the need to maintain full access to vehicle systems via a diagnostic tool will only increase.” On changing requirements, Julian concluded: “From January 2023, all new garage equipment needs to carry the UKCA standard. This had been deferred by 12 months from the original plan of January 2022, but this needs to be considered as a priority during 2022 to ensure we meet the requirements. Also, all items currently CE-marked will from January 2023 need to be UKCA-marked, including many spare parts used in the automotive repair market.” Interesting times Looking at next year, NTDA Chief Executive Stefan Hay 12 AFTERMARKET DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net