Steve Page brings with him 18 years of experience

Steve Page has been named national sales manager of MAM Software, as the company forges ahead with its tyre market expansion plans.

Replacing Graham Dunford, Page takes over the role to continue his 18-year career at the company.

Sales director Nigel Clemmett said: “Steve has considerable product knowledge, which will prove invaluable as we continue our progress within the tyre market.

“We are very thankful to Graham,” Clemmett added, “who has helped us establish a very strong foundation on which we can build.”

DENSO girl Cassie and technical trainer Alan Povey with Andy Campbell (left)

South West motor factor Kevin Cooper is the second business to “win a workout” with DENSO in a month that also saw it open a new branch.

With 17 sites now operating – the latest in Brixham – Kevin Cooper’s Devon branch was paid a visit by DENSO’s technical training manager, Alan Povey and DENSO girl Cassie in March.

Andy Campbell, Kevin Cooper’s company buyer, said: “We’ve done many workouts over the years but this was by far the best.

“The entire team was really pleased to see Cassie and Alan was a fountain of knowledge, able to answer all our technical questions with ease.”

DENSO spark and glow plugs make up the factor’s entire spark plug sales.

“The products continually meet the demands of our customers,” continued Povey. “We’ll be continuing to stock DENSO’s OE-quality ranges with the potential to expand.”

The Millionaire’s Club was launched by DENSO in January. Factors signing up until the end of March to place orders get a chance to win a range of prizes.

Spring has arrived with VECO's fresh set of offers

Universal Automotive has added 70 references to its VECO line-up under a new rotating electrics programme.

The starter motors and alternators are brand new units, allowing buyers to avoid exchange surcharges.

And in further news, Universal is offering discounts on Ford Transit 2.0 and 2.4 TD starter motors and on its no-risk starter motor and alternator stock packs.

The Transit starter motor, also compatible with Mondeo 2.0 TDCi and LDV Convoy 2.4 Di models, sees a reduction of just over 10%, now priced at £65.50 + VAT.

If customers take advantage of the additional spring promotion by buying three or more units, the price drops another 10% to £58.95 + VAT.

Alternatively, the VECO ‘stock pack’ offers 5 fast moving units, 3 alternators for Honda, Rover and Vauxhall applications and two starters covering Ford, Fiat, LDV and Peugeot/Citroen.

Under the spring promotion, the pack is initially £308.15 + VAT but if after three months the customer is unhappy, unsold units can be returned and the costs reclaimed.

Autodata has signed a deal with the AA to supply the roadside rescue company with technical information.

The AA will use Autodata’s CD3 product, which provides information for diagnostics and auto electrical work, as well as tyre pressures, timing belt and battery replacement.

Chris Bailey, head of Motoring Technologies at the AA, said: “The feedback and performance from our roadside patrols using the latest information from Autodata has been extremely positive.

“The range of technical information… helps them to quickly diagnose faults and improve repairs, helping our members to quickly continue their journeys.”

Nearly 1 in 10 UK motorists never check their oil and almost 66% of us don’t know the correct type to use.

So says Chevron Global Lubricants, which commissioned a survey of 5400 motorists across the UK, Spain, The Netherlands and Romania.

By contrast, an average of just 3.1% of motorists surveyed on the continent do not check their oil levels between services.

In Spain, 60.3% of car owners check their vehicle’s oil requirements with their service centre before topping up.

And Romanians get top marks for oil savvy with almost 80% knowing which brand of oil is in their car, compared to 44% of UK owners.

The survey also revealed different buying trends.

While more than half of Spanish drivers prefer to pay their garage to top up their oil, just 14% of UK owners opt for this service, with more than 70% of us preferring to buy our own oil between services.

Brian Hayes, Chevron’s UK marketing manager, suggested that oil firms need to educate motorists about the dangers of incorrect oil usage.

He pointed out that the oil market is getting more complicated, a trend underlined by the fact that over the last 15 years, Chevron’s Havoline range of engine oil has expanded from 4 to 14 products.

“Now more than ever,” said Hayes “a knowledge of which oil to use in your car’s engine is as essential as knowing which type of fuel to use.”

Ian Bradley receives his award from field sales manager Mike Blissett

Ian Bradley of FPS Leeds has been crowned ADL’s champion customer for 2010 after submitting 900 product feedback requests last year.

The 10 customers who submitted the most feedback through the company’s online catalogue were awarded a small gift and named “Blue Print Champions”.

Winner Bradley was also handed £100 worth of shopping vouchers for his troubles.

The top 10 “Blue Print Champions”

• Ian Bradley – FPS
• Lee Jones – York Motor Factors
• Matthew Pope – York Motor Factors
• Stuart Wood – York Motor Factors
• Steve Askew – ALS
• Darren Murray – SDL (Minorfern)
• Darren Ryan – Andrew Page
• Michele Williams – FPS
• Simon Hambleton – General Traffic
• Jo Cole – FPS

Steve Sheppard is Manbat's MD

Delays in implementing European rules on battery labelling have led to unscrupulous trading from some companies.

That’s according to Manbat, which claims that some businesses are flooding the market with batteries that are “blatantly” exploiting the delay

EU Directive 2006/66/EC, which was due to come in to force last September, makes battery manufacturers and distributors responsible for ensuring the capacity of automotive batteries and accumulators is marked on them visibly, legibly and indelibly.

But Manbat says it has identified a number of batteries being sold with labels that either state directly or imply via their reference number that their capacity is higher that it actually is.

The company is advising the trade to source batteries from reputable suppliers and to opt for recognised brands.

Bearmach will go through to national finals in March

The HSBC Regional International Trade award committee has named Bearmach as its winner for Wales.

The award ceremony held at HSBC offices in Cardiff in March saw the award presented by chairman of the Judges Ian Campbell.

Peter Whitehouse, managing director of the Land Rover parts supplier, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and we are very proud to have won this prestigious award.

“Our 150 staff have worked extremely hard, embracing a culture change and many positive improvements on our processes.”

The regional win means Bearmach has been put forward for the UK national award final to take place at the House of Lords.

“The award, on top of wining The Queen’s award for International trade in May 2009 and the Caerphilly Borough Business of the Year award in late 2008 is proof that our business model and vision is driving the business forward”, said a delighted Whitehouse.

John Alexander will head sales operations in the UK

FAI has made a raft of promotions and appointments to strengthen the company’s performance both in the UK and overseas.

First up, Jonathan Alexander, who has been at FAI for 8 years,  joins the board as commercial director, and is in charge of UK sales operations.

Meanwhile, Gary Hammond, formerly of Reed Automotive, steps into the product manager role with a remit to grow the company’s steering and suspension presence.

And finally, Nenad Stamenkovic becomes sales manager for Eastern Europe as FAI puts greater focus on exports.

A podium finish at WyeDean

Two CAT Award winners are celebrating after Nik Elsmore and Nigel Gardner secured a podium finish at the WyeDean Rally in February.

‘Green Innovation’ CAT award winner Klarius teamed up with ‘Motor Factor of the Year’ GMF to sponsor the event, which is a round of the BTRDA championship.

Klarius’ award winning green racing catalytic converter was fitted to the car.

On the day, 163 cars competed in numerous categories ranging from historic classics to modern WRC cars.

Bill Godfrey, UK sales manager for Klarius, said: “We believe that motor racing is important to the motor industry as it fuels the need for continuous development of technologies.

“We are proud to have sponsored such a well run and enjoyable event – hopefully we can play a part in future rallies.”

Local lad Nik Elsmore, and driver of the Klarius/GMF sponsored car, said: “While it would have been nice to have secured my third victory today, I am over the moon with a podium finish.

“It is a great honour for me each year that I race this event and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Klarius and GMF.