Which? report not the aftermarket’s finest hour

CAT’s legendary timing strikes again. Only last month we pre-empted the devastating Which? report with our review of the industry’s sometimes confusing raft of codes of conduct, although I have to admit the timing was more down to luck – well let’s call it intuition – than anything else.

The report, which is about as scathing as you could imagine of the service and repair sector, throws into sharp relief the huge amount of work our industry needs to put in to repairing its bruised and battered reputation.

Even considering the very small sample size of the servicing jobs that Which?’s mystery shoppers tested (62 out of 48 million services carried out in the UK each year, according to the RMI), the fact that all but eight garages tested failed to identify and put right at least one significant vehicle defect is very worrying indeed.

What with the Which? report, counterfeit part seizures in Northern Ireland and the admission of a quarter of the garages that responded to a recent Motaquip survey that they would use white box parts to save money, now is really not the aftermarket’s finest hour. The independent aftermarket is better than this – let’s prove it.

Published by emmabutcher

Emma has been CAT's editor since January 2008. There isn't much she doesn't know about the aftermarket - and her favourite topic is definitely BER!

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