The Office of Fair Trading’s future is uncertain and may affect Consumer Codes Approval Schemes.

A cost cutting proposal in a Government Green Paper is to suggest the merger of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and The Competition Commission. Consumer protection will pass to the busy local Trading Standards and Citizens Advice departments.

What will this mean to existing OFT Consumer Code Approval Schemes like the ones sponsored by Bosch Car Service and/or VBRA? Will they lose their relevance and quality teeth for women drivers if the OFT is not there to police them?

The CCAS website confirms this uncertainty re new schemes so perhaps the Motor Codes service and repair scheme may not now reach Stage Two to gain full approval?

Fortunately most of their subscribers are dealerships who can be expected to perform to higher standards than the undemanding ‘honest and fair services’ ‘open and transparent pricing’ and ‘work completed as agreed’ Motor Code standards.  I never really understood why the likes of Ford garages needed this when most are ATA employers already and they get rigorously inspected by the RAC. A waste of money even?

Either way, after c60 years of attempting to put its garages in order, the motor industry has done little of note because bad garages don’t join industry code schemes and still exist. And woman are most likely to be the ones overcharged, patronised and sold things we don’t need.

Despite Trading Standards efforts here (including a few Motor Trade Partnership schemes FOXY likes) these are regional not national bodies.

What is surely needed, with or without the OFT, is a fully regulated garage industry, to include independents, fastfits, bodyshops and franchised dealerships, because shoddy work can mean dangerous cars and compromise our road safety.

But garages’ll still need FOXY Choice’s marketing services to identify the genuinely female friendly businesses because even regulation won’t guarantee a business that understands what we women want!

FOXY Steph

Find out about FOXY Choice approved female friendly UK garages

Does the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code/garage market itself to women and encourage them to pay over the odds in car dealerships? Yes I think it does.

For starters the Motor Codes website,  blog and recent press releases state….

“Don’t risk a rip-off, you can trust a Motor Codes garage.”

“Consumers, why go anywhere else? Don’t risk a rip off, look for the logo and have confidence in your choice of garage by using the Garage Finder facility on the Motor Codes website.”

[Click here to find out] ‘How the Service and Repair Code solves your cowboy garage concerns….’

“Franchised and independent garages who subscribe to the Code surely have the edge over those that don’t – or won’t.”

“Businesses that commit to the Code are demonstrating their willingness to provide consistent levels of customer satisfaction and the more that subscribe, the easier it is for consumers to find the good guys.”

Yet these marketing statements, intended to influence men and women drivers alike are misleading because…

1   the likes of the ATA, BSI Kitemark and OFT approved Stage Two schemes operated by Bosch Car Service and VBRA are higher standards than the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code

2   the majority of manufacturers expect higher service and repair standards of workmanship from their franchised dealers than the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code states

3   only a small percentage of subscribers to the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code have been inspected (142 compliance checks in Q1 2009 gives you an idea of how many of the 5500 subscribers have been vetted during the full year…) so this is an EXTREMELY CHEAP promotion at just £75 a year for any business to get on the quality bandwagon and claim to be better than others without having to prove anything…

4   most of the businesses listed (iro 80% I estimate, probably more) are franchised car dealerships. Check out your nearest town via the Motor Codes website for starters. Is it a coincidence that this scheme is run by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders who exist to represent the best interests of the main manufacturers? How can they put the best interests of motorists first (but someone must)…

5   female motorists on a budget (ie most of us in a recession) choosing a Motor Codes subscriber are likely to feel tricked into paying more than we need to because the website suggests Motor Code subscribers are better…

For example and as at today…

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Glasgow only 2 out of 50 are independent garages…

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Newcastle upon Tyne only 1 out of 42 businesses is an independent garage

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Manchester only 3 out of 33 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Birmingham only 3 out of 35 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in London only 6 out of 46 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Shoreham-by-Sea (my nearest town in Sussex) only 3 out of 33 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Exeter only 2 out of 23 are independents

and so on…it’s the same skew across the UK. Draw your own conclusions.

As I see it, this means that many men and women drivers, choosing a Motor Codes subscriber (as a result of lavish marketing budgets) could end up paying over the odds in car dealerships without realising they could have had an informed choice of a good independent garage…

AND that the majority of Motor Codes subscribers have neither had a welcome visit or a Compliance Check yet. The fact is that these subscribers don’t have to be good garages, they just have to say they are.

If it was me and I found this out, I’d feel cheated by the very industry and OFT- backed code that is promising me and other women drivers like me better car servicing, MOT and repair value for money services.

And isn’t this the very reputation that the motor industry wishes to change – for overcharging motorists?

Undoubtedly manufacturers jumped on board because Ford signed up first and told its dealers to subscribe a year ago… but I remain amazed that so many manufacturers ever thought that their authorised dealers needed to subscribe to such a basic Motor Code… have they read it?  Their dealers MUST have been doing more than this in the aftersales department…

Of course I support attempts to raise standards in the motor industry, but this code is not the salve to all garage problems yet. It isn’t ready for consumer marketing and it could mislead and increase industry complaints not reduce them as it set out to do.

And many, many garages and dealerships are offering much higher and female friendly standards  – let’s set the quality bar much higher in future.

FOXY Steph

Until recently I hadn’t a clue what SMART car repairs were.

I now understand that they are specialist car repairs to put right minor damage caused to car exteriors and interiors. This skill is different to major bodywork repairs after a car accident, for example.

Apparently some 70% of all cars on the road today have a requirement for at least one SMART repair costing an average of £70 per repair.

Good to know this when your insurance excess is in the £00s or where you could lose your no claims bonus for want of some knowledge here.

And reassuring to know that someone can make our cars look nearly new again without costing a fortune, adding to the reselling price we’d hope.

How many of us know that there are industry professionals who specialise in repairing the following and for relatively little money…

• vinyl, plastic and leather upholstery
• dashboards
• door and trim panels
• roof linings
• alloy wheels
• in-car cigarette burns
• windscreen chips
• unused telephone holes
• minor bodywork scuffs and scratches
• paintwork dents

For a gender with an appreciation for aesthetics (and an occasional tendency to suffer car park, shopping trolley and kerb bashes) I can see that women drivers would be glad to have a tried and tested local specialist in their address book.

As always, the important thing is to find a business/individual with the skills and the knowledge to do this for you. Visit  FOXY Choice for a good female friendly repairer for starters.

Otherwise, try googling for ‘smart car repairs’ (and ignore out the ones selling Smart cars).  Signs of reassurance are if the garage repairer is a member of trade associations MVRA or VBRA, tells you that their technician is Thatcham trained or if they hold the BSI Kitemark in Bodywork Repairs.

By all means add your experience or expertise to help others.

FOXY Steph