Posted by Nev Smith on October 11, 2003, 1:36 pm, in reply to "Car Wise"
Hi Peter
i would agree with the comments made so far and think that the licensing scheme is a good idea, IF the public are made aware of it and its closely monitered. not wishing to open a can of worms, but we became a menber of the unipart car care scheme, at tis inception all those years ago and still are members, and although it strted with a big fanfare and yearly meets etc, the general publice even to this day, does not know what a u.c.c. is and has no idea what it represents, ie national warranties, added to this they wanted 2000 garages to start the scheme and are now in the process of getting ride of all the dross, because its damaging the image, remember garages from hell ? the woman running into the toilet and hiding, this was a UCC. So as gunner says its our skill and customer liason that keeps us in work not assosiations, Unless they constatly bang home the issue.
Further i have been a member of the R.M.I.F for 16 years and from experience its worth it, ive had several occasions to require legal advice, and the team they have got are good asa they only deal with our trade, both times ive taken clients to court and both times won my case, with their help, and once ive had a run in with the vehicle inspectorate after we had Mot'd a vehicle and two days later it was involved iin a crash, and sold on. the new owner not happy tried pinning the blame on us, as the previous owner forgot to tell him. again ian davies knight from the rmi steeped in and made my case and we won, so if you think of waht soliciters charge £100.00 an hour, (and they think we charge a lot £40.00 ph). i think its worth it