Pedders Award Winners and Hall of Fame inductees celebrated

Pedders recently celebrated success and achievement at its 2022 Pedders National Conference

Each year the Pedders Suspension and Brakes group comes together for the annual Pedders National Conference. The conference gives the Pedders network the opportunity to celebrate success, to learn and be inspired, and to build relationships with other Pedders People. Each year the business hosts the conference in a different location and 2022’s event saw the Pedders group travel to Hobart. A cornerstone of the National Conference is the prestigious Awards Dinner ceremony where the business celebrates the achievements of its store network and team members. This year the dinner was hosted at the IXL Atrium where guests were joined by Supercars commentator and Pedders brand ambassador Neil Crompton. This year Pedders announced 17 awards and two Hall Of Fame inductees. The awards cover many areas of the business such as Top Authorised Dealer, Top Retail, Top Store overall and more. Pedders Cannington WA franchisee, Bevan Phillips, was inducted into the Pedders Hall Of Fame as his store has gone from strength to strength over the last few years, winning multiple awards. Bevan has been a part of the Pedders family for over 30 years – his career commenced in 1991, a couple of years after his parents Reg and Anne Phillips commenced their Pedders franchise in 1989. Bevan and Kristy Phillips took over the Cannington store in 2004. David Fahey, Senior Executive Franchising and Standards, was the second inductee into the Hall Of Fame this year. Over the last 20 years, David has held many roles within the Pedders Group including Technician and State Manager. David has been an integral part of the Head Office team for many years and has helped countless franchisees build successful businesses. Pedders 2022 Conference Award Winners:

• Top Store – Cannington • Top Retail Sales – Cairns • Top Labour Sales – Granville • Top Trade Sales – Cannington • Top Sales – Cannington • Top Regional Store – Bendigo • Top Group B Store – Toowoomba • Top Group C Store – Bundaberg • Top Warehouse – Lawnton • Bill Orders Top State – Western Australia • Roy Pedder Award – Murwillumbah • Brakes Sales Domestic – Beresfield • Brake Sales International – Indonesia • Top Authorised Dealer (under 20,000 population) – Deni Car Care • Top Authorised Dealer (under 50,000 population) – Ward Motors • Top Authorised Dealer – Shepparton Service

Centre • Export Award – Ozparts For more information, visit www.pedders.com.au

VALE ROD WILKINSON

Precision Automotive Equipment company co-founder Rod Wilkinson passed away peacefully on May 25, 2022, at the age of 64

Following a number of years in the automotive industry, selling both spare parts and equipment throughout the ACT and New South Wales, Rod together with his wife Karen and three children moved to Queensland. The move north made Rod realise that there was a need in the workshop equipment market for a customer focused service business, thus Rod and his business partner Phil Atkins established Precision Automotive Equipment in Brisbane in 1997, initially operating from Rod’s home garage. After working as a workshop equipment service technician during the formative years of the business, Rod gained a strong understanding of the problems that automotive workshop owners and operators were having with their equipment. Many of his equipment service customers asked him to source quality replacement workshop equipment. Rod never lost sight of his career-long emphasis on providing excellent and responsive after-sales service, making Precision Automotive Equipment a preferred choice for updating or establishing the smallest to the largest automotive workshops. Precision grew strongly in Queensland and then branched out successfully to both New South Wales and Victoria in later years, establishing the foundations to become the country’s only national workshop equipment sales and service company. Rod travelled the world to personally select and inspect workshop equipment products to suit the Australian service and repair market. Precision enjoyed outstanding success with their exclusive Powerrex range, opening the gates to other exclusive deals with world leading brands including the globally renowned Hunter Engineering wheel service product range and the world leading Rotary Lift hoist range. The core of the company’s success was the fact that for the majority of its 25-year history, Precision Automotive Equipment was Rod’s family business, with his wife Karen and son Brent actively involved. While now a part of Bapcor, the family business culture and focus on customer service embedded by Rod, his family and team of employees has remained the same. The team at the AAAA and Aftermarket Magazine extends its deepest sympathies to the Wilkinson family and all at Precision Automotive Equipment at this sad time.