ANNUAL DINNER SUCCESS!
This year our audiences enjoyed a jampacked evening of awards, music and were captivated by our guest speaker Ben Collins aka The Stig. The evening saw around 350 guests in attendance and it was great to see lots of familiar faces and welcome some new ones! We wanted to say a massive thank you to all who attended and of course also a massive thank you to our generous sponsors.
We also raised money for our charity partners – and a cheque presentation to ‘A Bear Named Buttony’, ‘Erskine Veterans’ and ‘Scottish Charity Air Ambulance’ will be happening soon and we’ll let you all know the final amount raised shortly!
Here’s a few photos of our Award Winners and there will be a follow up feature of them in our upcoming editions of Scots Auto Scene!
Sandy Bruce, Edinburgh College
Alan McLaughlan, Bridgend Motor Group (award accepted by Neil Robertson on Alan’s behalf)
WINNERS 2024
Jim Reid Vehicle Sales
Anderson Clark Motor Repairs
Elite Land Rover
North Road Garage
Your Ford Centre
Close Brothers stops underwriting new dealer finance after landmark court ruling.
Close Brothers has stopped underwriting new dealer finance, as its share price tumbles, following a landmark court ruling which could have major repercussions for the wider motor trade.
On Oct 25th, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of three consumers who are fighting legal cases against Close Brothers and Firstrand Bank.
The complaints say they were mis-sold motor finance but all lost previous hearings at other courts around the country.
Now, however, judges have decided to allow their appeals after ruling that ‘a broker could not lawfully receive a commission from a lender without obtaining the customer’s fully informed consent to the payment’, CityAM reports.
The judges, who unanimously voted to allow the appeals, said that that motor dealers acting as credit brokers have a ‘fiduciary duty to their customers’.
It means that the three cases, only one of which is against Close, are now set to be retried in a move which could have a major knock on effect for dealers.
Car finance pauses as banks figure out legal implications – who has stopped lending?
Motor finance lenders have been putting the brakes on new proposals as the industry works through the legal implications of offering funding to consumers.
So far three banks have confirmed they will pause lending following the October 25 landmark court ruling:
CLOSE BROTHERS MOTOR FINANCE
Following Friday’s decision, Close Brothers decided to pull support for new finance business.
It announced it would be halting the underwriting of new motor finance and share prices tumbled.
HONDA FINANCE EUROPE
• FINANCE HOUSES ANNOUNCE THEY ARE PAUSING UNDERWRITING NEW BUSINESS
• FIND OUT WHO IS CURRENTLY NOT OFFERING FINANCING FOR NEW OR USED CARS
• THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED AS NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE MADE
Honda has told its car dealers that it will pause paying out on car finance and customers who were due to collect their vehicles over the weekend, and had financed their cars via Honda, were told they would not be able to take delivery.
MOTONOVO FINANCE
MotoNovo has issued a statement on its website that it is pausing new finance proposals in the light of Friday’s court ruling over commissions.
It became the third motor finance house to pause its new offers.
Motor Ombudsman reports record service and repair complaints.
The Motor Ombudsman has reported the highest ever volume of service and repair cases brought by consumers to its dispute resolution service in Q3.
It received a total of 1,586 new submissions from motorists, up 18% from 1,348 in Q3 2023.
It said consumers were turning to it in increasing numbers because of a growing awareness of the organisation coupled with strained motorist finances.
The drivetrain area of a vehicle drove the most consumer dissatisfaction. Nearly 40% of complaints originated the engine, transmission, fuel, and exhaust systems.
Issues raised by consumers included, faulty timing chains snapping
prematurely and causing shaking at higher speeds, turbo failures, and excessive oil consumption.
The standard of customer service experienced by consumers during a routine service or ad hoc remedial work, accounted for the second highest number of disputes, at just under a third (32%) – higher than the figure of 17% reported at the same time last year.
There were instances of businesses damaging vehicles and individual components whilst on the ramp, causing an added element of frustration for
consumers, whilst repairers conducting work without the authorisation of customers, which contravenes the Service and Repair Code, also drove disputes.
In addition, vehicle owners logged complaints about repairs not being undertaken following up-front payments, and multiple attempts not rectifying the reported faults.
Government cracks down on fake vehicle parts amid rise in ‘lifethreatening’ fake products.
Authorities are cracking down on ‘lifethreatening’ fake vehicle parts amid a rise in counterfeit products.
In a recent study by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), one in six motorists admitted to having bought fake car parts in the past 12 months.
The body found that a number of most common fakes were for items linked to
vehicle safety, including tyres, wheels, airbags and brakes.
IPO has now warned that counterfeit parts are likely to have been made using inferior materials and are not safetytested.
In the survey of 1,394 motorists commissioned by the IPO, around 15% of respondents said they had purchased a
counterfeit part in the 12 months leading up to October 2024.
Almost half of those (45%) said they bought the item believing it to be genuine, only to be told otherwise later when the part went wrong.
MOT FORECAST VOLUMES NOVEMBER 2024
TRADE SNIPPETS
Garage workers sentenced for issuing fraudulent MOT certificates
Article courtesy of AM Online
Chinese carmakers to double production abroad to avoid tariffs
Article courtesy of Motortrader
Why it’s crucial that dealers understand the Consumer Rights Act
Article courtesy of CarDealer Magazine
Kia’s new EV3 compact SUV named Car of the Year in Electrifying.com awards
courtesy of CarDealer Magazine
UK on track to become world’s fourth largest EV market as global sales surge
Article courtesy of AM Online
Used BEV prices stabilised between July and October
Article courtesy of Motortrader
AUTOMOTIVE STILL BRITAIN’S NUMBER ONE EXPORTER OF GOODS DESPITE YEAR OF RENEWAL
UK car production output declined by -20.6% in September, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) as 70,039 units rolled off production lines. The scale of the decline is, in part, exacerbated by comparison with a strong September 2023, which saw the best result for the month since 2020.
• SEPTEMBER CAR OUTPUT FALLS -20.6% TO 70,039 UNITS AS FACTORIES PREPARE FOR ALL-NEW ELECTRIC MODELS
• MANUFACTURING FOR DOMESTIC AND OVERSEAS MARKETS DOWN -20.8% AND -20.6% RESPECTIVELY, WITH EU TAKING LION’S SHARE OF EXPORTS
• NEW ANALYSIS SHOWS AUTO REMAINS UK’S LARGEST EXPORTER OF MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS, WITH SHIPMENTS OF CARS, VANS AND COMPONENTS WORTH ALMOST £47BN
SMTA CONTACTS
ACCOUNT ENQUIRIES:
Telephone – 0131 331 5510
Email – accounts@smta.co.uk
SCOTS AUTOSCENE
SMTA produces a quarterly magazine to all our members, if you haven’t got one yet our Territory Account Managers will be visiting your garage soon with a copy for you.
If you’d like your garage to feature please contact: karen.thompson@smta.co.uk
MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES/ TRADING PARTNERS:
Norman Stirling – 07917 095014
Membership Development Manager
Marcus Lawrence – 07375 057561
Territory Account Manager, Western Region
Stuart Kennedy – 07375 057560
Territory Account Manager, Northern Region
MOT QMS ENQUIRIES
David Innes – 07789 264228
Operations Manager, Support Services
Gordon Laing – 07799 732124
Support Services Consultant
Wayne Sutherland – 07729 045666
Support Services Consultant
APPRENTICE TRAINING ENQUIRIES
Fraser Miller – 07789 264229
Apprentice Training Manager
EMPLOYMENT LAW ENQUIRIES
Moira Gaynor – 0131 331 5510
Company Secretary/Finance Manager
SCOTSURE WARRANTY:
Claims and Enquiries – 0131 331 5512
MEMBERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS:
Karen Thompson – 07922 079889
Membership Communications Manager
EVENTS ENQUIRIES:
Email: events@smta.co.uk
ADVERTISING/SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES:
Wendy Hennessy – 07974 380140
Scottish Motor Trade Association Ltd., Palmerston House, 10 The Loan, South Queensferry EH30 9NS
Telephone: 0131 331 5510
www.smta.co.uk
