February 2021

included Type Approval. This was really interesting as it was the first example in our sector of the government going out on consultation to a piece of agreed EU legislation. Again, our concerns were listened to, and the consultation was subsequently adopted in full. “Finally, yet again scrappage schemes were raised by the franchised sector and again we argued that as the majority of benefits would go to overseas vehicle manufacturers, it was little more than a marketing ploy to shift vehicles off the forecourt at the expense of perfectly good older vehicles. “However, in a world that no one predicted, there are some things we can absolutely predict; VMs not complying with legislation sound familiar? Take Type Approval, the most recent example of non-compliance. W ith 2021 just around the corner, the IAAF Conference provided a full-stop to the year everyone would rather forget. Appropriately for 2020, instead of a day out in Milton Keynes, we were online. IAAF Chief Executive Wendy Williamson set up proceedings. Her starting point showed just how far we have come since December 2019: “It’s difficult to believe that so much has changed in such a short space of time. No one had even heard of COVID-19, apart from the Chinese, and we were all sick to death of hearing about Brexit, and all the promises being made by politicians about what they felt was best for the UK. “What a difference a year makes. Boris was elected with a landslide victory, and almost from day one, the government was having to cope with possibly the biggest challenge since the Second World War. A year ago it would have been unthinkable. “Brexit has hardly been in the news, but that will all change.” Commenting on the IAAF’s year specifically, Wendy said: “It has been the busiest year since I started seven years ago. Government advice was changing all the time, sometimes by the hour, so we very quickly introduced daily bulletins to ensure all of our members were kept up to date with what was going on. “In addition to our communication activities, we were very busy lobbying. We were writing to Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, as well as our various contacts with the DfT, DVSA, not forgetting our colleagues in Northern Ireland, where we wrote to Nicola Malone from the Northern Ireland General Assembly plus the DVA. Issues covered everything from MOTs to a range of financial, employee and employer support measures, plus of course, scrappage schemes. “We also worked with other key trade associations from across the 42 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2021 BUSINESS EVENT www.aftermarketonline.net IAAF CONFERENCE 2020 At the end of the year no one predicted, the IAAF Conference 2020 provided a window on the world that could come next... sector, to co-ordinate our lobbying efforts to best effect. We did have some success on the cancellation of the MOT exemption. Introduced the early weeks of the lockdown, this decision caused the biggest disruption to our sector. However, with 30% of vehicles failing their first MOT, this is an area of critical importance. At the lowest point in April, just 15% of vehicles were getting their MOT, but the situation has improved. The sector has really pulled together this autumn to get all the cars that took advantage of the exemption through. The next challenge will come in Q2 next year, when the industry will face sluggish demand, and that will unfortunately be with us for several years. Fortunately, the DVSA has been really supportive throughout. “Other lobbying successes also The next challenge will come Q2, when the industry will face sluggish demand ”