www.aftermarketonline.net APRIL 2023 AFTERMARKET 3 CONTENTS BUSINESS 8 Big issue: Cost of working crisis? 14 Car ownership: From most to lease? 16 Filtering out the noise 18 EV charging trends 20 International Women’s day TOP TECHNICIAN/TOP GARAGE 22 Running against the clock 24 Snap-on: Training and skills development TECHNICAL 26 Aftermarket of the future 28 Frank Massey: A month in the life 30 Neil Currie: Demystifying misfires 34 Andrew Marsh: Tale of the UK market 36 Repairify: Remote diagnostics IN FOCUS 38 Wheel and body alignment 42 ADAS 46 Steering and suspension 52 Rotating electrics PLUS... 54 Competition/General products 56 On the road: SMP Europe 58 Garage visit: John Hall 60 EVs and hybrids 62 Training update 64 Recruitment 66 Teabreak THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO “HMM…” Editor | Alex Wells alex@aftermarket.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 345 Managing Director | Ryan Fuller ryan.fuller@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Contributors Jordan Brompton | Neil Currie | Rick Farrell | Neil Kennett | Andrew Marsh | Frank Massey | Martin Pinnell-Brown Operations Manager | Emma Floyd emma.floyd@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Marketing Executive | Hope Jepson hope.jepson@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 371081 Finance Department accounts@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Chief Executive | Ian Atkinson ian.atkinson@dfamedia.co.uk | +44 (0) 1732 370 340 Published by | DFA Aftermarket Media Ltd 192 High Street, Tonbridge, Kent, TN9 1BE Alex Wells, Editor Average net circulation July 2021 to June 2022 19,073 @aftermarketmagazine @aftermarket01 @aftermarketmagazine ISSN 2516-9149 Aftermarket is published 10 times a year and is sent free of charge to applicants meeting the publisher’s criteria. All others may subscribe at £60 per anum, £120 Europe and £150 rest of the world. While every care is taken to provide accurate information, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or ommisions, no matter how caused. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher. The views of contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Copyright: DFA Media Group 2023. Sensors were foremost on my mind lately. SMP Europe recently threw the doors open at its Nottinghamshire base where it does both R&D and manufacturing. It was fascinating to see all the work that goes into the various parts. Actually, humbling was more like it. They spend hundreds of work hours producing these incredible pieces of technology, and when they announce the latest item they are releasing, I will give it the equivalent of 1/27th worth of a 200-word product story that I hide away next to the competition on page 55. The same goes for all other parts makers. What they do is amazing. If only someone would open a magazine that talks about this sort of thing…oh hang on… Anyway, my point is “astonishing things are all around us” and “maintain your sense of child-like wonder” and so on. That, and turn to pages 56-57 for the full visit write-up. So, after being shown what goes on behind the scenes at SMP Europe, I hit the road to head back down south. The drive was pretty uneventful, until about 5pm when on the M25 doing about 2mph the road seemed to hit me back. Out of nowhere, the ABS started doing that off-putting ‘brake-pedal-pushes-back-at-you’ thing and then the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. I had about seven warning lights suddenly come on at once – including ABS and TPMS and I was even getting the steering column warning. Several were apparently so serious the general idea was to stop driving RIGHT NOW! To be honest, I was a little suspicious. If one or two lights came on together with no warning, I would be worried. However, seven? Does that seem likely? I took the hint anyway, went to the Cobham services and parked. As my car was apparently now a death trap, I made a few calls to cancel the next day’s appointments. Then, because it was after 5pm, I went online to book my car in with my local independent garage, because let’s be honest, if I took it to a franchised dealer with that many lights flared up at once they would be so surprised, they would probably accuse my VW of being a witch. Having shook the steering column just to be sure, and then made a visual inspection on the rest of the car and found absolutely nothing wrong, I crossed my fingers and got back on the road to Brighton. Do you know what happened next? Oh, I bet you do. Yes, within about 10 minutes all the warning lights winked out. It was oddly apt following the SMP Europe visit, and I bet if it had been their sensors, it would not have happened. I left it a few days just to be sure, and then went back on BookMyGarage to cancel the appointment. Speaking of BookMyGarage, they are the latest big name to sign up as Full Event Partners for Top Technician and Top Garage 2023, and you can find out more about that in News on pages 4-7. By the time you are reading this, the opening round for Top Technician should have just closed. If you are lucky though and got your April issue early, while also liking to live dangerously by not having entered yet (shame on you), there might just still be time to take part. If Top Garage is your game, you have until the end of the month, but don’t dilly-dally; Head to page 22 now to find out more. Enjoy!
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