Will Rimell

Randstad has announced 2014 will be the first year of the TerraClean Awards at its recent industry conference. It will consist of 15 categories, including Best TerraClean Technician of the Year, Best Mystery Shop and Best Magazine Article, as well as the headline award of Overall Service Centre of the Year, where the winner will receive a holiday for two to Canada, the home of TerraClean

CatLoc has selected Kwik Fit and Halfords Autocentres as their new fitting partners as it looks make its protection devices more accessible to motorists. The deal will see the two nationwide chains, with more than 900 fast fit branches between them, sell and fit the catalytic converter and diesel particulate filter protection solutions

The aftermarket needs to be in a position to take advantage of the expected growth of the cabin air filter market, says Sogefi. The aftermarket giant says it is the only sector in the European filtration market that has continued to grow and has seen increases in excess of 10 percent

Groupauto and its approved garage scheme have increased their exposure by sponsoring the Power Maxed Racing team in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC)

The Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation aims to open the minds of hauliers and fleet operators to the benefits of using the aftermarket. It will explain how the aftermarket can support the CV sector with replacement parts, technical support and diagnostics, during the upcoming Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham

Details on the extra grants announced in the budget for businesses recruiting apprentices have been released. An extra £170 million is being made available for Apprenticeship Grants for Employers (AGE) in total, half for 2014-2015 and the remainder for the following year

Metropolitan Police figures on catalytic converter thefts indicate no vehicle is safe, have given the aftermarket an opportunity to target sales and boost its revenue. CatLoc has received a Freedom of Information report from the Met on thefts of cats over the last four years in London up to June 2013

California firm Green Automotive Company (GAC) has snapped up Transhock Ltd in a bid to increase its range of remanufactured parts for electric vehicles. The West Midlands based remanufacturer and distributor was acquired after recording revenues in excess of $7 million in the last financial year. GAC says the deal will extend and develop its remanufactured parts offering, especially as it is focussing on battery technology for electric vehicles

A group of bearing manufacturers including NTN, Schaeffler and SKF have been fined a total of nearly €1 billion for operating a cartel. The European Commission handed out the fines to the companies as they ‘colluded to secretly coordinate their pricing strategy vis-à-vis automotive customers for more than seven years, from April 2004 until July 2011, in the whole European Economic Area.’

John Genge on how get around a miserly bank manager and find finance. This is a question that I am asked a lot. It seems that when you don’t need money, banks are throwing it at you but when you are desperate, they don’t want to know. Is this a simplification of the real situation, and can we adopt other tactics to present a better case to our bank?