ISN Garage Assist Blog

Biggest Challenges Faced By Workshops In 2021 RevealedA nationwide survey of garages and workshops by the Motor Ombudsman has named staff shortages as the most significant challenge faced by the industry over the past year.67% of respondents felt that the biggest obstacle of 2021 was simply finding enough mechanics and MOT testers to keep up with customer demand. This was due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected 50% of the garages surveyed. Employees self-isolating compounded the staffing shortfall, and MOT testing demand rose sharply following the six-month exemption put in place the previous year, making it even harder to...

2030 might seem a while away, but before too long it’ll be upon us - and all of the brand-new petrol and diesel models we’re so used to seeing in 2022 will disappear from new car showrooms for good. This obviously has serious implications for the car manufacturing industry (and for supplying dealerships), but what about the nation’s independent garages and workshops? How will they cope - and will it actually affect their day-to-day operations much? Staff shortages The first potential bump in the road for independent garages is manpower (or lack thereof). A recent study by the Motor Ombudsman indicated...

The RAC delivered troubling news for motorists recently when it published statistics on pothole-related callouts.According to the figures, the third quarter of 2021 was the worst in 15 years for pothole-induced damage.From July to September last year, the company responded to 1,810 breakdown callouts for broken springs, bent or cracked wheels and damaged dampers. Those callouts represented 1.2% of the total during that period - significantly higher than normal.The organisation’s Pothole Index has been tracking these breakdowns since 2006. According to this data, today, drivers are 1.5 times more likely to experience a pothole-related breakdown than in 2006.What does this mean...

It’s a busy life!Here at ISN Garage Assist we enjoy nothing more than helping our customers, and our alignment and ADAS specialists have been busier than ever in recent weeks. Here’s a round-up of some of our latest installations.First up we installed an Ssence 600 HD wheel aligner, along with a Geolift 4200 4 post lift at the Global Motoring Hub, who work with private collectors buying, selling and sourcing high performance and classic cars.They also offer a Bodyshop repair service to the public and used to outsource their alignment jobs but it was costing too much time and money. Now,...

Garage equipment is a significant investment for any business. From vehicle lifts to wheel alignment machines and tyre changers, kitting your garage out with the tools you need to complete a variety of jobs isn’t cheap.With that in mind, it’s vital to maintain all of your machinery and tools correctly to avoid having to replace them prematurely. This can be a time-consuming and challenging process in itself, especially when you’re trying to tackle customers’ work at the same time. Avoiding downtime is of course a priority, as this can be detrimental to both your company’s bottom line and its reputation.That’s why...

Everyone has been through the mill over the past 18 months - whether it has been a business folding, furloughing staff or equipment breakdowns, you name it, someone has had to deal with a huge amount of stress to get to where they are today. However, as we emerge from the pandemic, it is great to see so many success stories, including those from the DVSA’s fourth annual review released last month. The published document celebrates the ‘Beat the Rush’ campaign set out last Autumn, to encourage vehicle owners to bring forward their MOT test to spread the demand for MOT...

When you’ve invested in the necessary equipment crucial to the smooth running and productivity of your business, it is imperative that these valuable resources are maintained and cared for to ensure peak performance, reduce the chance of unnecessary breakdowns, and meet increasingly stringent criteria from insurance companies.A garage equipment care plan with ISN Garage Assist will minimise the risk of disruption to your business, keeping your workshop running efficiently.Our care plans can be bought at the time of initial purchase, on installation of a new machine, or within the first six months of purchase. From that point you can leave the...

This is a genuine problem the automotive industry currently faces and the battery life of Electric Vehicles (EVs) has been in the spotlight over the last couple of months, as this is one of the main reasons there is a lack of consumer confidence. Electric cars are still relatively new and everyone is just starting to find out a little bit more of what to expect from them in the future. However, it isn’t just consumers that have potential issues about the longevity of EVs. Automotive professionals from garage owners to mechanics, and even parliamentary personnel, have all been raising concerns...

Have you ever wondered either of the following after an MOT test on your vehicle: How on Earth did my car pass that MOT?Why haven’t I got any advisories?Did the garage even test my car? There are only two reasonable explanations; you caught the MOT tester on a good day, or the MOT station is renowned for passing vehicles that should have failed. The likelihood is it is probably the latter. In fact, a recent investigation by the DVSA found that testing stations across the UK are passing 1 in 7 vehicles that should have failed their MOT – that's 13.58%...

Vehicles are driven just 4% each day in EnglandCars and vans spend 73% of their time parked at homeOn average, vehicles in England are driven just one hour a day These are the figures found in analysis by the RAC Foundation, stating that cars and vans spend more time parked on their drives than out on the UK roads. Steve Gooding, RAC Foundation director, said: “The average car is driven just one hour out of every 24, a proportion that is almost the same as it was back in 1995. “However, this lack of use does have one silver lining. “It...

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the average age of cars on UK roads is now the highest on record at 8.4 years. But is this a surprise? Not really. – 2020 saw car showrooms closed and customers unable to leave the comfort of their own homes for large periods of the year. The lack of new vehicle registrations was bound to have an impact on the average age of cars in the UK, in fact it was inevitable! Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “With the pandemic putting the brakes on new vehicle uptake in 2020,...

Earlier in the year, Kwik Fit conducted research that found 17.7 million drivers in the UK (a 15% increase since 2018) would be interested in paying a monthly subscription fee for ongoing maintenance for their vehicle. Due to their findings, the company announced the introduction of a pilot scheme in Yorkshire and the North West, which if successful, will be fully rolled out to the entire UK in the summer of this year. The new Kwik Fit Club subscription claims to help motorists spread the cost of service and maintenance costs throughout the year. Unsurprisingly, the concept is especially attractive to...

Have you ever thought that your vehicle should have passed its MOT test?Did you know that the DVSA investigated over 2,057 fraud reports in 2020?Did you know that as a result, 156 garages and 335 employees were stopped from testing? Fraud within the MOT sector is more common than originally thought, and the numbers seem to be rising each year. People can report a garage or tester if they believe MOT certificates are being given to vehicles which should have failed or have not been tested, or certificates are being issued for bribes or for failing vehicles unnecessarily to generate work....

ADAS has been a constant source of development over the past few years and due to the recent announcement on Automated Lane Keeping Assistance (ALKS), it seems there are no signs of it slowing down. The government has announced that self-driving cars could be allowed on UK motorways by the end of 2021, with the Department for Transport confirming that ALKS will be the first type of hands-free driving to be legalised, with speeds limited to 37mph. Before ALKS will be allowed to grace the UK roads however, these systems must meet four non-negotiable criteria: Without causing an incident, the vehicle...

As expected, due to the restrictions in place at the time, first quarter vehicle sales in 2021 were a flop, decreasing 8.9% compared to 2020; however, an encouraging bounce back in April 2021 saw new car registrations increase by 3177% compared to last year. Excellent work! This upward trajectory is predicted to continue throughout this Spring, meaning the end of year figures for new car registrations will be in a much better position than originally thought back in February. Across the UK, more and more vehicle owners are taking to the roads again, now that restrictions are lifting. And the increase...

For many independent garage owners, ADAS can appear a quite daunting technological advance. But in reality, it’s little more than a camera system, often mounted in the windscreen, monitoring short to medium range activities such as changing speed limits, or white lines; and a radar system, located in the front grill area, managing active cruise control and emergency braking systems. If, for example, a frontal impact misaligns the radar unit, or the camera is slightly repositioned when a windscreen is replaced, it’s possible that the ADAS systems won’t work correctly. This is where ADAS alignment systems come in and, it’s where...

As a leading provider of garage services across the UK automotive industry, it was imperative that, at ISN Garage Assist, we sourced the right service platform to meet our every requirement while offering tremendous benefits to our clients. By ensuring we had every base covered with a new system, our expert engineers & area controllers would be able to make our services more streamline – our top priority is you! So, what direction did we take? Introducing Protean... We moved to our brand-new Protean system in 2019, due to the limitations we were experiencing with our previous system which was preventing...

Over the years, our range has continued to develop into one of the most comprehensive offerings available in the UK market. In fact, Hofmann Megaplan have one of the largest choices of alignment and balancing products the industry has to offer. Last year, the company invested in a further 20,000sqft of warehousing to be able to accommodate an expansion of the range; an expansion that saw several new wheel alignment products added and an increase in the availability of the product that cemented our popularity across the industry and is still to this day our best-selling line – wheel balancers. One...

The rate at which UK cars that have missed their MOT by more than three weeks is becoming increasingly alarming. During the last six months that number has tripled, and it could be in relation to the MOT exemption period, which was in place during 2020. Initially discovered by Kwik-Fit, the flexibility offered to vehicle owners last April has caused some confusion for motorists in keeping their MOT up to date. The national fast-fit operation’s latest MOT data found that one-in-eleven drivers (9%) booking their MOT test in the last six months, only did so three or more weeks after their...

ADAS has become a bit of Buzz word in the motor industry recently but, in reality, we’ve all been living with various forms of it for many years. From Anti-lock braking (ABS) and electronic stability programs (ESP) to adaptive cruise control using radar technology, our vehicles have been silently assisting us to enjoy a safer driving experience for years. So, what’s new about ADAS then? ADAS Technology in 2021... ADAS is not new, it’s the way it’s been integrated with other systems in vehicles to take safety and comfort for drivers and other road users to another level that’s the interesting...