| Headlines |
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| Bodyshop offers its condolences 01.02.10 |
| It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden and untimely passing of Bill Dredge at the age of 68 on Friday 22 January. |
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| Support National Apprenticeship Week, say IMI 01.02.10 |
| The third annual National Apprenticeship Week takes place from Monday 1 February to Friday 5 February 2010. The week, which is organised by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), will celebrate the talents and skills of apprentices and recognise the essential role that apprenticeships are playing in today’s business. |
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| FPB calls for retirement age freeze 01.02.10 |
| The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has called for plans to scrap the default retirement age to be shelved after the government proposed removing an employer’s option to retire workers when they reach 65, claiming the change will prevent an anticipated skills shortage. |
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| Downing Street approves petition 02.02.10 |
| FORMER PANEL TECHNICIAN Andrew Moody, who now runs the Cambridgeshire-based legal firm Retail Motor Law (RML), has had a petition on anti-steering legislation approved by the Number 10 web team. |
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| Cutting the cost of your car insurance can be easy 03.02.10 |
| An news story from the BBC by Peter Lawton, Consumer editor of What Car?
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| ABP Club prioritises bodyshop members concerns 03.02.10 |
| The Auto Body Professionals (ABP) Club has identified key issues affecting bodyshop businesses for 2010 at a recent Standards and Strategy Board (SSB) meeting, which comprised a cross-section of some of the UK’s leading bodyshop businesses. |
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| Toyota says UK repairs will not start until 10 February 04.02.10 |
| Toyota UK says it will be nearly a week before it can start repairs on cars with defective accelerator pedals. |
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| One more month for scrappage scheme 04.02.10 |
| The scrappage scheme, due to finish in February, will now run until the end of March, although no extra funds will be provided by the government, who said that the extension would give manufacturers and dealers 'more time to prepare for and operate the exit phase of the scheme'. |
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| Five Star conference announcement due 05.02.10 |
| DuPont Refinish Five Star is holding its conference on 4th March at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire where 'vital' announcements will be made on the future of the group. |
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| Technical e-bulletin brings greater support to customers 09.02.10 |
| Audatex UK, is launching Audatex Update, a technical e-bulletin for customers, especially insurance engineers and vehicle damage assessors who may not have access to the latest website updates. |
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| WNS reprises bodyshop 'Oscars' 09.02.10 |
| WNS Assistance is to hold its bodyshop 'Oscars' awards ceremony for a third year following last year’s successful repeat in which repairers from the Midlands, South of England and Scotland won the top prizes. |
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| Kitemark.com turns one 10.02.10 |
| Kitemark.com has received over 41,000 visitors and over 206,000 page views, since it was launched a year ago. |
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| Punto drivers have the horn 11.02.10 |
| The Fiat Punto’s car horn has the beep that causes most stress to motorists, according to new findings out today from AXA Insurance. |
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| Public lack trusts in mechanics, survey reveals 11.02.10 |
| New research into attitudes towards tradespeople has revealed that just three per cent of the public would consider mechanics to be the most trusted tradespeople. The research found that car salespeople are the least-trusted tradespeople. |
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| Insurance costs on the rise 16.02.10 |
| The average cost of the cheapest quote rose by 12.7% in 2009 with most of the increases coming in the second half of the year, according to Confused.com. Prices rose by 6.3% in the fourth quarter alone. As a result, the cost of the average policy has risen from £450 at the end of 2008 to £507 at the end of 2009. |
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| Most drivers would own up to accidental damage 16.02.10 |
| Research by car review website RoadTestReports.co.uk has revealed that 61 per cent of drivers would own up to damaging someone else’s car, even if no one was around to witness the accident. |
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| Rising through the ranks 22.02.10 |
| Manager of Hull’s two Just Car Clinics sites, John Pattinson has been promoted to Regional Manager, now responsible for six sites in York, Scarborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and two sites in Hull. |
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| Call Zebra repairer of the month 22.02.10 |
| Call Zebra is kick-starting 2010 with a new monthly award initiative for U&I network members. |
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| One million cars could be resurrected - Bluecycle 23.02.10 |
| Bluecycle claims that up to a million vehicles a year that are taken off the road are avoiding destruction illegally, due to insufficient resources available to enforce European legislation governing their recycling. |
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| End is nigh for scrappage scheme 23.02.10 |
| The Scrappage Scheme has entered its final stage of the programme. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) today announced that vehicle manufacturers have been allocated a proportion of the remaining scrappage allocation at a level influenced by their private car sales volume between May and December 2009. |
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| £3.6bn loss and 90% drop in profit for RBS 25.02.10 |
| Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced losses for 2009 of £3.6bn after struggling with bad loans. However, the bank is set to reward its employees £1.3bn of bonuses. |
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| RSA struggles in ‘tough’ UK 25.02.10 |
| RSA has announced that 2009 net written premiums were up 4% but operating profit was down 10%, pre-tax profit down 27% and profit after tax down 28%. |
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| Insurance claims higher amongst younger vehicles 25.02.10 |
| Research from car insurance comparison site Confused.com suggests that five-year-old vehicles are the most liable for UK car insurance claims. A surprising 40% of UK car insurance claims are received from owners of vehicles aged between three to six years old. |
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| Two new training courses from Audatex 25.02.10 |
| Audatex UK has announced the launch of two new training courses for field-based and internal motor engineers responsible for vehicle damage assessment and authorisation. |
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| Top grades for Skillnet 26.02.10 |
| SKILLNET HAS ACHIEVED the highest Ofsted grade ever, grade one, for a private training provider in six inspection categories in the automotive sector, something that has not yet been achieved by a private provider in the motor industry. |
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| Further rises for premiums 26.02.10 |
| CAR INSURANCE PREMIUMS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE in 2010 due to a number of different factors affecting the insurance market, including a rise in third party claims costs, fraud and bodily injury frequency. |
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