Editor’s comment: Media respresentation of workshops

19 August 2014  

A few weeks ago I wrote about media representation of the independent sector. I concentrated on the mainstream media back then but yesterday I read a tweet from a well-known consumer motoring magazine which linked to a story with no balance.

I was planning on writing about the proposed scrappage scheme for Diesel vehicles, which I will instead talk about next week. Now I find myself annoyed that another area of the media machine seems to forget that good independent workshops exist.

The tweet simply said ‘clampdown on cowboy mechanics, should there be licensing for incompetent car mechanics?’ The story on the website goes on to say that the magazine has discovered that unskilled mechanics are free to set up shop and repair cars without any training. Quite why it has taken them so long to discover what the rest of us already knew is beyond me. The story makes mention of the National Franchised Dealer Association, yet nowhere is there any mention of a body representing the views of the independents. It does however mention several times the phrase ‘unlicensed and poorly trained mechanics.’ It also goes on to highlight how VW technology may not be recognised by an untrained technician.

To anyone reading this story, it makes lots of mention of dealers and manufacturers while nowhere stating that there are independent workshops that do as good if not a better job while being trained on the latest technologies. The same day the IMI released a story calling on the government to implement licencing. Their release included its wishes for the independent sector to be a part of regulation.

For me, reading the story online left me wanting to bang my head against a brick wall. It read completely one-sided without discussing any of the independents. It saddens me both as a journalist and as a member of the industry that standards like this still exist.

I, like 81% of respondents to our Round Table survey, believe that licensing should exist in the industry. However a story that is written to scare the general public will not do much to help the belief that the industry wants it too. If both independents and dealers want a scheme in place, that is a much more positive story.