It only seems like a short time since we announced the winners of the CAT Awards 2012. This year's awards entrants presented the CAT website with quite a challenge, keeping up with the number of votes being cast!
We're already gearing up for the 2013 awards, will this year be your chance to shine?
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"About £40 is a fair rate for basic job, but it varies depending on how complicated the job is, as you are paying for the knowledge of the fitter.
Garages should be allowed to charge what they feel is fair price for an MOT, or offer a free retest, guess it depends if they think the car is going to fail or not, after all they could be getting paid to do the work it failed on.
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“Garages should be charging £40 to £50 per hour - they need to be considerably lower than the main dealers to encourage the public to show what a great service they provide.
That's what Federal Mogul's Jonathan Allen thinks, and he's not alone. But do you agree? See what other members of the CAT Council have to say on the subject of pricing and codes by following the links below.
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“This is a difficult question to answer and I’m sure no two people will give the same answer and reasons.
It is my belief a garage should charge in accordance with their technical expertise.
A garage capable of doing a simple job such as the fitting of a new coil spring may not have the expertise to diagnose a fault with an ABS system.
"We absolutely need compulsory licensing. Voluntary code membership is pointless if the bad guys out there keep making the press for the wrong reasons!" That's what ABP's Chris Meredith thinks about licensing. Do you agree?
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"The amount a garage should charge obviously depends on their location but here in Cheshire we’re in the £50 to £60 bracket. Interestingly our most expensive local dealer (BMW) charges £112 plus vat per hour!
The Federation of Automotive Remanufacturers has been launched by the FER in the hope of attracting members from the wider reman community, including those working on rotating electrics, brakes, suspension and other parts, and giving the industry a better voice
"73 percent of UK internet users are currently using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, can we afford not to get social?" That's what Mill Auto's Damian Milling thinks - do you agree? Click the links above to see what the rest of the CAT Council has to say.
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"I think the trade as a whole has been fairly slow to embrace social media and the internet but we are getting better! Most garages are very busy being garages and running businesses in what are very challenging times but ABP recently decided to get hooked up on both Twitter (ChrisABP) and on Facebook with very encouraging initial results.