MVDA

MVDA

Tuesday 17 February 2015

EBAY CATCHES UP WITH NEW SCRAP METAL DEALER LAW

Breakers Licence SR#

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Dear Motor Salvage Operator

Thank you for your e-Mail in relation to your “breakers licence”.

The reason we now have requested this information is that last year eBay was made aware that all sellers who fit a certain criteria as outlined by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 must obtain a Motor Salvage Operators Licence.

It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that the items that appear on our website are compliant with this act where we can.

eBay’s main aim in this practice is to ensure all items that are sold are fit and proper for use and that we do not have sellers selling items that they should not be.

You can find the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 at the following link http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/10/contents.

I can see you have already provided your document and your acount is currently listing items, this e-Mail is stricty infrmational.

I hope you find this information helpful and if you need any further information, please feel free to contact us again.

eBay Trust & Safety

GUILTY VERDICT FOR ILLEGAL PART WORN TYRE SELLER

A Lincolnshire part worn tyre retailer faces up to 12 months in prison along with a £20,000 fine after being found guilty of supplying unsafe part worn tyres to the public.
 
After just one hour’s deliberation, the jury at Lincoln Crown Court unanimously found defendant Luke McKenzie, trading as Moss Tyres in Grantham, guilty on 16 accounts of being in possession to supply dangerous products, namely unsafe part worn tyres, to consumers.
 
Mr McKenzie also pleaded guilty on two other accounts – one account of supplying a spare tyre of the incorrect size during a Trading Standards test purchase operation; and one account of providing false information stating that that tyres fitted by the business had been balanced when they had not.

The MVDA produced a member guide on Part Worn Tyres - contact the office if you don't have a copy

Monday 9 February 2015

TOYOTA MOTOR EUROPE WANTS ITS BATTERIES BACK



With 91% of its hybrid batteries being successfully collected through its own retail network, Toyota Motor Europe (TME) is now extending collection to independent end-of-life vehicle (ELV) treatment operators.

TME aims to collect 100% of Toyota and Lexus customers’ used hybrid batteries, both through its own network and any authorised ELV operator across Europe.
 
As part of its plans to realise this ambitious objective, TME has extended until March 31, 2018 the current battery recycling agreements with France-based Société Nouvelle d’Affinage des Métaux (SNAM) and Belgium-based Umicore N.V., responsible for the European-wide take back and sustainable recycling of nickel-metal hydride (NiMh) and Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, respectively .

Hybrid batteries can often outlast the vehicle life. These are therefore usually only recovered at the end of the vehicle life or in case of an accident. TME has built up years of experience running an internal collection process with Toyota and Lexus retailers/repairers through a reverse logistics mechanism. Toyota and Lexus dealers receive a new hybrid battery in return for giving back the old one, leading to an average 91% collection rate.

Now TME is stepping up efforts to drastically increase the volumes of collected used hybrid batteries. It has set the challenging target of aiming to collect 100% of the batteries, coming from both its own network and from any authorised ELV treatment operators across the whole of Europe.

Currently used hybrid batteries are still mainly destined for recycling but TME has started to research the different options for the remanufacturing of NiMh batteries. Solutions include giving those batteries a second life as vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-stationary energy sources.

Since 2000, around 850,000 Toyota and Lexus full hybrid vehicles have been sold in Europe.

Friday 6 February 2015

COUPLE THAT SOLD REPAIRED CAT B SALVAGE INVOLVED IN TRIPLE DEATH CRASH AVOID JAIL


As part of the process of abolishing the VIC scheme, the Department for Transport is considering what needs to be done to protect consumers from fraudulent sales of repaired insurance write-offs.  And whether certain types of salvage should ever be repaired.

The report below, obtained from local media sources, highlights a horrific example of what can go wrong when insurers loose control of their salvage.  Data obtained from the VIC scheme has already confirmed that many category B vehicles are repaired.  There is also a significant trade in the export of category B vehicles, almost certainly for repair overseas, but they are openly traded on public auction sites in the UK

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In June 2013, teenager Rebecca Learoyd & her best friend Megan Robinson were driving a repaired insurance ‘category B’ Fiat 500 when it hit a Citroen Xsara, killing both of them & the driver of the Citroen, Anne Peachey.
The survivor of a triple fatal crash, Mrs Peachey’s daughter Joanne, who was seriously injured in the crash, spoke of her dismay after the couple that sold the Fiat 500 were given only suspended prison sentences at Durham Crown Court after admitting fraud.  They maintained their innocence right up to the last minute.

She said: “We are disappointed it was a suspended sentence. They are only sorry because they have been caught.”
It emerged during the investigation that Ralph Brown and Anne Stidwell bought two ‘category B’ write-off Fiats, both of which were so badly damaged they should have been crushed after spare parts were removed, in 2012 from a well known insurance company. Instead they were repaired to a “poor quality”.

Amazingly, there is nothing to prevent badly damaged write-offs being repaired and there is no system in the UK for checking the quality of repaired vehicles.

Brown & Stidwell then fraudulently sold the Fiat 500 driven by Rebecca – falsely claiming that the vehicle had belonged to their daughter & was in ‘mint condition’. But they had actually purchased the vehicle for £1366 from an insurance internet auction.  They then sold it for £4850.  The other Fiat had also been sold for £5350.

Simon Reevell, prosecuting, said Brown and Stidwell ran a business buying damaged cars from insurance companies and repairing them and reselling them through their company website. 

Passing sentence Judge Christopher Prince said: “This was sophisticated offending by each of you. “These people trusted you and believed you to be private sellers on behalf of your daughter.” 

Sidwell was sentenced to ten months imprisonment and Brown to eight months, each suspended for two years.  They were each also ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and pay £1,100 in costs.

Tuesday 3 February 2015

BBC1 INSIDE OUT NORTH WEST: INSURANCE WRITE-OFFS





In case you missed it, last night’s programme can be viewed on line at:


Highlights the ease with which category B vehicles can be purchased on-line by the general public.

I think we all agree its about time something was done by Government, the insurers & fleet/ lease companies to put a stop to this. Cat B means 'destroy'.  End of!

Monday 2 February 2015

CARS IN THE UK ARE GETTING OLDER

A report produced by SMMT has highlighted that the UK vehicle population continues to grow, with there now being 32 million cars on the road in the UK.  They say that the continuing increase has been due to buoyant new car sales and fewer cars being scrapped.
SMMT reported that the number of cars older than 12 years rose by over 10% in just 2013 – an increase of over 2 million from the previous year’s survey.  In fact, during the last 10 years the average age of a car in the UK has risen from 7 years old to 8 years old.  This is probably due to a combination of factors such as the state of the economy (people holding on to cars for longer) & the increasing reliability and durability of more modern vehicles (improved bodywork corrosion resistance, mechanical parts lasting longer).  It is also possible that a greater uptake in manufacturer credit deals linked to longer warranty periods & scheduled servicing programmes, has contributed.
It is interesting to note that the SMMT figures suggest that in 2012 about 1.9 million cars were scrapped in the UK, but in 2013 this fell to less than 1.8 million. This is in stark contrast to the number of Certificates of Destruction that were issued in those years, suggesting that huge numbers of cars - 600,000 per year – are simply disappearing.
In terms of the vehicle brands being purchased by UK motorists, Ford retains the top spot, taking both 1st & 2nd position with the Focus & Fiesta models. 
 
Make
Model
Total on UK roads
Ford
Focus
1,462,735
Ford
Fiesta
1,423,254
Vauxhall
Corsa
1,246,650
Vauxhall
Astra
1,188,385
Volkswagen
Golf
998,645
Renault
Clio
680,890
Volkswagen
Polo
625,144
Ford
Mondeo
562,948
Peugeot
206
520,562
Renault
Megane
480,498