Toronto, Ontario — November 24, 2016 — This week’s Friday Fun looks at a Maaco shop owner who stepped up to help a family with a vandalized vehicle, how cars are becoming too big for parking spaces, the launch of a new luxury car brand and much, much more!
– A collision repair shop in Massachusetts stepped up and helped out a local family that had “Trump” and “Go Home” keyed into their car. According to a report by local TV station KPAX, the family lived on a “normally quiet street and they said that they’ve never had any issues since they moved to town five years ago.”
Manny Guzman is the owner of a local Maaco shop. When he saw a story about the incident, he offered his services and fixed the car for free. According to Jorge Santiago, the father of the family, they are the only minority family living on their street. He’s also a US Army veteran.
“I served 14 years. We’re US citizens and we didn’t expect this to happen in our backyard,” said Santiago.
– A report in the UK finds that family cars are becoming too big for parking spaces. Stats from automakers show that the average size of vehicles is expanding. This has caused a huge spike in scrapes and accidents. According to The Telegraph, “Over the past 15 years popular hatchback models have increased in size by 16 percent on average, while giant 4×4 models such as Range Rovers have also surged in popularity … The number of car park crashes soared by 35 percent over the past two years, leading experts to warn that standard parking spaces are no longer big enough to accommodate this new, chunkier breed of automobile.”
The story goes on to say that there are more than, “… 675,000 car parking collisions and scrapes each year – or 1,859 a day – which cost drivers a total of £1.4 billion … The average parking space is just 4.8 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, making it more than just a tight squeeze for many popular cars … Range Rover and Audi Q7 models, for example, measure five metres long and are more than two metres wide.” An added challenge are the “pillars and tight ramps in multi-storey car parks, manoeuvring larger vehicles is now making some car parks ‘no-go’ areas for Britain’s motorists.”
– A story in Automotive News notes that a committee of auto and insurance executives and collision repair providers is working on a draft of a set of common terms for “Alt-OE” parts. Also known as Opt-OE, these are “supposedly genuine, new factory parts sold by distributors other than automakers through their franchised dealerships.” According to the story, “A big problem is that the industry lacks a standard definition of alt-OE.” The committee will be tasked with coming up with an answer.
– A new program in the Greater Toronto Area sees police officers riding on buses to catch people texting at the wheel. One officer rides the bus, scanning traffic. He then radios a nearby car when he sees someone talking on the phone. You can check it out in the player below.
– Toronto Mayor John Tory has long held a personal belief that road tolls are “highway robbery” but will now call for road tolls on the Don Valley and Gardiner Expressway. According to a report from CP24, “The city has been studying and debating road tolls – common in cities around the world – for years. But until now, Mr. Tory has been opposed or at least lukewarm. During his 2003 mayoral campaign against David Miller, he organized a roadside anti-toll protest when Mr. Miller mused about the idea. Earlier this year, as the city commissioned a study on tolling the two expressways, his office said in a statement it was not his ‘preferred’ policy.” Times change.
– A story on Repairer Driven News takes up the idea that dealerships are becoming more interested in the collision repair business. According to the story, “Dealerships are considering collision repair as a method of managing car sales slowdown and improving customer retention.” The article notes that dealership chain, AutoNation, “… will put all 70 auto body shops under its retail brand with plans to open or acquire at least 15 more free-standing repair centers within two years. Other dealerships describe strategies like affiliating with ABRA or CARSTAR … Because of factors like OEM certifications and access to dealership customer data, dealer shops might have advantages in the collision repair industry.”
– The issue of texting while driving is a big one these days. A letter to the Wall Street Journal this past week commented on a story about the rising rate of fatalities as a result of drivers texting at the wheel. According to Richard J. Chrystie from Orange, California, “Two weeks ago, I visited a friend’s large autobody repair facility. It was jammed with wrecked cars. I commented that it hadn’t rained in months, and asked what was causing all the crashes. He replied by putting his hands together in front of him and, motioning with his thumbs, said just one word, ‘texting.’”
– Also on the issue of safety: Someone in Toronto had some problems with their new winter tires last week on the 407 expressway, to the point where one of their tires actually came off. CTV has the video:
– A new luxury car brand launches in Canada next week. According to a story in the Globe and Mail the new company will do away with dealerships and offer “transparent pricing.” The new brand, Genesis, is the luxury offshoot of Hyundai. “Our learning experience from introducing the [Hyundai] Equus was that you can’t sell luxury products in a mainstream dealer,” says Michael Ricciuto, an exec in charge of launching the brand in Canada. According to the story, “At launch, there will be no Genesis dealers. Instead, sales will be conducted through the Genesis Canada website and facilitated by ‘Genesis at Home,’ a concierge service that sees a GXM (Genesis eXperience Manager) bring the cars to the customers.”
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| The Genesis G80. The brand launches in Canada next week. |
– FCA has announced this week it will partner with Amazon to sell cars online, “… at an additional discount.” Apparently, “… people [are] prepared to buy online and then pick the car up at a dealer. The sales process will involve buyers being contacted by Amazon to find a dealer for purchase finalisation and car pick up, which would take around two weeks from the online click to purchase … Automakers have long wrestled with putting more of the sales process online to remove cost, but it has proven difficult in the context of the entrenched traditional relationship between car buyer and dealer.”
– The Ontario government has announced that starting next April, drivers will no longer have to pay $30 to have emissions tested in their older cars under the Drive Clean program. When the fee was introduced 17 years ago it was criticized as a tax grab.
The Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) is still opposed to the testing, even if it is free. Frank Notte, Director of Government Relations for TADA, was quoted as saying, “It’s well past its best before date … We know 95 percent of cars on the road are going to pass. We know from the 2012 auditor general’s report that 75 percent reduction in emissions from vehicles had nothing to do with Drive Clean. It was due to cleaner fuel and better manufacturing standards.”
