WTW / CONFUSED.COMCAR INSURANCE PREMIUMSDOWN 5% (£54) TO £941 AVERAGECar insurance premiums have fallenfor 昀椀rst time in more than two years toan average £941, £54 less than threemonths ago, indicating prices might bestarting to fall for the 昀椀rst time since aworldwide surge in in昀氀ation began inmid-2021.GARAGE OWNER JAILED FOR 12 MONTHS"FOR DANGEROUS CAR REPAIR"A Warrington garage owner was jailedfor 12 months "for dangerous carrepair" following a Trading Standardsinvestigation.Lee Hill, 45, owner of PerformanceNorthwest Ltd in Warrington wassentenced to 12 months in prisonfollowing an investigation conductedby the council’s trading standardsservice.In August 2022, a consumer took hercar to Lee Hill’s garage for repair wherehe agreed to 昀椀t a new exhaust to hercar for £1,500. The consumer collectedthe vehicle and two weeks later sheembarked on a 200-mile journey.However, while travelling, she noticedwhat she thought was steam comingfrom the rear of the vehicle. As shepulled in at a motorway servicestation, she saw fuel pouring out fromunderneath her car.When a breakdown recovery mechanicexamined the car, they advised thatthe exhaust was positioned to rundirectly underneath the fuel tank, andthe heat had melted a six-inch holein the plastic tank. Lee Hill agreed torepair the exhaust and replace the fueltank with a new one. However, despitecon昀椀rming to the consumer that theworks involved 昀椀tting a new fuel tank,he only repaired the old one.BODYSHOP GROUP NEWSIn March, Steer Automotive acquiredsix of iRG's 12 sites, three in SouthWales (Whitland, Carmarthanshire;Swansea and Pontypridd (a prestigesite), and three in England (Bristol(prestige); Birmingham (KingsNorton) and Wolverhampton. iRGhave kept six sites.Gemini Accident Repair Centresopened a new bodyshop inBarnstaple, Gemini’s 35th site.FMG Repair Services con昀椀rmedbodyshop site number 66, inthe Greater Manchester town ofChadderton.Veetec Motor Group opened a newstate of the art accident repair centrein Hayes, West London, to replaceVeetec's previous Hayes bodyshop.In Northern Ireland Charles Hurstcon昀椀rmed it would become theDumurry branch of Wrights ARC.Three new Fix Auto UK sites wereadded in East Anglia: BressinghamCar Bodyshop became Fix AutoDiss; Autodoc joins as Fix Auto WestNorwich, and Red Rocket ARC isnow Fix Auto Great Yarmouth.The Vella Group has acquired twoAxiom Accident Repair Centres(Peterborough and Daventry) takingthe Vella Group to 14 bodyshops.The Vella Group is the 11th largestindependent bodyshop group,according to ABP Yearbook 昀椀gures.And Komoo opened theGroup’s16th bodyshop. The newRugby site is the 昀椀rst location in theMidlands for Komoo.Kudos Bodyworks opened a secondbodyshop, a new site in Biggin Hill,Bromley.www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor | SPRING 2024 | THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL11
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