The addition of the Embrace life video on YouTube which has already received in excess of 9.5 million views, is something that we cannot ignore and not bring to the attention of our valued clients.As we are all aware wearing a seat belt is law, however, sometimes for a variety of reasons people do not comply.

We feel that the emotion conveyed in this piece is striking but little, compared to what our families or ourselves would feel should we ignore this piece of legislation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM

In closing we at ooops! Wish you a safe journey but do protect yourself where you can.

It is illegal for your insurance company to tell you where to have your car repaired.

The Association of British Insurers wrote to the Office of Fair Trading and stated that all their members (that is every insurance company in Great Britain) had agreed to advise their clients (YOU!) that YOU have a right to go to the repairer of your choice.

The reality is, I think without exception, is that your insurance company attempts to coerce you into going to their “approved” repairer. This is someone that has done a deal with the insurance company to repair your car for an agreed amount for a promised volume of work. We will not be told by an insurance company how to repair your car, as we do it the correct way with skilled and trained individuals.

The “approved” repairer gives their individuals a “time saved” bonus; a bonus that encourages short cuts! They also use products that the insurance company insists they use, often inferior and cheaper to the best products that we use.

We have always paid our team a bonus based upon quality and experience you receive from us, this month we have introduced a score where you give us a quality score when you pick up your car, this then drives our bonus payments.

Due to this new measure, we believe this will ensure we can prove we carry out the highest quality repairs in Dorset. We look forward to your comments on this new scoring system when you next need to use us.

Meanwhile, we really appreciate you sending in your family, friends and colleagues when they have a little ooops! Another reason that unlike the insurance company’s “approved repairer” we can give a LIFETIME GUARANTEE.

There is now a perfectly professional group of companies that re-cycle and salvage parts from vehicle write offs. These parts when they are the same colour as your car will save you a fortune and we always advise of this option when you come to us for an estimate.

We believe that if we are honest with you and give you the best options for your car, you will trust us, knowing that we are doing the best for you, your vehicle and for the environment – this is our Green Goal.

Car Transplants is the founder of RecycAll, a 13-strong group of ATF’s (Automotive Treatment Facilities) that work in unison to supply green car parts to their networks. All the ATF’s are part of the NSA (National Salvage Association), which audits the ATF’s annually and members must work to EA (Environment Agency) standards in order to be considered for the network. Each member must be able to manifest traceability of every part, showing its previous history.

ooops.net limited also make no profit on the sale of these parts, nor do we on the sale of new parts whereas most body shops put a margin on parts supplied, we never have and include Green parts in this business model.

A re-cycled vehicle part is an undamaged part that has been removed from an end of life vehicle (ELV) and re-used.

There are a number of web-sites that you can visit to purchase these yourself and fit yourself if you so desire, they are:

www.trents.co.uk

www.findapart.com

Environmentally friendly

When we started the business in 2002 we wanted to be as environmentally friendly as possible and to that end invested in the latest spray booth that saved electricity and gas in vast quantities through the latest computerized systems.

We have also invested heavily in technology that can “cure” primer, paint and lacquer quicker, without any loss of quality such as infra red and ultra violet light. This saves gas and electricity and gives us a quicker repair time so that our client can have their vehicle back on the road same day in most cases or worse case, next day.

Where it is safe, we also wanted to repair instead of replace items like bumpers that are always getting scraped in car parks. The insurance companies have a policy of replacing a bumper (which on average is £800) whereas, we can repair and paint a whole bumper from £199 including V.A.T. and if it is just the corner, we can do this for just £ 159 including V.A.T.

Looking after the team

We passionately believe in looking after our team, everyone that has worked at ooops! for a year is offered FREE BUPA. All of our team are provided with FREE PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) and wear “Air Fed Masks” when painting. Our team have a FREE Health Check every year.This includes Lung Function, Skin care, Hearing and Urine checks. By monitoring our team annually, we know that we are doing our best to keep them fit and healthy. We also monitor the air quality in our spray booth on a regular basis.

The question for our clients is; do they care? Looking after our people is an investment and one that yields dividends in client care.

Does our competition take such strenuous efforts to look after their teams? Do they go “above and beyond” to look after their people? It is only when one’s people are looked after, that they can look after one’s client – this is what we believe, and our focus is looking after everyone that encounters us, manifesting one of our core values – Humanity.

Support for young people

We also support young people in the community, we always have an apprentice and send them to the pre-eminent centre of excellence that is Thatcham for their ATA NVQ 3 qualifications.

Paul is also an advisor and a Judge to Young Enterprise where school children form, trade and then close down their own companies over a school year to gain an appreciation of commerce.

Michelin's Airless Tyre: The Tweel

The first and possibly best example is Michelin’s Tweel. First announced in 2005, the Tweel derives it’s name from a combination the words “Tyre” and “Wheel” just as the Tweel itself is a combination of a Tyre and a Wheel, defying the normal wheel hub assembly. The Tweel consists of a solid inner hub which is connected to the axle. Surrounding this is a series of polyurethane spokes laid out in a wedge pattern. These act much in the same way as the air pressure in a normal tyre, absorbing the bumps and smoothing out the ride.

To give the tyre its shape and strength the spokes are secured with a shear band stretched across the outer layer of the spokes. By varying the tension of the band during the manufacturing process you can tweak the Tweel for better comfort or more responsive handling. It is this band that the tread is then attached to.

Advantages

The Tweel

The advantages of the Tweel are fairly obvious even from the first glance. The airless design eliminates the possibility of air leaks or blow outs at high speed for increased safety. And by taking the air pressure out of the equation you are left with more consistent and predictable economy and handling.

The flexible outer band increases the amount of surface area in contact with the road at any given time increasing the levels of grips. This would be particularly useful in off-road situations on rough terrain, and in use in the construction industry on uneven site surfaces.

Flaws

The Tweel is not without its flaws. From the offset, the design and manufacturing methods means they are not adjustable once they come out of the factory. So for better handling or better comfort you need to buy a whole new set of Tweels. An inconvenience, but not necessarily a deal breaker. Day to day most people will not find the need to alter their tyres once they have been optimised for every day road use.

What may be more of a nuisance is that at speeds in excess of 50 mph the Tweels vibrate very badly. This creates an awful lot of noise, which will be uncomfortable for passengers, as well as an awful lot of heat which could become an issue on long distance journeys.

The prototypes tyres are reporting to be yielding a one percent fuel economy against equivalent pneumatic tyres. Not good, but as time goes on this will surely be improved up to a level equal to, and eventually better than, regular tyres.

Initially Michelin are only rolling out Tweels for low speed applications such as construction vehicles, the iBot and the Segway Centaur. Possible military uses are also being explored.

Resilient Technologies Honeycomb Wheel

In the last few years however a competitor product has come forward. Resilient Technologies has developed their own “Tweel” using a honeycomb layout for the spokes instead of Michelin’s wedge. The company is reportedly looking at a 2011 push for these into the commercial and industrial market and are currently being tested by the US military. Consumer use models still seem to be a long way off.

Whatever happens, the next few years should certainly be interesting for advancements in tyre technology. This is one tech that is definitely worth looking out for.

To Paul, trust is a three-legged stool and if all three legs are not as strong as each other, the stool of trust falls over. The first leg is all about competence and whether it is trust in a partner or trust in a colleague, if someone is not competent in their role they do not have a hope of being trusted. Secondly, one has to co-operate in order to be trusted, there has to be at the very least, excellent two-way communication. Thirdly and the hardest leg to attain and if you think about it, the people you really trust have humility in their dealings with you, they do not talk down to you, they treat you as an equal. These are the people that we really trust.

Paul wanted a culture of trust with a trust worthy team giving trusted service to our clients, who would trust us enough to recommend us to their friends.

With this background the team came up with the following values that we re-visit every year and after seven years they are still as relevant, they are:
Integrity, Pre-eminence, Humanity.

Integrity

Integrity reveals more than honesty, it is that unlike some competitors we will not put “non-genuine” parts on your car unless you want them in order to save money and then we pass the saving onto you.

Integrity is about having a “Fixed Price Menu”, we have had the same prices now for seven years and although no-one can guarantee to keep the same prices ad infinitum we will always attempt at gleaning other efficiencies before resorting to a price increase. Integrity is about treating everyone the same, so if you live in Sandbanks you still pay the same price as other less sought after locations and if you need your bumper painted you will pay the same for a Maserati as you will for a Maestro. It is all about treating our clients fairly, building trust! Integrity drives our thirst for manifesting our co-operation.

Pre-eminence
Pre-eminence is all about being number one, manifesting our skills, continually training and developing them to give the best quality service in Dorset. Pre-eminence is all about getting your car back on the road in the highest quality condition in the shortest possible time at the lowest possible price. It is about having a team of people that are passionate about your “pride and joy” treating you and your car better than they would treat themselves and their car. Seeking pre-eminence drives our thirst for manifesting our competence.

Humanity
Humanity is all about putting others first, being empathetic. Most people that come to us have just been through a traumatic experience and we try to put them at ease ( it’s the reason why our reception room is green – reputed to be the most relaxing colour and the reason why people about to be interviewed on radio or television wait in the “Green Room” ). Humanity is all about really listening to what our clients want and then recording these details so we deliver exactly and our clients walk away with an impression of total satisfaction willing to share their experience with their friends and recommend us. Humanity drives our hunger for humility.

So, a New Year, our eighth and we still have that burning desire to change our industry, to set the example for being the most trusted! We have a superb team that want to serve you; it starts with Dan our apprentice that is striving to be Apprentice of the Year at Thatcham the Centre of Excellence for training the Automotive industry. Dan is responsible for the final presentation of your car back to you and is also our Leather repair genius bringing your leather and plastic trim back to its former glory.

We then have Bruce who gives your car to Dan once he has painted it in our latest technology, environmentally friendly spray booth with the latest third generation paints. David gives the car to Bruce once he has panel beaten and prepped your car bringing its shape back to where it should be, as well as being our certified Thatcham glass repair and replacement specialist. David receives the car from Tania or Paul who have prepared the estimate and job card and listened to your every desire recording it faithfully for the team to execute with aplomb!

All we look forward to then is people coming through the door saying that their friend recommended they try us because you can trust them to make it better!

A major outcome of this desire for trust is that we are favoured by women who recommend us to each other. We belong to the Foxy Choice network of Female Friendly Garages and do our utmost to make women feel as comfortable as we can. We really enjoy and encourage feedback to improve our experience for you.

Other than recruiting Apprentices, we do sometimes recruit qualified people from within the industry, I am afraid the Bodyshop Industry does not have enough qualified personnel. If someone wants to join our team from another Bodyshop they need to have ATA that is Automotive Technician Accreditation. Then we have to give them a thorough induction that involves not only the technical aspects, ensuring they are up to speed with our latest technology and innovative processes but also client relationship management or more succinctly how to serve! Read More Here

Our industry like most industries is moving fast and we need to invest in training our team to keep abreast of the latest technological and innovative equipment, paints, plastics, glass and systems to keep us ahead of the competition. We are “used” to trial products for innovative manufacturing companies as they appreciate our thirst for knowledge and help us seek new and different ways of getting a clients car back to them in perfect condition more quickly and at lower cost.

Bruce has now been with us for four years, a qualified painter who just has to be one of the fastest at “prepping” the job. This is where the largest cost is and Bruce is just so efficient. He then takes his time painting, giving full attention to detail to ensure a total quality outcome that means we have every confidence in giving our LIFETIME GUARANTEE.

David has been with us three years and is a qualified panel engineer, also called a “Panel Beater”. David can make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear, a true artisan to behold. David is the “Face of ooops!” his smile goes with him everywhere and even when I annoy him at times; he still smiles and forgives me!

Tania will ascertain the damage to your car and within a few minutes will have you a written quote that states what it means and means what it states. Tania will also advise as to whether it would be better for you to go through insurance and then advise you that it is your right to use ooops! if you so desire. We never pressure you to make a decision on the spot indeed we advise you take the quote away and compare it, telephoning us back to book it in when you establish that we are the best value for money.

To ensure that your vehicle is looked after with the utmost care and attention to detail we “Bonus” our team, targeting Ten things every month that will ensure you and your vehicle get the best service possible. As we achieve each target we move on to new targets so we enjoy an ever increasing standard of quality and care. This is the opposite of most Body shops that bonus their team on a “Time Saved Bonus” which rewards the Technicians for doing the job faster and faster, which in my experience means worse and “even worse”!!

This constant, positive, rewarding communication within our team leads to a happy atmosphere and we know that happy people invariably ensure clients are happy also, although it does mean we often have to put up with Bruce singing as he dreams of auditioning for X factor. So with David’s happy smile, Bruce’s happy singing and Dan’s happy dancing, ( best not to explain ), it just leaves Tania to be the happy “listener” as this is most important to us, to ensure we really listen to what our clients want.

There is a terrible attitude in most Body shops especially with regard to Females. The industry is “known” to “talk down” to Females and this is something we abhor, doing our best to become every Female’s friend. We spend a great deal of time and energy inculcating “best practice” in this area; we are a member of Foxy Choice and subscribe to The Female Friendly Code.

So, I trust this outlines how we intend to look after you and your vehicle with trained and qualified people that really want to make manifest their talents to you. Please “pop in” and meet us at your earliest convenience, we will be delighted to show you around.

There are mixed opinions on whether the trend will catch on as rapidly as Renault is proposing, but with plans for “leased” swappable batteries and national recharging points as abundant as petrol stations, it’s a definite possibility.

Take a look at the images below of these new concept cars, and decide for yourself as to whether you will be swapping the petrol pump for a 3-pin.

Read the full article here

If you must smoke, eat, drink, talk, text or twitter, do not do it whilst driving – please!

My seventeen year old daughter is about to join our driving fraternity after passing her test. I have discussed with her that although everyone thinks it is “cool” to belong to the most mobile society in the world the price we pay for this “pleasure” is a stubbornly high number of road deaths. On average (when not in recession) 3,200 people die on British roads each year affecting tens of thousands of friends and relatives. I have pleaded with her to focus only on driving when driving. Read More…

Teenagers are the most vulnerable group on the road. Teenage motorists, easily “distracted” from watching the road ahead by an urge to phone friends, send text messages and search for songs on portable music-players, are the most worrisome factor in the epidemic of “distracted driving” that has plagued the roads in recent years.

In 2008 one in six of the teenagers killed in car crashes was found to have been “distracted”, in one way or another, just prior to impact. Five years ago, the figure was one in eight. We should all fear that the number of teenage deaths caused by “distraction whilst driving” is about to explode, due to the variety of gizmos about to invade the car.

To put it bluntly, “distracted driving” is a menace to society. Last year 16% (>500 souls) of overall fatalities were due to “driver distraction”. The country is growing incensed that over the past seven years, we have lost 220 soldiers in Afghanistan yet we seem to live with the fact that during that time more than 20,000 British car occupants have been killing each other! It is not always the fault of the driver!

A study published in July by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that drivers who text whilst driving increase their risk of a crash or near-crash 23-fold compared with those who do not. Reaching out for something moving inside the car represents a nine-fold increase in risk; dialling, a six-fold increase; combing hair or putting on make-up raises the risk almost fivefold. (Hannah please note!!)

In a previous study, Virginia Tech found that 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involved some form of distraction within three seconds of the incident. The most common distraction by far was using a hand-held phone.

Banning the use of hand-held phones and other gizmos whilst driving is fine, however, in doing so, the inference is that it is then fine for motorists to use hands-free devices to make calls whilst on the road. However, hands-free have problems, too. My in-car navigation system intercepts incoming calls to my mobile phone and automatically plays them through the vehicle’s audio system. Using simple voice commands, I can also dial out, hands-free, to people listed in my phone’s address book.

Although there is no physical distraction, I find myself having to compensate for the extra cognitive workload involved in even a hands-free telephone conversation. I am sure I am not the only one trying to multi-task whilst driving, I unconsciously slow down or speed up especially when I am “emotional” and let us face it, most phone calls are “emotional” and, in the process, I become a greater hazard to other road users. If the conversation gets tense or complicated, I may have to pull over to the side of the road and stop. Do I bother, am I bothered, do I think I can cope with this? Both hands may be on the steering wheel, and the eyes scanning the road ahead and the mirrors all round, but the brain is elsewhere.

Cognitive researchers at Carnegie Mellon University reckon that just listening to a conversation can reduce activity in the region of the brain associated with spatial and visual-information processing (the part used for driving) by as much as 37%. Cognitive “distraction” causes drivers to focus on a narrow space ahead, with little awareness of what is going on around them—something researchers call “inattentional blindness”. This is what causes motorists to miscalculate distances and drive too close to the car ahead.

Modern motorists may live in a multi-tasking age, but few people can actually do two things at once without skimping on one, or both, of them. It takes a great deal of training and practise to become a genuine multi-tasker. Concert pianists, who strive for complete independence of movement for each hand, are among the very few to achieve it. Even our Advanced Driving Test training does not have quite the same intensity!

Everyone else does time-sharing instead, constantly switching from one task to another. However, the switching itself takes time—typically, a second or so—while the brain refocuses attention back to the previous task. Get interrupted during that dead instant (a sudden splash of mud on the windscreen will suffice) and the brain can revert to what it was doing before—say, operating a phone instead of checking the road ahead—and thereby overlook the pedestrian who has stepped out onto the road. How often have you heard drivers claim they never saw the object they hit? I have often thought I must be near a town and then realized that I had been through it, am I the only one?

The issue is thus not whether Britain should have banned the use of mobile phones whilst driving. That is really a “no-brainer”. Moreover, cheap technology can be installed in motor vehicles that block certain phone functions, such as texting and dialling, whilst the operator is driving. The bigger issue is how to devise still better means for guiding a motorist’s attention. Manufacturers have made great progress developing driver aids that nudge a drowsy or “distracted motorist” that is drifting out of lane, or getting too close to the car ahead and failing to notice it is braking hard. I have been in all of those places and evidently had my Guardian Angel looking over me, I have been fortunate!

The question is whether piling additional technology on the “attention” problem will save lives. Yes and no. The last thing motorists need is yet more gadgets in vehicles to distract them still further. Nevertheless, if the technology is installed to augment their attention, rather than challenge it, then perhaps the growth of “driver distraction” may yet be contained and lives saved.

My point is that when we are in control of a machine capable of killing we should take absolute responsibility and accountability for it and I believe that means “no anything” apart from full focus on driving. I am not preaching here, I have committed all of the above sins; however, I would like to learn from my mistakes and influence others, as I do not want my daughter and her friends to become another sad statistic!

With inspiration from The Economist

The problem started when the new owner complained to Bill that he was losing significant amounts of money from his coin machines each week.

He went as far as to accuse Bill’s employees of having a key to the boxes and ripping him off. Bill just couldn’t believe that his people would do that, so they set up a camera to catch the thief in action. Well, they did catch him on film!

That's a bird sitting on the change slot of the machine.

The bird had to go down into the machine, and back up inside to get to the money!

That's three quarters he has in his beak!

And you thought you had seen and heard of everything by now!! !

And to think the phrase ‘bird brain ‘ is associated with being dumb. Not these birds.