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06 March 2019

MOTORTEC AUTOMECHANIKA MADRID highlights the importance of raising awareness about keeping vehicles adequate serviced

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The Fair presents reports by GIPA Automotive Aftermarket Intelligence and the Spanish Confederation of Vehicle Workshops, CETRAA, on the changing driver habits in this field.

Drivers not in the habit of preventive maintenance will have 38 por ciento more breakdowns, according to the reports presented.

Ahead of its 15th edition, MOTORTEC AUTOMECHANIKA MADRID 2019, organised by IFEMA from 13 to 16 March at the Feria de Madrid, presented on 5 March the reports by GIPA Automotive Aftermarket Intelligence and CETRAA (Spanish Confederation of Vehicle Workshops) on the importance of proper vehicle maintenance, from the perspective both of drivers and workshops respectively, at the IFEMA Exhibition venue. Fernando López, GIPA General Manager for Europe and Juan Francisco Calero, journalist and specialist in the field, representing CETRAA, took part in the event, presented by the Director of the Fair, David Moneo.  

Through these reports, the Fair, a benchmark in the automotive industry, strives to highlight the importance of raising awareness of the need for proper vehicle maintenance, an increasingly important factor given the increasing age of the vehicle population.

GIPA, in its report commissioned by MOTORTEC AUTOMECHANIKA MADRID, highlighted that in the period 2013 to 2019, passenger cars and four-wheel drives on the road aged significantly, with an average age of more than 11 years. And over 58 por ciento of all cars on the road are now are more than 10 years old.

The study shows that this ageing is making drivers more aware of the importance of preventive maintenance of their cars. However, the report also shows that this has not prevented an increase in breakdowns since 2013, which rose from 14 por ciento to 17 por ciento year on year. This has meant that more than 3.6 million drivers have faced this costly and unexpected situation.

GIPA emphasised that drivers need to be aware that those who do no maintenance will suffer 38 por ciento more breakdowns than those who do. While it may initially seem to save money, waiting longer between services leads to higher breakdown rates and, therefore greater expenditure on the car.

Link to the GIPA report here.

For its part, the Spanish Confederation of Vehicle Workshops, CETRAA, carried out a survey of workshops specialising in electrics and mechanics, asking them about their perception of the condition of vehicles arriving at their workshops, in relation to their age.

The questions in the survey focused on aspects crucial for vehicle control and, therefore, road safety. These elements were: tyres, brakes, shock absorbers, steering and engine. It broke down vehicle age into the following bands: 1-5 years, 6-10 years or over 10 years.

The results of the survey show that a large percentage of cars are driven with these safety features very worn out. And this situation is worse for older cars. This means that more than 70 por ciento of vehicles 11 years or older arrive at the garage with very worn tyres and/or shock absorbers. “This would be easily avoided if we could encourage an effective preventive maintenance culture,” said Enrique Fontán, president of the Confederation of Vehicle Workshops.

The workshops were also asked about the extent to which the driver follows the workshop’s recommendations when performing maintenance or servicing. The conclusions are very revealing as they show that about half take little or no notice of these recommendations. If we add to this the fact that more than 30 por ciento of drivers do not keep to the recommended servicing intervals for their vehicles, it is clear that there is still a long way to go in terms of raising drivers’ awareness about the value of preventive maintenance of their vehicles.

Link to the CETRAA report here.

. About CETRAA

CETRAA (Spanish Confederation of Automobile Repair and Related Workshops) is an umbrella organisation of 28 provincial associations in the vehicle maintenance and servicing sector. Founded in 1979, the confederation is present in 15 of Spain’s autonomous regions and represents and defends the interests of nearly 25,000 companies in the automotive maintenance and repair sector, and informs motorists about their rights and obligations regarding the maintenance of their vehicles. CETRAA also participates in different European working groups together with other international bodies in order to offer maximum support to its partners.

Press contact: Alejandro Galindo – FA comunicación; Tel:  34 91 562 55 90

                         E-mail: comunicacion@cetraa.com 

Further information: Jesús González, Press officer, MOTORTEC Automechanika Madrid |  34 91 722 50 95 | jesusg@ifema.es  

MOTORTEC Automechanika Madrid on Social Media | Teresa Medina |  Ana Almendro |  - motortec@heyav.com – tel. 34 91 724 28 32

Twitter @Motortec_AM ; https://twitter.com/Motortec_AM

Facebook  @MOTORTEC; https://www.facebook.com/MOTORTEC/

Motortec Automechanika Madrid on Youtube; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC71qvfzmM1ZSMPAYRlTXxlA

https://www.linkedin.com/company/motortecautomechanika

www.ifema.es.es/motortec