Dealers who use self-tappers to fit number plates - why?

[mwstewart]

Muddle238 said:

carlo996 said:

rallycross said:

Because the double sided tape is not long lasting like a screw and if you use the colour coded plastic caps and good screws they don't rust and you don't notice them.

Exactly.

If you use the correct sticky pads and properly prepare the surfaces to be stuck together, they'll easily last as long as screws.

I use the 6mm thick sticky pads from Halfords. It is the biggest pain in the arse imaginable trying to remove a plate that's been fitted using these pads, I have absolutely no worry whatsoever that they'll ever fall off. Even better, you don't have rusty screws or holes drilled through the plate, causing the plate to delaminate and fail an MOT down the line.

I use Genuine 3M VHB. Degrease the surface with white spirit or similar.

[MG CHRIS]

BunkMoreland said:

MG CHRIS said:

100% current this is sadly what main dealers are like these days. Not helped by every single person being on different bonuses so people only care about how much they can make rather than doing whats best for the customer.

The retail motor trade hasn't been about doing the job right for years!

But then if you base bonus on productivity* Then hack all the labour times for the jobs down, it makes people cut corners and rush! Factor in Manufacturer information that is sometimes wrong and often simply not available. Dealers that wont buy the correct special tools because they are trying to squeeze every penny out for the shareholders.

And I often wonder how I'd cope if I couldn't work on my car myself and didnt know a handful of VERY good trusted friends who run garages for everything else.


*You must sell 8 hours of labour per day every day. Regardless of whether you get 8 first services every day (easy to do 8 hour services in a day) or intermittant comunication errors on networks that are a pig to diagnose and can take days )

Yep had so many arguments with managers and bosses regarding this and it all falls on deaths ears.