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It was a pleasure to meet you recently to discuss
a potential lobbying campaign around the
regulation of individuals working in the motoring
industry. This slide deck sets out our suggestion
for how you could take forward your campaign.
This is based on our experience of running
successful campaigns for the likes of Heathrow,
Nestlé and the energy efficiency sector, where we
have deployed grassroots support, traditional
media and online campaigning to bring about
political or regulatory change.
We have also considered your issues in the light
of our insights into the new Conservative
Government and their priorities. It is our firm view
that your ask is a difficult one in the current
climate. We have therefore proposed a
programme with intermediate as well as long
term milestones, that will support your
commercial priorities and engage your members,
as well as influencing political audiences. This is
designed so that even if it is not possible to
secure regulation in the short term, the campaign
can still make a significant difference relative to
your broader objectives, driving consumers
towards regulated garages and increasing the
number of mechanics registering.

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The team we propose is drawn from the front lines of political campaigning and have
significant insight into the key players you need to influence.
We look forward to discussing our proposal with you in the coming weeks.

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In 2005 National Consumer Council published “At the Crossroads”, a report on the car servicing sector.
Found that 51% of garages surveyed were rated “poor or very poor”, with only 5% rated “very good”.1
The industry introduced the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code of Practice, the PAS 80 and
associated Kitemark Scheme.2
By 2011, the Service and Repair Code was awarded full Office of Fair Trading approval and now
operates as a Chartered Trading Standards Institute approved code.3
BUT the Service & Repair Code does not need proof of technical ability, and therefore the IMI’s ATA
scheme is the standard celebrated by the big independent operators such as Halfords and Kwik Fit.4
The IMI therefore wants to continue the journey that the industry has been on over the past 10 years, to
increase the skills and professionalism of the industry.5
While franchised dealers and the large independents are taking part in your voluntary registration
scheme, a significant number are not, and there is little public understanding of this.6

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The Conservatives
won the General
Election with the
economic recovery at
the centre of its
manifesto
The Government has
also made clear that
they want a smaller
public sector with a
consequent reduction
in government
spending.
The key message during the
campaign was one of
continued economic stability
and a recovery based on
fairness. A core promise was
to upgrade the nation’s
infrastructure, with roads and
railways being at the centre
of their ‘long term economic
plan’.

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Chancellor George Osborne,
Chief Secretary Greg Hands
and PPS Chris Skidmore are
all free marketers who
believe in reduced spending
and de-regulation.

Business Secretary Sajid
Javid is also in favour of less
regulation, as recently as
May 2015 he said ‘as long as
you do one thing; make sure
it is de-regulate’.

Andrew Jones MP who joined
the DfT in 2015. A past
member of the Regulatory
Reform Committee, he will be
well aware of the regulatory
regime in the UK.


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IMI’s view is that a
compulsory licensing
scheme backed by
regulation is the only way
to drive up standards and
protect motorists
The Government’s priority
is deregulation and see no
immediate need for a
licensing scheme for the
motor trade
BUT

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Intermediate objectives
You believe there is a clear need for regulation in this area and have made some progress in raising the issue
up the political agenda. But your objective of regulation is at odds with the government’s instinct and agenda.
We have therefore defined one long term objective, and several intermediate objectives, with a strategy to
deliver them:
Overarching long term objective: To achieve a statutory basis for the ATA scheme
Our strategy: To create a political environment that leads to Government action.
To raise the profile of the
issue in Parliament e.g. via a
Select Committee Inquiry.
To drive consumers towards
regulated garages and
increase numbers of
mechanics registering.
To persuade Government to
instigate a formal review of
the evidence before
considering regulation.

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To create a political environment which
makes Government more likely to act,
we must build the campaign from the
ground up, putting increasing pressure
on political actors as the campaign
progresses.
Making the case for
action to officials and
Special Advisers
Building support for the campaign
with MPs via Select Committees,
All Party Groups
Raising awareness with consumers and
equipping them to make good garage
choices
Taking our
case direct to
Ministers
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We want to work in partnership with you and your members from the outset, ensuring that the planning and
execution of the campaign will achieve the objectives that are most important to you. So the planning stage is
crucial…
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We will begin with a 3 hour
workshop with your senior team
and ours, to agree:
• Our target audiences and how
to reach them
• Our campaign strategy
• The defining arguments of the
campaign and a key message
or slogan that sums up what we
want to communicate
• The evidence we need to back
up our arguments and what we
need the IMI to provide us with
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And we’ll carry out opinion
research and seek feedback on
the creative elements and
campaign tone:
• Polling the public will provide an
essential benchmark to test the
impact of the campaign in
helping people to make good
garage choices and will provide
us with the media “hook” to
support launch activity
• We also need to ensure the
buy-in of your bigger members
on the tone of the campaign so
will seek their feedback before
we go live.
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Then we will enter a creative
development and campaign
planning phase to:
• Develop the components for the
campaign – ad concepts,
campaign website, Tweet
graphics, master narrative,
press releases, MP briefings
• Build a detailed multi-channel
campaign timeline, from launch
moment to 6 months out
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