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    <title>Phorum 5</title>
    <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/index.php</link>
    <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
    <language>EN</language>
    <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:34:10 +0100</pubDate>
    <lastBuildDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:34:10 +0100</lastBuildDate>
    <category>Phorum 5</category>
    <generator>Phorum 5.1.23</generator>
    <ttl>600</ttl>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Should we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,24#msg-24</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[test]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,24#msg-24</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:34:10 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: sShould we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,23#msg-23</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[JOB SUMMARY

The postholder will provide care and support to service users to enable them to enjoy the highest possible quality of life, by working towards the organisations mission statement and 5 key commitments which serve as the organisations visions.  They will implement the action plans according to the Person Centred Plan of an individual.


VISION 1:	TO DELIVER AN EXCELLENT SERVICE THAT MEETS THE NEEDS OF THE SERVICE
		USERS AND PURCHASERS

1.1	To assist service users in all aspects of personal care, including, bathing, washing, dressing, toileting and all other intimate personal care needs in accordance with the PCP.

1.2	To provide appropriate support to meet service users' emotional and psychological needs.

1.3	By supporting/assisting where necessary, to ensure that all service users are fully involved in shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing and all other tasks associated with the upkeep of their home.]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,23#msg-23</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:42:05 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Should we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,22#msg-22</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[DR Media is a full service marketing and communications agency
        offering strategic, creative and effective solutions to help you to succeed. 
    We listen carefully to what YOU want to achieve, review potential marketing
      activities and together with you, formulate an effective, combined approach.
      We appreciate every client is different. You may require effective website
      design, a robust e-commerce site that actually gets found on search engines,
      fresh printed materials or a timely press release. We have the combined
      experience necessary to help you co-ordinate your marketing activities
      and acheive your goals.
    For creative marketing solutions, call us on 01270 821111]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,22#msg-22</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:41:08 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Should we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,21#msg-21</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Test (:P)]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,21#msg-21</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:35:51 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Should we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,20#msg-20</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[rubbish]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,20#msg-20</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:58:15 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Should we use Phorum</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,19#msg-19</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[mmm]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,19,19#msg-19</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:57:54 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Labour only?</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,18#msg-18</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Banker on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: Re: Labour only? posted by Member on 08/8/07:

we count the beans only.]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,18#msg-18</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:09:49 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Labour only?</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,17#msg-17</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Member on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: Re: Labour only? posted by Sleuth on 08/8/07:

Do the insurers keep a tally of the cars being written off under these clever schemes? Are they interested?]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,17#msg-17</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:09:26 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Labour only?</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,16#msg-16</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Sleuth on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: Re: Labour only? posted by repairer on 08/8/07:

I hear theres a large repairer under investigation at the moment for allegedly taking a sledgehammer to crack the labour only nut.]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,16#msg-16</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:09:06 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Labour only?</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,15#msg-15</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by repairer on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: Labour only? posted by Interested on 08/8/07:

We've not long had an increase from the Royals but it was over two years in coming. We still do labour only but being honest its not worth it from our side. Its not the most profitable account we have, about fourth out of seven, and with the Royals its a hard account to service as well.]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,15#msg-15</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:08:43 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Labour only?</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,14#msg-14</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Interested on 08/8/07:

Whatever happened to the labour only drive from RSA and Zurich? It seems that an average repair cost is now in favour rather than the no profit on parts and paint approach. Is labour only still running and has it ever been taken off of pilot mode?]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,14,14#msg-14</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:08:15 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] I-CAR event: Need for training greater than ever</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,13,13#msg-13</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by International News from ABP on 08/8/07:

While student units declined and the non-profit industry training organization reports a financial loss, incoming chair stresses that changing technology means the need for training remains.


As I-CAR held its annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., in late July, perhaps the key message of the event came from someone outside not only the I-CAR organization but even from outside the United States. 

Among the speakers at the event was Peter Roberts, chief executive of the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre in the United Kingdom. That not-for-profit organization, better known as “Thatcham,” was created by auto insurers in 1969 to help reduce injuries and other costs associated with vehicle collisions and thefts. 

Roberts described a number of the organization’s efforts, including working here in the United States with State Farm Insurance and Tech-Cor, the Allstate-owned testing facility that develops repair procedures, to coordinate and improve efforts to encourage automakers to design vehicles with reparability in mind. That work, Roberts said, is being modeled after a similar effort in the U.K. 

But several times during his presentation, including when describing a system Thatcham has developed to help provide U.K. collision repairers with vehicle-specific repair procedures and information, Roberts made a statement that backs up I-CAR’s gradual shift to more vehicle-specific training. 

“Generic repair methods are obsolete, no longer viable,” Roberts emphasized. 

Roberts’ presentation came during an I-CAR annual meeting that included discussion of I-CAR’s less-than-ideal financial performance during the past year. I-CAR taught about 100,000 students in the past year, down approximately 12 percent from the preceding year. 

I-CAR CEO Tom McGee told those gathered in Orlando that student numbers rebounded somewhat this past May and June at the end of 
I-CAR’s fiscal year, but could not make up for the exceptionally weak three months that preceded. 

Unlike prior to 2003 when I-CAR regularly taught more than 130,000 to 160,000 student units annually, the organization no longer solely relies on student units from its traditional classes for its income. In recent years, I-CAR has begun developing and offering vehicle- and manufacturer-specific training for a number of OEMs. 

Still, the financial results for the year were not good: an operating loss of about $1.1 million, with a net loss of almost $800,000, I-CAR’s worst financial performance since 1999 when it lost approximately $900,000. 

Incoming I-CAR board chairman John Edelen, an Allstate Insurance executive, expressed support for McGee’s leadership, and said staff and I-CAR’s finance committee have developed a “contingency plan” that will be “activated in 90 days to mitigate further deterioration of our financial condition should we be unable to reverse this adverse revenue trend.” 

Year’s accomplishments outlined 
But McGee also cited a number of recent positive trends and events for I-CAR. On the international front, I-CAR saw an increase in student activity in Canada; I-CAR New Zealand is doing well; and I-CAR is just finishing its first year operating in Australia, where classes are being taught in more venues than projected for the first year. 

McGee said that although live classroom training will remain I-CAR’s primary distribution method, use of its online training library is growing albeit slowly. CollisionTV, a satellite television system in Canada on which I-CAR had been offering classes, has ceased operation, he said, but I-CAR continues to look for alternative ways of bringing classes to students. 

The mobile “Welding Qualification Tests” program launched last year has seen “positive results,” McGee said. I-CAR has outfitted a handful of trucks with welding equipment in order to conduct testing at shops and other locations beyond its 120 established testing sites. 

“Nearly 50 percent of the total volume of qualification tests done in fiscal 2007 was done with these units,” McGee said. “This program has been a tremendous asset.” 

McGee said he appeared on “Goss’ Garage,” a segment of the television program “MotorWeek,” last fall to discuss the importance of properly trained technicians and the value to consumers of seeking out a shop with the Gold Class Professionals designation. 

“We’re going to do another broadcast taping (for the program) related to the mobile qualification testing and the importance of proper welding in collision repairs,” McGee said. 

Lastly, McGee pointed to the improved ratings I-CAR received in an annual survey conducted by an industry publication on satisfaction with I-CAR training. 

“Even though we had a very difficult year, I think we are on an upward trend,” McGee concluded. 

Foundation develops technician recruiting DVD 
I-CAR’s annual meeting is also an opportunity for its sister organization, the I-CAR Education Foundation, to provide an update on its activities and accomplishments. At the meeting in Orlando, Foundation Executive Director Ron Ray said the organization recently adopted a new mission statement focusing on its role in raising donations to support collision repair education and “promote and enhance career opportunities in the industry.” 

One such effort has been to raise funding to get I-CAR’s training curriculum into every school that offers collision repair training throughout the country. Ray said currently more than 500 schools are using the curriculum and the Foundation is ahead of its goal of adding 100 schools each year. 

As part of the effort to reach 800 other schools, the Foundation has launched a “$100-per-shop campaign,” asking collision repair shops to donate $100 per year, with 85 percent of those funds being used to support schools in the areas in which the donations are made. In addition to the curriculum, the donations may also be used for scholarships, or to help the school join the nearly 150 others that are part of I-CAR’s Training Alliance, which enables the training program’s graduates to enter the industry with Gold Class points. 

But the Foundation is soliciting other types of donations as well, Ray said. This year 3M provided 600 paint spray guns that the Foundation was able to redonate to schools. 

The Foundation is also completing work on two other tools to assist the industry, Ray said. First, it is finalizing a new 10-minute DVD designed to introduce and attract students to training and careers in the industry. The DVD will be distributed to 1,400 schools this fall, and free copies will also be available at no charge through the Foundation. 

Second, the Foundation will also issue its latest “Snapshot of the Industry” findings this fall. Every three years, the Foundation conducts a survey looking at the compensation, benefits, turnover and other aspects related to collision repair technicians in the industry. 

Ray said one key change in this year’s survey was that shop’s reported that 48 percent of new hires in the past 12 months came from collision repair training programs at schools. This is a jump from just three years ago, when only 37 percent of new hires came through career and technical schools and colleges. 

Need for I-CAR training emphasized
Like Thatcham’s Roberts, I-CAR Chairman Edelen sent attendees at the annual meeting home with a simple message: Changing vehicle technology makes the need for the technical training I-CAR offers as critical now as it was in the late 1970s when the repair challenges posed by the unibody vehicle design led to the creation of I-CAR. 

“The fundamental question is still the same: How do we repair these new cars safely and properly?” Edelen said. “It’s time for every industry segment to recommit to the founding principles of I-CAR, to come together to ensure that every industry segment has access to the training they need to complete a safe and quality repair.”

Source: Collision Week]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,13,13#msg-13</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:07:35 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: RMIF - MOT test is not a rip off</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,11,12#msg-12</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Observer on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: RMIF - MOT test is not a rip off posted by News from ABP on 08/8/07:

How many cars failed the MOT test because of wrongly aligned headlamps ??????????????]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,11,12#msg-12</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:06:51 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] RMIF - MOT test is not a rip off</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,11,11#msg-11</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by News from ABP on 08/8/07:

‘The suggestion that the garage trade is ripping off consumers by creating additional work for itself through the MOT test is a slur on the industry, and also devalues the hugely positive effect that the test has on UK road safety,’ said Ray Holloway, director of independent membership of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF), referring to comments about the sector made in a survey today (Wednesday 8 August 2007) issued by Car Parts Direct.

According to Holloway, Car Parts Direct has a distorted view of the relationship between the MOT and the work performed around it by garages: ‘51 per cent of motorists only ever have their car serviced to get it through the MOT.* 

‘In this way, the MOT has provided the UK with one of the best road safety records in the EU, by encouraging motorists to make sure their car can pass the test by keeping it properly maintained.

‘Considering that 32 per cent of vehicles fail the MOT test every year**, where would we be without it in road safety terms?’

Holloway adds: ‘Garages will make repairs and replace parts while actually performing the MOT to avoid failure and the need for a retest. This saves money and time for motorists,’ said Holloway.]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,11,11#msg-11</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:06:10 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Re: Methods</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,9,10#msg-10</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Debate on 08/8/07:

In Reply to: Methods posted by Debate on 08/8/07:

Sorry for typo in from..]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,9,10#msg-10</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:04:43 +0100</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>[ABP FORUM] Methods</title>
      <link>http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,9,9#msg-9</link>
      <author>russ</author>
      <description><![CDATA[Posted by Debate on 08/8/07:

Where should methods and times come fom?

A. Thatcham
B. Gordon Brown
C. The repairer

The Answer is so clear but our institutions dont want to hear about it.

Because they can't make money out of it.

? How many cars are repaired in the UK each year?

Please let common sense prevail......]]></description>
      <category>ABP FORUM</category>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.drmediagroup.com/read.php?1,9,9#msg-9</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:04:07 +0100</pubDate>
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