Outstanding Customer Reviews This piece was originally published in the HCVA newsletter and appears here as we are affiliated trade members of HCVA.
As those of you who have read our previous posts will be aware we are extremely proud to be Trade Members of the HCVA – the Historic & Classic Vehicles Alliance.
The Alliance was created to protect and promote the Classic Car industry by actively lobbying the government and building alliances across the classic car world.
Please take the time to read their latest newsletter which includes a very informative article regarding the sustainability credentials of our cars and industry.
We highly recommend that you consider becoming a member in order to ensure the long-term future and enjoyment of our wonderful cars. Please follow this link: https://www.hcva.co.uk/3/sign-up
Welcome to the Historic & Classic Vehicles Alliance Newsletter
January Updates - a busy start to 2022!
I hope you are all enjoying the winter preparation of your classic vehicles ready for the spring or indeed getting out and about in them as we saw at the recent Scramble. Despite the festive break the HCVA have been very active as you will see in this months newsletter!
Membership
Membership from both Trade and Industry and Owners and Enthusiasts continues to grow strongly. The introduction of the new Family Membership option in November 2021 has proved very popular. It's also been genuinely rewarding to see a significant number of Under 21s joining to support us into the future.
There is now a Direct Debit option to enable our already-competitive membership rates to be spread over the year. Please do encourage your trade colleagues, supply chain, customers and friends to join us. The more members we have, the more positive impacts our not-for-profit Alliance can deliver for our members.
News & Press
The HCVA continues to engage with the national press and we thank them for their support for our campaign to help protect the classic car world.
The February issue of Octane magazine that arrived with subscribers just before Christmas included an in-depth article about the HCVA, updating the readership on our campaigning work and progress. We also ran a series of informative adverts including our approach to environmental issues, highlighting our trade and industry membership and also promoting the benefits of membership to Octane's readership.
Luke Chillingworth of the Daily Express has also written a number of articles featuring the HCVA on topics including the new ‘tampering’ driving law extensions, E10 fuels and ULEZ fees. You can find a comprehensive listing of press articles we have been featured in on our website here.
We've recently been featured in Classic Car Weekly and have upcoming features in Classic & Sportscar as well as Classic Car Business magazine
Events Update
Sunday 16th January saw the team at the first event of the year – The Scramble at Bicester Heritage.
Despite the cold and misty start there was a fantastic turnout, with the sun eventually coming through to show the fantastic variety of vintage, historic and classic vehicles present.
As ever, the Bicester team had worked hard to create an excellent event alongside the companies based there - a significant number of whom are HCVA members. A special mention must go to our member Classic Oils for hosting us on their lawn. Co-owner and Car SOS presenter Fuzz Townsend paid a visit to the stand where he and our CEO Garry Wilson enjoyed a great conversation in relation to the aims and objectives of the HCVA
On Thursday 3rd February at 7:30 pm one of our Founding Partners HERO-ERA will hold their 2021 Virtual Awards Evening. HERO-ERA are the home of historic endurance rallying and are famous for the Flying Scotsman and the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge amongst other world-class events.
This online event will last for around an hour and includes a privileged look behind the scenes of their facilities and activities at Bicester Heritage. You can watch here.
Our 2022 Plans
We aim to attend a wide variety of the events to be held during 2022, spreading the word about the HCVA and growing the membership further. An innovation this year will be the addition of an HCVA Member's Hospitality Lounge at key events where you can meet fellow members in style.
We'll also be creating a range of local membership events that will include tours of workshops and facilities belonging to our trade members. We'll supply more details as we firm up the programme over the coming weeks.
The HCVA Summer Celebration - 4th June 2022
Save the date for our first organised event where we will bring together our trade and individual members (and their cars!) for a celebration of the world of classic and historic motoring. We're planning on having this exciting event around Malvern in Worcestershire.
We are finalising details for this members only ticketed event. If you're a trade member and wish to show an early interest then you can reach us here.
If any of our trade members wish to communicate a relevant event to our wider membership through the HCVA website or newsletter please do get in touch - we are here to help in whatever way we can!
The Campaign
We continue to work tirelessly on the behalf of our members.
Fuels, ULEZ and Road Pricing
We have represented the sector in these debates in a variety of ways over the past month including through articles in the press. On the topic of fuels, a submission was made via a request from the Chair to the Transport Select Committee, regarding the continued availability of fuels suitable for classic and historic vehicles.
Vehicle Registration
We have ongoing dialogue with the DVLA both through the Historic Vehicle User Group and via direct DVLA/HCVA discussions. Positive and forward looking, the focus is very much on ‘getting things done’.
Current working focus includes the development of a ‘best practice’ guide to classic and historic vehicle registration which we hope will lead to an easy to understand, streamlined and improved process that results in far fewer rejections or mischaracterisations.
We are also working on topics around the implications and safety requirements of the electrification of classic vehicles.
Youth and Skills
We continue to support activities to grow the skills within the sector through the Heritage Skills Academy including a forthcoming meeting to share best practice with our counterparts in Germany.
We're also developing a range of social media and podcast activities with the younger members of our community that will be coming to fruition shortly.
HCVA Working Groups
Over the next month we will be populating our Working Groups with those wishing to contribute to the topic areas. The aim, as ever, is to ‘get things done’ across the following areas:
Business Development - driving membership growth further forward across all categories.
Marketing and Communications - enhancing the range and reach of our message.
Youth and Skills - increasing support for our sector skills providers and ensuring that the message about the desirability of working in the classic and historic vehicle sector gets across to a younger audience.
Government and Legislative Affairs - ensuring that we are aware of all potential legislation that may impact our sector and that we provide strong and relevant responses. This group will also ensure that debates are tabled through the relevant Committees, the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Events and Membership Benefits - key areas of development that are attracting a great deal of focus in the early part of this year.
Campaigns - This working group will have subsets covering:
- The environment and sustainability
- Vehicle registration and DVLA interaction
- International trade If you are interested in joining any of these groups and contributing both in thought and deed, please do contact the HCVA team here
