The Dark Wob

Autoglass are here doing the screen in MS Rebel's Honda CRV.

Which made me think - since their competitor went bust, they seem to have a near-monopoly in the UK.

Then I thought about chain car parts and accessory places - and Halfrauds is really the only game in town around here. We used to have some small independents and smaller chains 3/4 I can recall form when I moved here 14 years ago, now all gone.

Motorworld used to be quite big up here. Most larger towns had one.

We still have a Motorworld. In fact it is the only show in town here now so has its own monopoly.....There are probably 3 or 4 more dotted about, I can think of 3 so presume at least one other exists locally. There's a local windscreen independent too.

Autoglass actually operate out of the unit next door to me. It is just storage really but the vans all turn up in the morning to pick up glass. I thought I would ask them for a price to do the screens in the Thunderbird last year. Fuck me they know how to charge. They didn't get the job as Pheonix widscreens who aren't actually that local did the job for less than half autoglass quoted. I use them all the time for glass as they are so much cheaper. We have a full set of motor factors in Taunton and a brilliant little car accessory shop in town. How the guys make a living from it I don't know as there is stuff hanging up that has been there at least 10 years. It is really useful when I need the odd consumable or obsolete part but with modern cars you don't get the culture of customising and home maintenance that we used to have back in the 80's and 90's so it is a dying business.

Autoglass are expensive because of the insurance effect - just like a body shop that does mostly insurance jobs.

Strangely when I asked them for a quote for an E53 X5 windscreen they were very competitive versus independents - I wondered if they had some windscreens in a warehouse somewhere they wanted rid of.

That kind of thing does happen......There was a massive exhaust place a couple of towns away back in the 00s. I got a NOS system for my Landcrab for peanuts as the only price they had on it was a very old one! I also picked up some stuff from our local Lucas depot around the same time and the counter geezer overheard me talking about my old Zephyr 6 and brought out a boxed set of Terry valve springs for nowt. It had been an independent before whoever owned Lucas at that time took them over.

Motorworld seems to exist only in a limited area -

AMCrebel wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:46 pm Motorworld seems to exist only in a limited area -

Screenshot 2021-02-26 191328.jpg

I'm very surprised they still exist at all. They used to be good many moons ago but then went the way of only seeming to sell stick on tat. The couple local to me went years ago.

I remember one in Newbury. Opened up about when I passed my driving test. Bought a set of speakers that I still have and will one day fit to my Clio.

The guy in there was always rather over enthusiastic. Told me that I should drill holes in my airbox and "release the noise!"

They lasted about 4 years or so before shutting up shop. Probably over expansion as opened up in quite a few other places. Big in stick on tat.

AMCrebel wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:46 pm Motorworld seems to exist only in a limited area -

Screenshot 2021-02-26 191328.jpg

Definitely far more around than that. I know for sure there is one in Dursley and Mercrocker mentioned there is one in Southampton