The Automotive Blog

No more inspection sheets with “Brakes OK, On Road Test”

Since April 2014 the DVSA have been recommending commercial vehicles undertake 4PSV or  Truck brake tests per year!

Many operators have moved with the guidance but still over 2 years passed many commercial vehicle operators are unaware of the guidance.

The guidance states:

Document :Guide to maintaining road worthiness
Commercial goods and passenger carrying vehicles (Revised 2014)

Section 5: Safety inspection and repair facilities

Extract –
“Therefore it is normally expected that the vehicle or trailer should complete at least three successful brake efficiency tests spread throughout year in addition to the annual MOT test.”

An operator can take the decision to carry out brake tests using roller brake tests or a decelerometer like BrakeCheck.

Many bus & coach companies use a decelerometer, here at aide automotive we have sold many brake testers recently with feedback from one customer saying:

“A necessary piece of kit in today’s transport, does the job perfectly – Inwood Logistics”

BrakeCheck is portable brake tester that works from the principle of measuring deceleration or Brake Efficiency, BrakeCheck is cost effective for any commercial vehicle workshop costing as low as £470 for a PC Downloading Kit & £572 for a printer kit, BrakeCheck is ideal!

To discuss BrakeCheck options and requirements please do not hesitate to contact aide automotive on 0115 8456471

MOT Test Station in the area to be able to offer testing for HGVs and PSVs

aide automotive have a range of bargain BrakeCheck decelerometers & Tapley Meters available for immediate sale!

As we are now getting so close to Christmas, we thought we would offer some Christmas Cracking Deals!

Sale 1 – ITEM SOLD AS OF 02.12.15 12.30 PM
A BrakeCheck Series 2 With PC Download Kit – RRP £464 + VAT – We are able to offer this Kit for Just £300 + VAT. Calibrated for 24 months we will offer a 3 month warranty on the full kit.
The full kit contains – BrakeCheck, Charger, CabCheckS Download Disc & USB PC Cable.

Sale 2 –
A BrakeCheck Series 1 – Calibrated for 24 months & with 3 months warranty, we are offering this tester for just £210.00 + VAT, If you need a printer add £145.00 + VAT (printer will be new). BrakeCheck comes with charger & case!

Sale 3 –
Tapley Brake Meter – The old man of brake meters, this mechanical brake tester is in excellent condition. Calibrated for 24 months with 3 months warranty.

Prices exclude VAT & Carriage.

These offers will sell fast so please call or email to purchase ASAP!

Call 0115 8456471

BrakeCheck Decelerometer Price Offers

aide auto Use Twitter For MOT Products

aide automotive have set up a new Twitter account to promote there range of MOT & garage related products to UK & Worldwide MOT & Garage service centres.

Twitter is an essential component of any content marketing strategy. With approximately 500 million users and an average of 400 million tweets sent per day, Twitter is undoubtedly one of the most popular social media platforms.

The biggest compliment one of your tweets can get is a retweet. The second best is possibly a “favourite”.

@aideMOTproducts We aim to expand a family of garages to offer product information & help your Twitter account with Retweets & Favs.

SEO benefits — Month by month, Google seems to be acknowledging and rewarding the validation that comes through social sharing. And why wouldn’t they? Content that spreads through Twitter is a sign that something good is going on at your place.

A couple of MOT / garage products from aide automotive are:

The BrakeCheck Decelerometer for Roller Brake Tester back up, all UK MOT garages require a backup brake tester, many use an old style mechanical meter but with the latest electronic BrakeCheck your garage will be up to date with the latest tool.

The Hybrid Safe To Service Kit is the latest “HOT CROSS BUN” – garages require the necessary tools to guard against the dangers of electrocution from hybrid-electric vehicles. aide automotive’s Hybrid Vehicle Service Tool Kit is ideal for servicing and general maintenance of Hybrid vehicles systems.

Hybrid Vehicle Service Tool Kit is ideal for servicing and general maintenance of Hybrid vehicles systems.

Contact aide automotive to review or purchase your Hybrid Car Service & Test Tool Kit today! Call 0115 8456471

Purchase Bowmonk Printer Rolls Via eBay

aide automotive have now added BrakeCheck Printer Rolls to our eBay listings to help with out of hours purchase requirements.

Our listing description is as per the below text.

Bowmonk BrakeCheck Paper Rolls for All Printers.

Supplied in Packs of 10, these Printer Paper Rolls are Thermal Paper.

aide automotive supply the BrakeCheck via eBay as well as a full BrakeCheck & Printer Kit.

BrakeCheck Printers can also be purchased separately on eBay.

Price are including VAT, we usually supply an invoice via email once dispatched.

Bowmonk BrakeCheck Printer Paper Rolls

The Old Mechanical Brake Tester Tapley Now Retired As DVSA Say A Print Out Required

For almost 100 years Tapley brake testers have been the market leading portable brake testing equipment.

Results of Tapley Brake meter tests have been accepted as evidence of braking efficiency in Courts of Law throughout the world.

But now it seems the Tapley Brake Tester may well be retired in the UK, recent guidance from the DVSA now says a brake test must be printed for inspection records.

Decelerometers have moved on significantly from the old mechanical brake testers such as Tapley Decelerometer. Being electronic BrakeCheck has a much higher accuracy and additional information such as average deceleration, a left/right pull measurement, speed at braking and stopping distance. All tests are time and date stamped.

Contact aide automotive to discuss the recent DVSA brake testing guidance and BrakeCheck. – Call 0115 8456471

MOT Tapley Brake Meter

DVSA Recommend 4 Brake Tests Per Year!!

Document :Guide to maintaining road worthiness
Commercial goods and passenger carrying vehicles (Revised 2014)

Section 5: Safety inspection and repair facilities

Extract –
“Therefore it is normally expected that the vehicle or trailer should complete at least three successful brake efficiency tests spread throughout year in addition to the annual MOT test.”

BrakeCheck is a portable brake tester that works from the principle of measuring deceleration or Brake Efficiency, BrakeCheck has been proved to be a good indication of brake performance and cost effective for any workshop. Over 15,000 BrakeCheck’s have been purchased since it’s introduction in January 2003, and is now a standard tool for any vehicle workshop.

In addition to BrakeCheck Standard which is marketed towards Car, Van Truck and Bus / Coaches, BrakeCheck For Truck &Trailers is ideal for trailer operating companies.

aide automotive also recommend the use of an Infra Red Thermometer to check individual wheels via temperature. This in conjunction with a decelerometer print out would be the perfect 3 times a year brake test for any commercial vehicle.

To discuss how BrakeCheck or the Brake Testing Equipment works or to review pricing please call us on 0115 8456471.

Brake Tester Using Brake Efficiency to Report On Truck Brakes

More & More Commercial Vehicle Operators Purchase BrakeCheck To Complete Their Inspection Sheets.

Roger Jackson of Ensign Bus said “We have now purchased Bowmonk BrakeCheck for all our depots and find it a valuable addition to our workshops. To have the ability to carryout positive testing and to record actual results on an inspection sheet is very beneficial.”

Decelerometers have moved on significantly from the old mechanical brake testers such as Tapley Decelerometer. Being electronic there is a much higher accuracy and additional information such as average deceleration, a left/right pull measurement, speed at braking and stopping distance. All tests are time and date stamped.

BrakeCheck has been proven to be an excellent inspection sheet Bowmonk brake tester for all commercial vehicles, over 14000 testers sold since 2002. With many operators using the BrakeCheck to conduct a VOSA accepted brake test on every inspection.

BrakeCheck Truck & Trailer will brake test tractor units, rigid trucks and also incorporates a 99 test memory on the service, hand and trailer brake test, a total of 297 tests. The trailer brake test feature enables repairers and internal maintenance workshops to conduct an inspection sheet brake test of a commercial trailer.

Brake Tester Using Brake Efficiency to Report On Truck Brakes

BrakeCheck approval by National Express

National Express is ordering the BrakeCheck system following a successful demonstration at its Walsall depot. Nick Sorrill, head of quality assurance, explains: “National Express takes every step to ensure our duty of care policy and high safety standards are constantly adhered to. To this end, there is no exception or compromise where our bus and coach Brake Testing programme is concerned.

“For those brake tests carried out where there is no rolling road available or on the rare occasion they break down, we must have confidence that we have a viable alternative for providing an accurate recording of the service, secondary and hand brake. After some research into what products were available to achieve this we found BrakeCheck to be the one.

“BrakeCheck proved to be 100 per cent accurate when compared to a previous test on our roller brake tester. This and the fact that BrakeCheck is VOSA-approved sealed the deal for us. Consequently, we are now rolling them out to our other depots across the bus and coach businesses.”

Brake Tester Using Brake Efficiency to Report On Truck Brakes

Brake Faults Most Common At the Roadside, says VOSA
Defective braking systems and components top the list of reasons for prohibitions issued by VOSA at the roadside and depot checks last year.

Nine percent of prohibitions for trucks and 20 percent of prohibitions for trailers were issued because of defective brakes.

The use of a regular deceleration test such as a BrakeCheck could help reduce brake faults and keep inspection sheet paper work in order.

BrakeCheck (decelerometer) can be used and is accepted by VOSA for many vehicles, in the commercial sector VOSA approve BrakeCheck for testing all commercial type vehicles on every inspection. BrakeCheck can be used on vehicles such as, fork lifts, construction / quarry vehicles, tractors and trailers.

This device has moved on significantly from the old mechanical testers such as Tapley Meters. Being electronic there is a much higher accuracy and additional information such as average deceleration, a left/right pull measurement, speed at braking and stopping distance. All tests are time and date stamped.

aide automotive ltd are a leading supplier of brake testing devices for Truck Inspections sheets Brake Tests.

Click on DECELEROMETER to enquire how a BrakeCheck can help you.

January has seen a good start to BrakeCheck sales for aide automotive.

Since the return after Christmas and New Years holidays enquirys and orders have been flowing for us, BrakeCheck is ideal for any truck operator to carry out an inspection sheet brake test with ease or at a cost effective manner. says Matthew Burke of aide automotive ltd.

BrakeCheck is a portable battery-powered device that can be used by vehicle workshops, government traffic authorities, testing and inspection stations to test and report on vehicle brake efficiency. BrakeCheck is VOSA & MOT approved.

If you require an inspection sheet brake tester for your trucks or trailers call aide automotive ltd on 0115 8456471 or click on www.brake-tester.co.uk to read more or contact us.