PTIA Certification of Tyre Services
The health and life of each of us depends on the quality of tyre services. There are almost 12 000 workshops in Poland – drivers entrust their cars and safety to them. What guarantee do they have that the workshop will do its job well? How can they know if a given tyre service is trustworthy? At the highway speed, the tyre of the most popular size rotates over 1000 times per minute – it is on the quality and the condition of the tyres, that the safety of everyone on the road depends. The Polish Tyre Industry Association (PTIA) together with TÜV SÜD are starting a project to certify workshops in order to help drivers find reliable services.
The Tyre Certificate is the only such project in Europe, which was created in cooperation with all major tyre manufacturers, workshop networks and industry experts, and is implemented by an independent auditor.
– The Polish market lacks a clear indication of a good level of quality of service and mechanics’ competences. Customers find it hard to find a trustworthy service and it is very difficult for a good workshop to stand out on the market. PTIA together with TÜV SÜD wants to increase the safety of drivers and appreciate industry professionals – above all, we want to show drivers where to look for trustworthy workshops. We commend those for whom quality of work counts, because they are aware of their responsibility for the lives of customers. We have developed, in consultation with producers, workshop networks and practitioners, universal and uniform technical and customer service criteria at three levels – good, very good and exemplary. The customers of workshops with the Tyre Certificate can be sure of the reputation of the shop and they no longer have to wonder if they are leaving their car in good hands – a map with services for the quality of which PTIA vouches can be found on certifikatoponiarski.pl – states Piotr Sarnecki, general director of the Polish Tyre Industry Association (PTIA).
A certified workshop can be recognized by a large sign with the certificate logo and an indication of the workshop level and segment (passenger, truck or agricultural tyres), as well as a sticker at the entrance. Certification criteria and tyre change procedures are the same for all workshops, transparent and reasonable. It is only up to a given workshop whether it will advance and get certificates of a higher lever or go for the medium or top level from the very beginning.
The Tyre Certificate is valid for 2 years – a shortened surveillance audit is carried out after a year – and is available to all tyre services in Poland: networks, independent workshops or even authorized repairs.
– When tyres are changed in an improper way, they can get easily damaged, and then they can only be recycled. The driver is not able to catch errors – when he returns home from the workshop, where the tyre was damaged, it can burst and cause a huge tragedy. Running a workshop is a very big responsibility, that's why we offer free trainings for mechanics on how to prepare for the certification audit. We want to provide advice and be of real support for all workshops. Qualified staff is a guarantee of the highest quality of service that will be appreciated by drivers throughout the country. We believe that with the number of certified workshop, the level of safety on Polish roads will increase – emphasizes Marek Nytko, TÜV SÜD Mobility section manager.
A map of certified services, as well as criteria and tyre procedures for three vehicle segments are available on the website certyfikatoponiarski.pl/en/
Source: Polish Tyre Industry Association