Following my comment in last month’s column about VOSA’s lack of interest in pursuing a handbrake recall, I subsequently saw the Which? press release which noted that VOSA didn’t force any manufacturer to issue a single recall during 2012.

Manufacturers don’t have to be forced into issuing a recall of course, they can do so themselves. Whether they choose to do so is a case in point, and I for one find a persistent refusal to acknowledge the existence of a well-known problem extremely frustrating. Nonetheless in 2011 there were recalls affecting 1.3 million vehicles and a further million cars were affected in 2012.

Recalls are always an unwelcome bit of paper landing on the desk as they mean an extra visit to the garage, and inevitably some vehicle downtime. Some appear to be issued with a “go directly to the garage do not pass Go” type of message while others are more laid back and can be dealt with at regular maintenance – if you want to wait that long.

Anyway, I used to dutifully forward recall paperwork to the driver, make it clear that they must ensure the work is done, and take it that I had done my bit. So I didn’t used to file copies of them or anything like that and it was a bit of a surprise when the lease company told me I ought to be keeping copies, and ensuring that drivers really did get them done, and keep a record of when it actually was done. They inferred it was a duty of care responsibility. Perhaps naively, I had overlooked that responsibility. So that was a little lesson.

I was even more surprised when I read that it is actually a criminal offence to sell a vehicle with an outstanding safety recall. Blimey, I wonder how many of those transactions occur every year – I bet it’s in the thousands. It just goes to show that however long you’ve been in this game, you don’t know what you don’t know.

So I can understand why BVRLA members – and us as their customers – should be welcoming ReCare, the on-line recall notification system commissioned by the BVRLA for its members. Already up and running, and expanding apace, ReCare provides a one-stop platform for notifying its users of all new and outstanding safety-related recalls, relayed to them by participating manufacturers and parts suppliers.

Members upload their fleet data into the system and ReCare checks the data to see if any of the vehicles are affected by an outstanding safety recall. Members then receive a regular report advising which vehicles, if any, have outstanding or new issues. The member can then directly contact its individual drivers, making the chances of reaching the correct and current driver first time much more likely, and quicker. The vehicle can then go in for fixing in the usual way.

The participation of parts suppliers in the scheme is key because as manufacturers share more platforms in order to save cost, there is more chance of bigger vehicle numbers being affected if a shared part fails.

Any system which makes notification easier has got to help the industry. And as the majority of safety recalls are likely to affect cars up to three years old, the chances are that a high percentage of them will be running on fleet.

Better news still is that the service is free to BVRLA members. Whether there are any plans to allow outright purchase fleets who are not BVRLA members to pay for and receive the service in the future remains to be seen.