Firstly today, can I draw your attention to an absolutely superb highlights video that we've published of December's Conference & Awards.

Put together by TAP's video expert (and co-star of the latest magazine's cover) David Comiskey, the short film brings it all flooding back just what a fantastic day and evening it was at the Crown Plaza in Stratford-Upon-Avon. So please do give yourselves a couple of moments today to relive a true celebration of the network.

With all that positivity from the end of last year fresh in the mind, it's interesting for us to hear from you today, our valued dealer readers, regarding how the early days of 2026 are playing out.

One encouraging sign that caught my eye this week was a LinkedIn post from a new ATV service and repair business, that read  . . 

Checking out their website MCL, who are located in Evershot, have formed to fill the hole left by MKM closing last year, serving Bedford and the surrounding areas. Richard who posted this to LinkedIn used to work there, as did several other mechanics who have joined the newly opened company. According to a blog on their site they have recently ". . .opened their workshops to service and repair ATVs, UTVs, and commercial groundcare machinery, as well as trailers. Additionally, they are in discussions to become main dealers for some well-known brands."

What a fantastic, positive story for a cold, wet January! To begin any new enterprise is a leap of faith. So to hear that one has got off to such a flying start is genuinely heartening. We at Service Dealer wish the endeavour all the best and hope that the busyness currently being experienced continues to develop.

It also makes me curious to find out if this level of business is common across the network right now? Hence today we're running our annual Winter Servicing survey.

This time last year, many dealers were reporting solid winter workloads. Workshops were busy, servicing demand was there, and diaries were filling up nicely. At the same time, though, there was still a lot of nervousness bubbling under the surface - particularly around recruitment, staff retention, and whether businesses had the capacity to cope with the work coming in. We also heard some comments regarding the slow supply of parts from certain quarters. 

So I wonder whether much is different twelve months on? As ever with our surveys that we run, our intention is to build a realistic snapshot of the network - in this case, of what winter servicing actually looks like right now. Are workshops busier than last year? Less so? Are staffing concerns easing, or still front and centre? And crucially, is winter servicing delivering the returns it needs to?

With all our surveys, we encourage you to leave your thoughts as well as answering some brief questions. Some interesting comments we received from readers last year included:

• "We're in the fortunate position of having more work than we can cope with. That in itself brings with it problems of how to manage customer expectations."
• "Still having to wait weeks for some parts, meaning machines taking up space for longer than would be ideal."
• "Very busy, with increasing margins as labour can be increased due to lack of servicing dealers in the country and an abundance of work."

Do these statements still resonate this January? Or has the conversation moved on?

As ever we shall publish the results and as many of your opinions are we are able in the next issue of the magazine. The survey is short, anonymous, and designed specifically for dealers.

Thanks in advance for your help.

TAKE THE SURVEY