BY News Editor ON 16/06/2009 11:02

We are pleased to announce that Inter-est World, our next-generation technology platform, will will be available to all our customers in mid-July. The precise launch date will be published in the next two weeks.

Inter-est World will allow you to access your estimates from any internet-connected computer - whether in the office, "on the road" using a wireless broadband network, or even from home. And because we store your data for you in our secure data-centre, you will no-longer have the cost and inconvenience of managing your own data storage.

To find-out more about what Inter-est World means for your business, see the launch announcement or visit the Inter-est World page and view the FAQ.

BY News Editor ON 09/06/2009 10:54

As we have recently added a new "Paint" repair category to Vision, we thought we'd also produce a short screencast to illustrate the difference between “Repair” and “Paint” repair-only operations. In it, Malcolm Neale demonstrates how to repair a front door and paint a rear door - highlighting the differences in corrosion protection time.

The new screencast is here. If you have any comments on this material then please either leave a comment or contact us. We'd like to hear from you!

BY News Editor ON 09/06/2009 10:46

If you are new to Interest, or simply want to improve your existing skills, you may be interested in booking a place on one of the training courses coming-up in the next few months. We have a number of full-day and half-day courses available at training facilities in Reading and Macclesfield. Please see the training page for further details.

BY News Editor ON 08/04/2009 15:11

 Blow away those cobwebs with our half-day Vision Estimating refresher course. It is aimed at people who:

    Have been on a Vision Estimating course, but it was more than a year ago and they feel they need a ‘shot in the arm'

    Or who have let their Vision Estimating get slightly "rusty"

    Or feel they have a good grasp of the principles, but have not done a formal Vision Estimating course.

The course is also suitable for anyone who wants to learn about Vision Estimating, but doesn't have the time to attend a course lasting a whole day.

Phone us on 01625 616020 to talk about available dates, or check the dates on the training page.

BY News Editor ON 08/04/2009 14:09

We have just added a new screencast that describes how to identify a vehicle without using Inter-est's DVLA lookup feature. This is something that you might have to do when estimating a newly registered vehicle that we don't yet have DVLA registration information for.

The screencast lasts lust over two minutes. Don't worry if your PC has no speakers or you're concerned about disturbing colleagues - all our screencasts feature on-screen visual prompts as well as a spoken commentary.

We'll be adding more screencasts in the coming weeks.

BY News Editor ON 11/03/2009 14:05

Thatcham have recently released an update to escribe that fixes a problem affecting access to escribe from Inter-est Vision and other estimating systems. The problem, which only occurs on Window Vista, prevents the Methods Manual button from display escribe methods advice.

If you are using Inter-est Vision and escribe on Windows Vista then we recommend that you install this update, which can be found on Thatcham's escribe updates page. [Direct link]

BY News Editor ON 20/02/2009 15:14

Today we have launched a new section of our web site aimed at bringing you short video presentations about using Inter-est products. These "screencasts" play directly in your browser window and give you a quick introduction to a topic. They typically last around a minute.

Don't worry if your PC has no speakers or you're concerned about disturbing colleagues - all our screencasts feature on-screen visual prompts as well as a spoken commentary.

To kick-off this new section we have a screencast taking you through the important process of identifying a vehicle and selecting the correct Thatcham data. We'll be adding more videos soon, and when we do we'll post announcements here. In the meantime, we'd like to hear from you (or leave a comment) if you have any comments or suggestions for future screencasts.

BY News Editor ON 03/02/2009 10:11

We are pleased to announce three new enhancements to Inter-est Vision. They were added yesterday and are available to all Inter-est users.

Firstly, Vision now displays any available Thatcham single fit new panel times on the new Info tab - so that you can see the panel times without switching to escribe. Also, opinion times can be restored to Thatcham time by right clicking on the opinion time you wish to restore. The screen-shot below shows both of these new features:

 

New options have also been added to the Report dialog that is accessed using the Print button. You can now add the images and/or comments (repairer, work-provider, and system) to any report that you print.

We hope that you find these enhancements useful. We'd like to hear from you if you have any comments - leave a comment below, or contact us.

BY News Editor ON 13/01/2009 10:15

The following new vehicles were added to the Inter-est system in December:

Audi A4 2008 On
Ford Fiesta 2009 On
Ford Streetka
Honda Accord 2009 On
Mercedes C Class 2007 On
Seat Ibiza 2009 On
Citroen Berlingo 2008 On
Citroen Nemo 2008 On
Vauxhall Tigra 2004 On
Volkswagen Scirocco 2009 On

We also added vehicle-specific Vision graphics for the following vehicles:

Audi A4 2008 On
Audi A5 2007 ON
Audi A6 2004 To 2008
BMW 1 Series 2004 To 2007
BMW 1 Series 2007 On
BMW X5 2007 On
Citroen C5 2008 On
Ford Kuga 2008 On

BY News Editor ON 28/11/2008 11:41

As a result of the VAT rate change announced earlier this week, the standard rate of VAT will change to 15% on Monday 1st December 2008. This has two implications for you as an Inter-est user:

1. The VAT rate used by Inter-est to calculate the net total value of  an estimate will be 15% for estimates created on or after 1st December.  Estimates created before this date will be unchanged at 17.5%. All printed reports now clearly state the VAT rate being used.

2. Users of the Inter-est system will be charged VAT at 15% for estimates created on or after 1st December, and 17.5% for estimates created before that date.

Please contact us if you require further information.