We're going to need more airbags!

I bought a Volvo just about a year ago and aesthetically quite liked the orange seatbelts with their inscription ‘Since 1959’ engraved into the clasp. It wasn’t until I researched it a little more and found that Volvo actually invented the seatbelt and promptly gave the patent away because they felt that saving lives was more important than keeping the idea to themselves. Volvo decided to waive any patent rights to encouraged the technology and to make their own vehicles safer.

Now that is not the only interesting part of the story!

Amazingly, seatbelts were seen as an invasion of civil liberties and were actually considered as dangerous in many places. Today, however, it is estimated that they have saved over 1 million lives. My point is that it is amazing, in retrospect, that this advance wasn’t welcomed with open arms. The roads at the time were complete carnage and seatbelts provided a practical solution to a massive and ever growing problem.

Volvo went on to invent SIPS, WHIPS, ROPS, BLIS, Safety curtains, Collapsible steering columns, City Safe systems, Safety Cages, Laminated windscreens and more. I will let you investigate their inventions further if you are interested enough.

Now - just to be clear - I HAVE NOT INVENTED A NEW SEATBELT! My purpose of writing is to draw an analogy between helping to solve a problem and sitting on the sidelines sniping at the parties involved. Some protagonists (coming back to seatbelts) back in the 1950’s suggested fitting a huge spike in the middle of steering wheels to slow everyone down! Well, since racing was born, as soon as the second car rolled off the production line, that was never going to happen!

When I started in Estate Agency in the early 1980’s we smoked in the office, we photocopied property details and only gave them to people that we thought could afford to buy them. We controlled the market and were the gatekeepers in a very lucrative and completely unregulated market. Well, everything has changed since then, but not so for the conveyancing journey. We still live with an outmoded system and conveyancers are left to pick up the pieces and wrath of buyers, sellers and agents. Largely considered as ‘not fit for purpose’, conveyancers preside over one delay after another and IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT! We urge Estate Agents to throw off their ‘it’s not my job’ attitude and look for solutions to become a proactive and true Property Professional.

We believe one such solution is to encourage vendors to order Searches on the day a property is put onto the market. By doing so, when a buyer is found, some, if not all the documents are back and ready to be used in the transaction. Sellers should make themselves familiar with all the documents pertaining to their sale and put them in a safe place, maybe in the coming ‘property logbooks’?

Whilst it’s not a new seatbelt it is an airbag to cushion the blow of the coming crash, which is likely to have a very sobering effect on pipelines across the land.

Do get in touch to discuss how Property Searches Direct can help you and your transactions.