I was recently supporting the great team of Fire Safety Stick by co-manning their stand at the Classics on the Common car show. They'd set it up in a good location and were educating the show goers about the benefits of their products, as well as giving demonstrations. It was a great day and I learnt a lot about the effectiveness of their compact fire extinguisher and the history of how it was developed; by the Russians during the Space Race no less.
They were also selling their products at a substantial "show special" discount, giving a price that as a reseller I can't even come close to.
So in theory you have the perfect situation. You're at a well known, well respected car show with 1000s of spectators who all understand that a car fire is a risk. You also have lots of stock available to sell, a great special offer and the ability to demonstrate the product right there. And yet hardly anybody was buying. Why?
Surprisingly, despite the deep discounts on offer, people were still put off by the price. As an example I spoke with a gentleman who was ex-Fire Service and was there in his 1980 MGB GT. Those two things alone should have meant that he would be buying but no, £60 was too much for him. So he drove home from that event without any kind of fire extinguisher in his classic car, which was his absolute pride and joy. If it had caught fire, all those years of care would have literally gone up in smoke.
There were numerous other examples including the young man who'd already had 3 car fires and now drove a 600hp turbocharged Renault Clio with an exhaust straight out of the front wing. If that hasn't gone up in flames already then it's by sheer good fortune, but he wasn't buying either.
The conclusion I drew from this is that, when considering the chance of a car fire, there are two schools of thought:
1. It won't happen to me.
2. It has happened to me, but it won't happen again.
There is some risk here clearly and yet for just £60 (normally £70) both of these people (and the many others we spoke to) could have eliminated that risk. Not the risk that their car might catch fire, but the risk that they won't have a way to deal with it if it happens
The Fire Safety Stick, is small, light and robust, requires no servicing and lasts a minimum of 10 years. It is a "fit and forget" product and better still you don't even need to fit it, you can simply leave it in your glovebox or car door pocket. If in the next 10 years you have a car fire, then you can tackle it. If you don't have a fire then it has cost you just £7 a year to have the peace of mind. To that end I now carry a Fire Safety Stick in my car.
I am not expecting a fire but I would hate to be on the hard shoulder of a motorway trying to get my children out of their car seats while the flames were encroaching on the cabin. I'd much rather spend the equivalent of £7 a year to know that, if the worse were to happen, I could use the Fire Safety Stick to buy myself some time and get them out safely.
And that, surely, is a price worth paying?