The “perfect storm” hasn’t abated, but we know the route through it

A lot’s changed since we began this series back in April. We’ve got a new Prime Minister, new economic factors dominating the news, and new initiatives across our industry.

But the perfect storm is still raging. And we’re still looking for the right route through it to the clearer skies beyond. During this series, we’ve spoken to industry leaders from all across the automotive sector. We’ve talked with repairers, green parts experts, and training experts.

And we’ve seen the path through the storm clouds.

Let’s recap what our experts have shared with us, and see exactly how we’ll navigate the challenges of 2022, 2023 and beyond.

 

The industry needs fresh new talent

The first theme that cropped up time and time again during Kirsty’s interviews was that the automotive industry needs an influx of fresh talent. The first person we spoke to, Lotus Cars’ Steve Plunkett identified this as his key issue right at the start of our series:

“Each time that I speak to a bodyshop they’re short staffed. They haven’t got enough courtesy cars and also have a lack of staff. We’re all having conversations about the average age of staff, and how there isn’t the young talent replacing people who’ve retired, we do need to look specifically at the technical staff. Panel and paint technicians. They’re just really very hard to get!”

The solution? We need to set up our industry as an attractive opportunity for talented young people.

ABLE TO founder Bob Linwood put it best:

“Young people who aren’t going to go on to further education because they don’t want to, or they’re not academic need to find a career destination and our sector can offer a rewarding, sustainable and lucrative career for the right person.”

The right people are out there. We need to work together to find and attract them. And in the words of industry expert David Shepherd, we need to view developing talent as an investment in the future.

“People look at apprentices as a cost, not as an investment. Everyone invests in spray booths and chassis jigs and wheel aligners, etc. but without people you’re never going to get a return on that investment. You can’t repair cars without people!”

 

The industry needs new ideas

David’s fresh thinking about apprenticeships as investments isn’t the only time our experts brought up the need for new ideas. In a rapidly changing industry, you can’t simply continue doing things the way you’ve always done them, just out of habit.

It’s time for a shake-up.

Fix Auto Luton’s Mo Givian has changed the way he thinks. New cars being more expensive isn’t a challenge, it’s an opportunity for repairers to do more work - to think about repairs, not replacements:

“We’re now repairing cars that would have been written off about a year, 18 months ago. We’re having to repair them now, and that’s not always a bad thing. We have a skillset, opportunity to use green parts and total loss avoidance schemes and some extremely skilled technicians that can repair over replace.”

And when a part definitely needs replacing? Well, we need to think past the idea of needing a brand new part, as Hills’ Joe March explained during his chat with Kirsty:

“Repairers and insurers are starting to lose a lot of their options. Parts discounts are being eroded, lines of credit are taken away, and people are questioning things. Asking what they can do. Where can they save on costs? And that’s where green parts started to shine.”

“It’s the right thing to do. It helps to alleviate some of the pressure that’s on repairers.”

 

And most importantly, the industry needs collaboration

The perfect storm has been a call to arms for some. None more so than RMI director Chris Weeks, who’s demanding we all work together to solve the industry’s problems:

“We have to recognise that there are many different business models in play now, some with competing objectives.  But one thing is for sure, cars will need repairing for some time to come and there is only so much capacity to do this.  We need to move away from the outdated situation where repair fulfilment was left to procurement professionals with one sole aim which was to reduce the commodity cost of repair.” 

Simply put, we all need to work together, instead of passing problems down the line.

He’s not alone. David Shepherd said “We’ve got to bring the industry together,” and that’s a great starting point. Morelli owner Ruth Moring-Beale wants to go even further, be braver, stronger, and demand more collaboration:

“The “simple” solution” is for work providers to trust the repairers and begin to part-fund the repairs to enable repairers to continue to trade. Some forward-thinking insurers and work providers are beginning to help with this issue in various ways, but it is sporadic, and I believe needs a change of emphasis across the industry. It obviously involves a huge amount of trust between repairers and work providers but it’s not an insurmountable issue.”

Trust. Collaboration. Togetherness. You can’t argue with that.

By pulling together, as insurers, as vehicle providers, as repairers, we can weather anything the future throws at us. From the very first word of this series, we’ve been impressed by the continued resilience of everyone we’ve spoken to, and the people they work with every day. And we’ve been convinced that collaboration is the key to our industry’s survival and its future success.

It’s that collaboration that underpins the automotive sector’s resilience. Time and time we’ve faced challenges, time and time we’ve overcome them. Because when we all work together, there’s nothing that we can’t accomplish.

It’s great to see that our experts agree. And that the way forward is together.

With you, beside you and for you. The Cogent Hire way.