COLLECTIVE COMMITMENT NEEDED FOR SKILLS ADVANCEMENT
A new study, conducted in partnership with Thatcham Research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), has highlighted fresh concerns about the repair skill’s shortage. However, it’s not all doom and gloom.
The threats to smooth and safe repair, repairability of vehicles and lack of a workforce to fully handle growing complexity, loom large in a new study unveiled by Thatcham Research.
In the past Dean Lander has warned about the repair industry’s ongoing skills deficit for some time. He also stated that stakeholders across the value chain must collaborate more closely to ensure vehicle repairability is considered as early in the design process as possible, nipping problems in the bud before they grow.
The study, conducted in partnership with Thatcham Research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), surveyed automotive businesses and motorists. It offers new evidence that these issues aren’t just a point of view. They are challenges experienced in the day-to-day management of body shops and repair workflows.
Complex repairs drive higher costs and longer key-to-key times which in turn present insurers with a dilemma. Can they underwrite every new vehicle entering the car parc? And, if they’re able to do that, will motor insurance premiums be kept as low as possible to help today’s cash-strapped consumer?
It is therefore unsurprising that while repairability and repair sills are front of mind, they are eclipsed in the survey results by overall vehicle insurability as respondents’ number one concern.
Repair teams dealing with multiple problems
While I don’t focus too closely on the views of the consumers surveyed, it is useful to note that 89% of drivers reported moderate to high concern about the cost of insurance when purchasing a new vehicle.
When asking insurers about the challenges to the provision of affordable coverage, rising repair costs was the most frequent response option, selected by 68%. This was followed by greater vehicle complexity, at 60% and growth in EV adoption, at 54%.
In tandem, 73% of repair and salvage experts agreed that the industry is experiencing a skills gap, with respondents highlighting the need for greater visibility and promotion of apprenticeships within the education sector as the most effective long-term solution.
This acknowledgement of the skills deficit reflects wider industry data. The Institute of Motor Industry has highlighted as much, predicting a shortfall of more than 35 000 technicians by 2030. Furthermore, the institute claims the number of employees holding its Electric Vehicle (EV) TechSafe qualification will be 22 500 less than necessary 2035, if we stay on the same trajectory.
Analysis of the latest apprentice data shows sharp declines as well. With automotive apprenticeships falling by 3%, but with occupations within the body repair sector falling even more sharply, MET (-36%), Accident Repair Technician (-23%), Paint Technician (-9%).
As the sector continues to raise concerns about skills more than half (-56%) of business-based respondents in our survey observed that vehicle repair has become more difficult in the past 12 months – making it their primary challenge in returning cars to the road in pre-accident condition. This, they reveal, is driven in large part by complexity of materials, High Voltage and ADAS systems appearing on new vehicles.
The second most prominent challenge (54%) noted during the past year was a lack of technical repair capabilities in handling EVs and ADAS components.
Responding positively and calmly to these challenges
Taken together, the factors outlined previously go some way to explaining why insurability as a whole is seen as the biggest challenge by respondents. Rising repair costs (63%), growing technological complexity (60%) and the slow but steady takeover of the car parc by EVs (55%) is a potent mix compounding the pressure on the insurance system.
But it needn’t all be doom and gloom. Separating each of the component problems to make them easier to assess and respond to is a good starting point. Many body shop businesses are already doing just that.
As I’ve previously noted, now is actually a good time to make a reasonable dent in the skills deficit. Thatcham Research data shows claim frequency is slowing. With this in mind workflows may be less frantic. Of course, this may simply be a temporary relief. But it still gives managers the breathing space to take a step back, audit required skills and arrange suitable training and recruitment to plug any gaps.
When it comes to issues such as repair method availability and integrating ‘insurability by design’ – into vehicle production – preventing repair problems at source – body shops are somewhat at the mercy of VMs’ involvement in the process.
That’s why Thatcham Research is intensifying discussions with incumbent and new VMs, helping them to identify potential vehicle risks and proposing data-led repair solutions. This Automotive Risk Intelligence driven data can then be shared with repair and insurance businesses.
The new research is a stark reminder that automotive professionals across the spectrum – from VM-based engineers to repair technicians working on vehicles, and insurers inspecting and underwriting the cars we drive – feel vulnerable to the rapid changes going on around us.
Ultimately, the future resilience of the repair sector will depend on our collective commitment to bridging the skills gap through investment in training and supporting new talent. This, alongside forging closer collaboration with manufacturers, insurers, and repairers, can ensure that the workforce is equipped to meet the demands of increasingly complex vehicles.
By Dean Lander
