IS COSTLY TRAINING A BAD DEAL FOR SHOP OWNERS?
Training is an exceptionally important part of any repair shop and should always be taken seriously. That said however, a great return on investment should always be part of this package as your artisans take time out to train, leaving you without your skilled workers for days and there is no help in work directive from OEMs, despite doing their training to stay approved members of the network.
Vehicle makers in the last three decades have, because of ever changing global legislation, been forced to adapt the multiple use of bake hardened metals to try and make the vehicles lighter and handle impacts better. These metals are now in excess of 1 500 grades of tortional strengths in common use across all the new vehicle structures and developed by the ULSAB convention. Coupled to these are another 400 or so grades of vehicle aluminium panel strengths found in new cars being repaired every day in local body shops. Recently there has also been an addition of carbon fibre options as well, making repair a working nightmare.
Recently Stellantis released their training requirements for their body shop network. Their courses are charged at R3500 per course and there are 12 optional training courses. If you do the maths quickly, for all 12 courses, that’s a cost of R42 000 per person. If you factor in the hourly wage of an average R270 an hour on top of this cost, plus the fact that work will slowdown in your shop, it gains momentum in cost for the body shop owner.
In this case, theoretical training can be completed online, and Stellantis provide practical hands-on training at their facility across their six vehicle brands. What may not have been considered is the fact that these technicians already know 90% of what they are being taught having worked on various makes and models for many years. Surely there should be an “add onto what you already know” type of style to streamline these courses to be less time intrusive and truly add value to the end-user.
There is a shrinking number of vehicles being sold across the Stellantis stable at present, and with just one vehicle a month on average showing up at very large body shop (approximately 300 cars repaired a month) we surveyed to see the rate of return across a 12-month period, it’s difficult to justify the money and time to be spent on training.
They are not the only OEM with great demands on time and money from the collision repair network for training, equipment and more. There is indeed a ton of investment required across the board from various OEMs with no direct return on invested capital apart from retaining approval from the manufacturer. If the body shop is investing in the correct equipment, achieving audits and keeping the brand’s customers happy (the most important goal at the end of the day!), surely, they should be supported in training – whether online or in quick courses along the way by the OEM, who want these requirements met.
The perception on the receiving end may be that the OEM is seeking to profit from the body shop instead of working as partners to achieve safe and correct repair for their shared customers.
