Effectiveness of U.K. collision repair standards questioned

Jan. 1, 2020
Shops still are being bullied into making repairs the cheapest way rather than the best way.
Camille Eber I wrote this past fall about some of the concerns I have about the current effort, launched at the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), to create a formalized set of collision repair standards. I heard from a number of readers about that column, and I thought about one of those responses when I recently read a quote in another article about the standards effort.

Dale Delmege, a former CIC chairman, was quoted as saying his research of the repair standards program in the United Kingdom indicates it has been positive for the industry there.

"They transformed their industry – about an hour and 15 minutes before regulators 'helped them' do so," Delmege was quoted as saying. "Those people over there are pretty happy about where they got to."

I have no reason not to believe Dale. He may very well be right that many in the industry in the United Kingdom feel the standards program has been beneficial. But his comment also made me think about an e-mail I received from someone in the industry in the United Kingdom who had read my column while in the United States, and who felt the concerns I'd voiced in my column were, as the British might say, "spot on."

"Paul," as I'll call the e-mailer, said the standards program in the United Kingdom "quite frankly does not work." All that the program does, he said "is add extra costs onto the companies that implement the standards, and there is no perceivable improvement in repair quality."

Just as others in that country have stated, Paul said insurers like the standards program because it limits their liability. They can say they work with shops that meet and comply with the standards. But, Paul said, those insurers "are not prepared to pay for it."

"They see it as something that should be a given," he said.

The training required under the standards should have been a good thing, Paul said, but it "was fragmented and not integrated correctly," and because of the explosion in the numbers of those seeking training to meet the standards, much of that training "was carried out by people who were themselves insufficiently trained."

It was just a demonstration, Paul said, of the serious skill and knowledge shortage that has festered for years in the trade because shops don't have the finances to invest in ongoing training.

One of the biggest concerns Paul has is with how the standards program in the United Kingdom is policed. The inspectors, he said, are more interested in paperwork than "getting dirty on the shop floor and actually looking at exactly how these cars are being repaired." Shops, he said, are still being bullied into repairing things the cheapest way, not the best way.

Paul acknowledged that the news on the U.K. standards program isn't all bad. Some shops, he said, have found the process has helped them become more efficient and understand their businesses better. But, he said, most agree they aren't being paid enough for it, given the additional effort and expense.

The real winners, he said, are the equipment vendors and the people and organizations involved in overseeing the standards program and inspections.

Paul offered his suggestions for those interested in a standards program here in the United States. Make sure there is a quality training and testing organization in place and independent of insurer influence. Give the power to the people who know how a vehicle should be repaired: the body shops. Make sure consumers are informed about the standards and encouraged to ask good questions of repairers.

And most importantly, Paul said, "Set the standard and then mandate it. If you don't meet the standards, then you don't repair cars. Period."

I hope Paul's comments, like the concerns I voiced in my column last fall about the standards program, will be something those involved in the process here in the United States will keep in mind.

Camille Eber is the second-generation owner of Roth & Miller Autobody in Portland, Oregon.

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