Page 14 - Australasian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2018

BODY REPAIR INDUSTRY SURVEY
BODY REPAIR INDUSTRY SURVEY 2018
We had a record response to our repair industry survey with 341 bodyshop owners and managers taking part. By Sam Street.
THANK YOU TO everyone who took 10 minutes to register their opinions and the organisations who encouraged their members to take part, we had a particularly strong response from Western Australia. We're looking at a response rate of around 10% of the industry which gives an interesting and representative picture of how Australia's body repairers are faring and feeling about the industry.
We changed some of the questions this year to reflect industry developments but where possible we will show you the results compared with the last two years - if you see arrows besides the results that indicates how they compare with last year. The full survey is available to download, free, from our website – we're just showing you the highlights here. All data is open to interpretation so I'll give you mine.
The vast majority of our respondents are
relatively small single site shops. Some
businesses are happily ensconced with
insurance companies, 24% are prestige
repairers, 30% specialise by size of repair,
21% have an OEM badge, 28% specialise in
fleet work. The average number of cars
repaired per week has risen, probably due to
many shops investing in ways to streamline
their processes. However worries over
unsustainable profit margins are growing – 40% are quite concerned up 7% which leads me to think that some of those with 'average repair cost' agreements could be struggling.
The big worries working with insurers (we're combining the most and quite challenging responses here) are an inconsistent approach to real time real money at (71%), steering customers (70%), then inconsistent times guides (67%), unrealistic average
14 PAINT&PANEL November / December 2018
cost of repairs (63%) and exactly half of respondents are worried about a low hourly rate.
Confidence that the auto repair business will be profitable in five years is at a three year low. Despite the message to diversify or specialise to supplement lower volumes from insurers if you aren't in their network, there seems to be little uptake. Of our 341 respondents 33% don't specialise in any way.
The bad news figures are that 18% don't use any kind of workshop management system – not even a whiteboard, 22% believe they can't be competitive, 14% are doing nothing to change their business strategy and are just 'hoping for the best'. A staggering 64% of you still don't have an exit plan for the business so are presumably thinking you'll stay on the hamster wheel until you drop off or someone sticks a spoke in it. A further 28% of respondents don't have time for I-Car training – which, unless they are undertaking some manufacturer training, essentially means that they don't have time to learn how to repair today's cars safely.
On the plus side folks are investing in equipment to help them to be more efficient and faster
repairers. Nearly 50% of the industry is using waterborne paints with a further 17% using a mixture of both. With manufacturers becoming more involved in the repair arena having a 'badged' business can be a smart move for many - 21% of respondents will be applying for one in the next 12 months, with Holden, Volkswagen and Toyota as the most sought after.
One of the new questions we asked this year is what car insurance brand would you recommend to friends and family? Allianz came out easily on top, followed by the RACs, particularly RAC WA who many WA repairers speak highly of. RAC/T/AA/Q/V all scored well with manufacturer based- insurance also popular. QBE was next in line. Download the full survey from the Paintandpanel.com.au
“24% are prestige repairers, 30% specialise by size of repair, 21% have an OEM badge, 28% specialise in fleet work.”
www.paintandpanel.com.au