Page 26 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine

IBIS GLOBAL FOCUS
IBIS AUSTRALIA
Paint & Panel is the media partner for IBIS Worldwide and each year produces a report on the Australian market for the IBIS Global Focus – read all around the world. By Sam Street.
THE REPAIR LANDSCAPE in Australia is shifting at an unprecedented pace. Insurers are very much in charge of the market and are continually finessing their approved repairer network, many favoring fixed price repairs. The efficiencies and buying power of the larger repair entities make it extremely difficult for smaller businesses to even come close.
The increasing complexity of vehicles is both an opportunity and a challenge for repairers. Those who don’t invest in training are unlikely to be sent cars by insurers.
Car sales are robust and while new cars are safer, there will be more cars on the road and an increase in younger less experienced drivers is predicted, which means that there
is unlikely to be a sharp decline in accidents.
WHAT TRENDS ARE EVIDENT?
The most significant factor in the last 12 months has been the stellar growth of the AMA Group. When the two largest consolidators merged back in 2015 they had 70 shops between them and a turnover of around AUD$200 million. In the last two years the group has doubled – with 120 sites through both acquisition and new build and now a turnover of around AUD$450 million. The next largest entity is Capital S.M.A.R.T which is owned by one of the two largest insurers in Australia, Suncorp with around 50 sites nationally. Between these two major consolidators it is thought that they repair approximately one third of all crash damaged cars in Australia. Both groups are also courting manufacturer approval, particularly for rapid repairs.
The two groups have had a profound effect on the market both in terms of adopting a rapid repair mindset and methodology and the realisation that insurers like to deal with MSOs. Accordingly there has been an increase in smaller scale MSOs of two to five sites. Having said that AMA has bought two of these in the last six months.
While the buyout deal with US capital venture company Blackstone, owner of Service King, fell through it is likely that
26 PAINT&PANEL July / August 2018
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