Page 4 - Australian Paint & Panel Magazine May-June 2019

Editorial
4
PAINT&PANEL
MAY / JUNE 2019
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
EDITOR
Sam Street (02) 9213 8334 samstreet@yaffa.com.au
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
CH, CH, CH,
Max Yaffa (02) 9213 8246 0412 103 800 maxyaffa@yaffa.com.au
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
Luke Buckley (02) 9213 8216 lukebuckley@yaffa.com.au
PUBLISHER
Helen Davies
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER
Martin Phillpott
CHANGES
half of this year seemed a little 'calm before the storm'? I have a feeling that we are going to witness some sig- nificant shifts in the industry in the second half of the year. A series of little birds have told me that the new Strategic Collision Re- pair Group is poised to launch with a 30-strong network some time next month. The probably imminent sale of Capital S.M.A.R.T will really shake up the market place with the group no longer exclusive to Suncorp and hungry to create opportuni- ties to grow the business and market share. Meanwhile IAG is looking to control the entire customer experience with drop and go centres which it says have been successfully trialled with positive
customer feedback.
Of course this makes IAG the customer
and the closest a repairer who services these centres will get to the insured cus- tomer is sitting in the driver's seat moving the car. I'm guessing the theory is that put- ting in an extra layer of cost for IAG to run the program will be worth it as happy cus- tomers are loyal customers.
Suncorp's Repairlink network was a sim-
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Matthew Gunn
ART DIRECTOR
Ana Heraud
STUDIO MANAGER
Lauren Esdaile
DESIGNER
Bree Edgar
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ilar model (apart from repairers having to go there to quote) and yet was dismantled. I believe that Repairlink was the brainchild of Mark Milliner, Suncorp's former CEO Personal Insurance who now happens to be CEO at IAG, which may further explain why this strategy is being embraced.
For the volume IAG exclusive repairers I can't see the centre making a huge differ- ence. However smaller repairers who value their customer relationships and have in- vested in great customer facilities, will be understandably put out.
One benefit of being a smaller, inde- pendent repairer is the ability to be nim- ble. They can review their business plan and ensure that it's on track to weather market changes or if it needs tweaking. Diversification, niches such as fleet, pri- vate or prestige streams should insulate the business from the policies of the big insurers, so that repairers can adapt and thrive in an increasingly tough market.
Sam Street – Editor
I
S IT JUST ME OR HAS THE FIRST
WHAT’S COMING UP IN 2019
EVENTS
• 10 June IBIS Global Summit Italy
• 26 June VACC Industry Awards, Melbourne
• 10 August Capricorn Collision Repair Conference
• 11 October Paint & Panel L!VE Conference Game Changers • 11 October Bodyshop Awards Night of Nights, Melbourne • 15 November Women in Collsion seminar and awards, QLD
If your company has any exciting new products or is involved in any innovative projects, contact Australasian Paint & Panel editor Sam Street on samstreet@yaffa.com.au.