Page 20 - Australaasian Paint & Panel Jan-Feb 2022

NEWS
20
PAINT&PANEL JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
SERVICE KING IN TROUBLE
US REPAIR GIANT SERVICE KING HAS
warned its lenders that dwindling cash is casting doubt on its ability to pay debt and continue as a going concern, ac- cording to people familiar with the com- pany’s fiercely guarded financial results.
The Blackstone and Carlyle Group -backed company reported $31 million in
cash as of the third quarter after it drew $72 million on its revolving credit facility and maxed out its borrowing availability, according to inside sources. The group has 335 sites across the United States (US).
The company also entered into a sale- lease-back agreement with some of its real estate holdings.
Service King reported a loss of $6 million in adjusted earnings during the third quarter, an increase on the $5.4 million loss it reported in the same period a year earlier. It is a sig- nificant turnaround on the $27 million gain the company reported in 2019.
HOLMES’ GOLD
HOLMES PANEL AND PAINT FROM RACE-
view, QLD has achieved I-CAR Gold “The Road to Gold Program suited our business as a means to keep up-to-date with the latest repair considerations and technological advances. It was an exten- sion of our commitment to instil a learning culture throughout our business as we rec- ognise the value of investing in the ongoing development of our talents,” said Matt Bry-
an, owner of Holmes Panel and Paint. "The ability to utilise the option of onsite training and assessment from BASF was of particular benefit for our paint team as they were able to receive their training and assessment without
the need to be offsite.
"With the smash repair industry’s rapid-
ly evolving new technological and material advances, the ongoing Gold Class training will make certain our team is well posi- tioned to increase our knowledge and capa- bilities ensuring we remain competitive and can deliver the highest quality indus- try standards for our clients. In particular with the emergence of electric vehicles, we plan to provide our staff with ongoing training in this area to ensure we are kept at the forefront of the latest vehicle and repair trends,” Bryan said.
HISTORIC RULING ON ‘LIKE FOR LIKE’
RIGHT2DRIVE WON A HIGH COURT AP-
peal on 8 December against IAG in which the court found that it was rea- sonable for not-at-fault drivers to hire a ‘like for like’ car. The dispute began in 2017 when two Right2Drive customers who drove prestige vehicles suffered ac- cidents that were not their fault and were provided with comparable vehicles while their cars were being repaired.
IAG refused to meet the costs of the hire and maintained that the customers had no entitlement under Australian law to a comparable vehicle. Right- 2Drive began litigation against IAG to recover the costs of hire.
The proceedings started in the small claims court of NSW and became lengthy appeals through the NSW court hierar- chy over a period of four years. The ap- peal was eventually pushed through to the High Court. The High Court found in favour of Right2Drive and their custom- ers and dismissed IAG’s appeal.
“We are thrilled with the outcome of the high court hearing. This decision supports Right2Drive’s customer service objective that our customers should not be inconvenienced as a result of another person’s wrongdoing," James Tonna, CEO Right2Drive said.
“When Right2Drive brought this to the attention of the High Court; the Full Bench promptly, unanimously and clearly declared that a motorist is enti- tled to be put back in the same position as he or she would have been in, had the collision not occurred. This bene- fits the entire industry and all Austral- ian drivers”.
An IAG spokesperson said: "At IAG, we are committed to working across the in- dustry to ensure we collectively provide hire car benefits and entitlements for customers. We acknowledge the High Court decision and are pleased that this decision will provide greater consistency and alignment across the industry."