Page 10 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

10
NEWS
PAINT&PANEL
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
IAG PROFITS UP
BRIEFS
IAG HAS POSTED 16% NET PROFIT
growth to $1.07 billion in 2019, driven by strong results in personal insurance and an improvement in commercial in- surance in Australia, as well as strong profitability in New Zealand.
IAG also reported that its gross written premiums were up 3.1% to more
than $12 billion, mainly from
higher rates; while its insur-
ance division profit dipped 13% to $1.22 billion, partly due to large natural disaster claims such as the Sydney hailstorm in December.
IAG said it expects 'low single digit' growth in premiums this fiscal year, supported by commercial rate increases and underlying margin growth.
Regarding the IAG Repair hub initi- ative the report states: 'We’ve en- hanced our motor repair model, in
conjunction with the Royal Auto- mobile Club of Victoria (RACV), to get customers back on the road quickly. This model also involves two repair partners and initially covers six sites
in metropolitan centres.'
ANYTIME I-CAR TRAINING
I-CAR AUSTRALIA HAS ANNOUNCED THE
launch of its online learning platform which will enable technicians to access new courses 24/7.
As part of the new PDP 2.0 evolution, this first release includes 27 new cours- es of which 22 are online, three are vir- tual classroom and two will be live courses. They cover the most relevant current topics including Advanced Driv- er Assist Systems (ADAS), production management, new vehicle technologies and electronics, that are having an im- pact on collision repairs nationally.
These courses will provide the on- going annual training requirement for estimators, structural and non-Struc- tural technicians and assessors as well as providing a new production
management role training pathway. The 22 online courses are in a one hour interactive format and can be closed and accessed as time permits.
This will be the first of a series of new course rollouts over the next 18 months as many older I-CAR courses will be archived and where applicable, will be upgraded.
As part of the planned complete revamp of its training curriculum, I-CAR will de- liver the most advanced collision repair training on offer globally. The new course details will be available for review through the new course catalogue page where courses can now be selected by name, subject or role requirements. A complete ‘how to access live courses’ is also availa- ble on the website.
ACCUSPRAY WINNER
Congratulations to Bill Collins of Canton Beach in NSW who won a 3M Accuspray Kit for taking part in our 2019 Paint Technician Survey. The results have been published in the July issue of the magazine. Thank you to everyone who completed the survey and many thanks to 3M for offering the Accuspray Kit as a prize.
SLUGGISH CAR SALES
New vehicle sales figures for the month of August 2019 were reported at 85,633 units, a 10.1 per cent drop over the same month in 2018 says Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries FCAI). Each segment of the market recorded a downturn, with passenger vehicles dropping 16.7 per cent with 25,783 sales, SUVs down 5.4 per cent with 39,040 sales and light commercial vehicles down 8.6 per cent with 17,513 sales.
NEW WINDSCREEN STANDARDS
Standards Australia has released the revised version of AS2080:2019 Safety Glazing for Land Vehicles. The standard is now aligned with the current Vehicle Standard. The automotive glass replacement industry was adversely affected by conflicts across the standards.