It all started back in April 1989, when Seward Motor Group was formed to purchase a dealership site in Christchurch, Dorset. The site came with a small bodyshop which, at the time, employed seven staff and had a turnover of £300,000 per annum.

Ian Clark, MD, from a motor dealership background, and Paul Marden, MD, who has been in the accident repair industry since leaving school, could see an opportunity to lead the development of the Seward Accident Repair Centres business along the south coast into Hampshire and Sussex.

Since the first acquisition, the group has grown to eight independent sites and trades under the name of Seward Accident Repair Centres. This rapid growth led to further senior appointments to the bodyshop division in 2003, when Tony Totczyk and Nigel Luffman were appointed Operational Directors.

The Seward Accident Repair Group now has a turnover in excess of £19,000,000 and repairs 18,000 vehicles a year. It is recognised as one of the leading accident repair groups in the UK.

Seward is part of The National Accident Repair Group. It’s one of nine companies that form the ‘giants’ group, covering the majority of the UK. In total, there are 1,500 staff operating from 70 sites and the collective turnover of the member businesses is around £150m. In all, the accident repair side of Seward employs 250 people – yet the feel of the business is that of a tight team, friendly, hard-working and professional.

The Group has just amalgamated two businesses in the Christchurch area providing improved customer service as well as cutting costs. Due to its close geographical spread, the group is in the favourable position of being able to move staff and referrals between sites depending on business needs. Despite the industry and market becoming more challenging (each site is now costing around £20,000 extra per month to run compared to five years ago), last year the business exceeded all targets.

The four directors, Ian, Paul, Tony and Nigel, each take responsibility for driving the business forward in different areas. Ian and Paul are familiar faces to many in the industry, whereas Tony and Nigel enjoy keeping a lower profile and take operational responsibility for the business on a day-to-day basis.

Another familiar face is Jay Commander, Group Process Manager, who is well-known in the industry for his time spent at JCA Coatings before joining Seward in 2007. Jay has certainly made his mark. One of his first jobs was to enroll the company as a member of the Health and Safety Council. After that, he passed the PAS 125 auditor programme and went on to get each of the sites through the Kitemark audit – box ticked – so he’s moved on to the next challenge.

In the first six months of 2010 the group had already completed 11 audits – from BSI inspectors to VMs. Rather than complain about the intense pressure this puts the business under, Jay is positive about the development this encourages within the group. ‘In the long term we gain from these audits as we learn,’ he said.

Many bodyshops actively promote from within but Seward takes this to a whole new level. Both Operational Directors Tony and Nigel have been promoted through the business, and Tony Aquilina, Seward Group Purchasing Manager, was a parts manager at a single site prior to his new role. Bodyshop Managers, Phil House, Nick Elkington, Chris Manley and Martyn Bourne have all been promoted through the business, while Angelo Suarez-Perez and Nick Broughton were managing sites that Seward purchased.

With such a culture of rising through the ranks, it’s no surprise to hear that training is intrinsic to Seward’s success. The training commitment is astounding: in 18 months the group achieved 45 NVQ Level 3s, got 12 estimators through the VDA ATA and achieved 16 senior panel, 14 senior MET and 16 senior paint ATAs. That’s a grand total of 103 fully-trained and accredited staff.

Staff

Interestingly, Seward sends its VDAs on courses which, traditionally, you’d only see panel and paint technicians attend. ‘It’s important that our VDAs understand repair techniques such as plastic repair so they are able to spot and include such processes and techniques at the initial stage,’ said Phil House.

In the local area, the Seward name is synonymous with a good place to work and the company receives a number of CVs weekly. It’s a business that’s investing, a business on the up. ‘The biggest asset to our business is our staff – we know this,’ said Tony Totczyk. ‘We need their support, buy in, hard work – whatever you want to call it – without the drive and commitment from everyone there is no Seward. Staff training and development is key to our success.’

Over the past 12 months, the group has identified two main challenges: reduce key-to-key times and maintain profitability in a declining market. The directors completed a full review and discovered that, on average, 20% of work could be repaired in under eight hours and decided to invest in Smart repairs. ‘We recognised the importance of adopting a competitive Smart and cosmetic repair offering to our customers,’ said Tony. ‘We know volumes are going to continue to decrease and, in consultation with our employees, we’ve taken steps to prepare for a different market. We now have a 24-hour shop (a real USP for our customers) and recently put five repair vans on the road under the banner Up-2-Scratch. We offer alloy wheel, windscreen and interior trim repairs with a clear and simple menu pricing.’

‘Business Development Manager Rob Hawes has been challenged to expand our Smart repair business,’ said Ian Clark, ‘and so far we have been delighted with the progress he has made since it was launched in December last year.’

This has meant a massive investment in equipment and technician training with Smart Express. It’s proving beneficial, cost-effective and efficient for the Seward dealership sites, as well as the other clients Seward services along the south coast. It is also helping the group develop staff and secure their future within the business (despite the recession, Seward employed more staff last year).

 ‘It’s vital that we look at all potential revenue streams internally and externally and adopt a proactive approach to ensure the long term stability of our company,' said Ian. 'This will give sustainable employment to our staff and we fully expect to maintain our profit levels going forward, just from different areas of the business.'

Work mix

Business is steady. Last year Seward implemented a 24-hour shift at a facility at its large Havant site. Here, managers clearly work closely with their clients, holding best practice reviews, trawling over CSI figures, scrutinising leakage costs, monitoring efficiencies and controlling costs in general.

Seward is proud to be a Tier A repairer for RBS and has solus arrangements with Zurich, AXA, Motorcare and LV in its geographical location. It has also just been chosen as an approved repairer for Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex Police. The Group has actively targeted manufacturer approvals – an approach that’s worked out well, with 17 VM approvals covering 50% of the total car park and a workforce that’s well trained to repair those vehicles correctly.

The new site in Fareham has a number of prestige approvals and is extensively equipped with a new aluminium bay and transporters to move work from one site to another within the group according to the vehicle manufacturer approvals and structural/aluminium PAS 125.

Health and safety is high on the agenda. Jay is the designated health and safety and training guru. He works alongside Nash GB to ensure all aspects are compliant. Seward was the first carbon neutral bodyshop in the UK – and is still deadly serious about the impact the business has on the environment. What does this mean? Well, repair over replace is the motto. A no brainer, really, it’s more profitable for the repairer, more cost-effective for the insurer, a more efficient use of time for both and certainly kinder to the planet.

So, to reveal the magic formula behind one of the UK’s fastest growing bodyshop groups... hard work, a sound company structure, willingness to invest, pride in your reputation and a dash of confidence.

‘However, we cannot afford to get complacent,’said Paul Marden. ‘With the level of remuneration insurers are experiencing and the fragile state of the economy, things will deteriorate further. We must work tirelessly on the business to make sure that we are one of the survivors.’