The Bodyshop Magazine Conference provides a platform to provoke debate, bring together great ideas and discuss strategic solutions to improve bottom line profits, and offers delegates the chance to get together with key players from all sides of the UK automotive industry. Previous Conferences have been effective catalysts for major change and the driving force behind a number of pioneering industry milestones.

Back in 1997, at the first Industry Event, Zurich Insurance’s Bob Trinder asked delegates: ‘Which industry am I referring to? Over capacity... new entrants... squeezed margins... added value demanded...’ He could so easily have been talking about the current bodyshop industry situation, and went on to warn that repairers and insurers should keep an eagle eye out for new market players such as Tesco, who at the time were already starting to sell motor insurance.

A year later, and David Creswell reiterated the same warning.  He examined the developments in the UK motor insurance market with a particular emphasis on consolidation, branding and vehicle manufacturers, predicting possible new entrants in the form of haigh street names such as Sainsbury, BA and Shell. ‘How long before we get Virgin and M&S insurance,’ he said. Well, pretty soon David, as it turned out.

Sticking to the insurance theme, Groupama’s Tim Ablett  in 2001 said that he was fed up of the typical insurance hard sell model. ‘We spend money telling the customer how to save money on insurance and then don’t talk to them until it’s time for them to renew their policy,’ he said. ‘Where is the value proposition in that? We have only ourselves to blame for the lack of customer loyalty.’

Roger Dunn from Honda hit the nail on the head with his ‘crystal ball’ prediction in 2001 when he said that cars would become more complex and more difficult to repair.  In fact, the Conference has proved to be a pretty safe bet for hit tips for the future, so let’s see how Chris Oakham’s 2002 prediction pans out... ‘There will be 6,000 fewer panel beaters and painters in 10 years,’ he said back then.

The loudest and clearest message at the 2001 Conference was that estimating inconsistencies were not acceptable. Vicky Gardner, autoPOLIS,  told delegates she was concerned insurers were not tackling fundamental problems within the process, ‘What is clear is that insurers have major commercial issues that need addressing and the lack of transparency in their reporting is a problem,’ she said.

Throwing down the gauntlet, Martin Norbury challenged the industry to improve the standards in estimating and to put an end to the inconsistencies and lack of transparency in estimating software. Following proposals at the Conference came an initiative to investigate systems transparency. The Estimator Accreditation and Systems Transparency (EAST) committee and working party groups were put in place to tackle both issues. It has been a long, hard road but the EAST committee and working group have stuck to their tasks and achieved some remarkable successes including the development and implementation of systems and protocols to ensure that estimating systems with Thatcham times are consistent and transparent, whilst work is progressing well on a parallel protocol for VM times based systems.

Working closely with such organisations as the IMI, Thatcham and the IAEA, the EAST committee has seen through the creation of a national standard for both bodyshop estimators and insurance engineers now crystallised in the demanding ATA qualification for Vehicle Damage Assessors. At the same time, the Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors (IAEA) overturned a 70 year old rule to allow bodyshop estimators to join their organisation. During a seven year campaign working party members worked tirelessly, with the help of the numerous other behind-the-scenes figures, and their labours continue.

The 2002 Conference saw the introduction of an Interactive Vehicle Technology Session to highlight some of the dramatic changes to vehicle construction materials and techniques. Over the years this session has received fantastic backing and support from numerous vehicle manufacturers keen to provide a range of cars, both specialist and mass market, to highlight the use of advanced materials and construction technology.

At the 2003 Conference the industry’s skills shortage was top of the agenda. Steve Butler, ACT  (National) spoke of the politics, demographics and the economy that were affecting the number of people attracted to the refinish industry. He compared repairer recruitment to that of the plumbing trade – an industry which has since reversed its fortunes in terms of attracting entrants through its CORGI certification programme. Then, 94% of delegates voted that it was time to take action over the skills crisis and threw their weight behind Steve to set up a working party to address the skills problem.

So the Skills Shortage initiative began with several successful meetings with the working party and the then Automotive Skills. As a result, two repairer representatives joined the Automotive Skills Council (later the IMI) and the initiative was passed to IMI capable hands. In addition, a copy of AutoCity, a CD rom aimed at 14-19 year olds produced by Automotive Skills , Thatcham and Bodyshop Magazine, was distributed to every school and college in the UK.

During the 2005 Conference, Peter Roberts told delegates that Thatcham was developing a standard with BSI which, he said, will result in Thatcham managing a PAS, with certification anticipated in a year’s time. The following year, the Thatcham PAS 125 Kitemark was published and, to date, there are 124 approved Kitemark repairers.

John Driscoll, BMS kicked off proceedings at the 2006 Conference with a 10 minute blast of hot topic industry issues. ‘It’s crazy to offer the motoring public a five-star service on a two-star budget.’ When he said it’s time to give something different a go and asked ‘Who’s in?’ people to email their support, emails flooded in during the Conference, and a meeting was set up at Bodyshop Magazine’s offices.

Last year’s Conference provided a time for reflection.  Phil Gledhill, on the eve of his retirement from Norwich Union after 35 years, spoke passionately about industry achievements and criticised lightweights in the industry. On a positive note, Unipart’s Jim Forde was enthusiastic about our ability to come together and discuss matters. ‘We have the leading bodyshop industry in the world,’ he said.

Richard Beevers, Customer Plus warned delegates, ‘Most repairers in this country will be out of business in 10 years, guaranteed, but the great news is you are here, you’re getting a wake-up call.’ Once again, it’ll be interesting to revisit his comments in 2017.

In 2008 we are yet again creating a completely new conference concept, looking at all of the key issues and challenges currently facing the industry through the eyes of a ‘typical’ bodyshop.  This Conference will be lifting the lid on the day-to-day realities of the collision repair in 2008, the differences of perspective within a single business, how these have been resolved and how their challenges have been overcome – we’re sure its going to strike a chord with all sides of the industry present and shine a light on how practicality and pragmatism can be the route to success.