CAA partners with IAEA

CAA is encouraging and supporting all of its in-house engineering team to obtain membership of the Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors (IAEA).

Phil Powles, engineering team manager at CAA, explained, ‘We believe membership of the institute gives an engineer the most recognised and respected professional qualification an automotive engineer can obtain within the motor insurance industry. It’s also important our clients have the confidence that the engineers dealing with their claims are fully up to date with the latest methods, costs and legislation and membership of the institute will help give them that re-assurance.’

Trevor Sutton, president and finance officer of the institute, recently visited the team at CAA to discuss the new levels of membership available, and the one which would most suit the individual team member. With the encouragement shown by Trevor, and support from existing members within the team, all remaining non-members made the decision to sign up and become members.

All CAA engineers have, or are now working towards, an ATA VDA qualification which is aligned towards engineers who only deal with the vehicle repair aspect of a claim. As a leading motor claims outsourcing solution, CAA’s engineers have to deal with all aspects of a motor claim and therefore membership of the IAEA is more relevant to the all-encompassing work the team undertakes on a daily basis.

CAA is also a strong believer in ‘growing its own’ and has a handful of younger, less experienced engineers who, under the supervision of the more experienced team members, handle the lower level cases and administration aspects of an engineer’s role.

‘It’s good for the younger engineers as it makes them feel part of the team and well as sets them on the correct path for their professional careers’ said Phil. ‘It gives them a goal to work towards as well as provides a personal development trail as they gain further experience. It also makes them feel valued by the company in showing their commitment to them by funding their membership and training.’
The Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors (IAEA) was founded in 1932 and currently has 1200 members worldwide. Membership is determined by a combination of experience and qualification with members having a responsibility to maintain Continuing Professional Development to ensure they are aware of the latest developments in vehicle construction, technology as well as insurance contracts and legislation.