We want to get back to repairing cars

摘要

From SLAs to AMCs, the bodyshop trade has seen vast changes in the last two decades. Here, Heather Grant offers her take on an industry desperate to loosen the chokehold of the insurance giants. No other industry can be as complex or difficult to trade in as the bodyshop sector. Earts discounts, free courtesy cars, insurer SLAs, bonus systems, bottom line discounts, paint rebates and referral fees are inherent in the industry. Bodyshops are at the mercy of their paymasters who continue to exert pressure and control. Long-term contracts offer no protection as many good bodyshops have found to their cost when suddenly, through no fault of their own, a third or more of their work disappears.