New research by AX, a provider of UK accident assistances services, suggests that bodyshops need to put more emphasis on after hours services. They say there is a general spike in accidents during the evening rush hour and it is essential that bodyshops have the personnel and services in place cope with demand.

The research also says that despite the relatively mild winter, repair centres need to remain prepared as March is secondly only to November for car-to-car incidents

The analysis of over 57,000 vehicle accidents managed by AX on behalf of its work provider partners shows that evening commuting time between 4pm and 6pm accounts for some 20% of all accidents on any given day. Drilling down into these figures, they found that almost one in six accidents happen in the 10-minute period starting at 5pm. The school-run period between 2pm and 4pm was found to be the second busiest period for crashes.

The survey also found that 34% of accidents involved a rear end impact and 31% of impacts involved hitting a parked vehicle.