New data has identified some key trends in the UK body repair market during the lockdown period and given an indication of what may lie ahead for both UK and Irish bodyshops.

The analysis is by Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company and Audatex. Its main findings are:

-Compared to the first quarter, by mid-April volumes of new work instructions being sent by motor insurers to UK bodyshops had dropped by 80%.
 
-73% of bodyshop continued to trade in lockdown but mostly at greatly reduced capacity.

-Prior to lockdown net average repair cost estimations (exc. VAT) were consistent at around £1850 mark. This value dropped by £100 when lockdown first came in, but subsequently went up to consistently above the £2000. The reasons for this are that some insurers allowing a temporary lift in labour rates and increased parts costs, perhaps as sourcing options were more limited. It also appears to indicate that insurers and repairers have prioritised more serious non-driveable repairs.

-With both bodyshops and customers keen to maintain the social distancing guidelines, insurers and their network have been triaging which vehicles to take in for repair with top priority given to non-driveable vehicles. As a result a backlog of damaged but driveable vehicles appears to be building. The analysis estimates that many insurance repairers may have the equivalent of three weeks of ‘normal’ level job volumes to come on full return.

-The volume of new instructions is likely to be increased by greater car use, due to a reluctance to use public transport.

-Key-to-key” repair times have improved in UK bodyshop since lockdown from an average of 10 to 5 days. Reasons for this are not clear, although lack of distraction may be a significant factor.