Repair shops losing tradespeople

Forty per cent of collision repair centres responding to a Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF) survey noted they have suffered a loss of tradespeople within the last year, potentially affecting the cycle times of car repairs and, as a result, affecting insurers’ costs.
On average, a collision repair shop has five technicians on staff, the research found. But these same shops reported they have lost an average of two tradespeople in the last 12 months, Jay Perry, the owner and founder of Automotive Business Consultants (ABC), told attendees at a January 2008 CCIF meeting in Toronto.
“That’s huge,” he added. “If you consider the initial statistic of five average techs and then you’ve lost two in the last 12 months we are losing a lot of people to a lot of other trades and there are a myriad of reasons for that.”
In a period when auto claims frequencies appear to be moving back up from record lows, a lack of licensed technicians in a collision repair facility could mean increased costs for insurance companies. For example, as a centre’s cycle times for making vehicle repairs decrease meaning fewer cars are repaired over a designated period insurers’ rental costs start to increase.
Perry said the collision repair industry now has some numbers quantifying the extent of the loss and the industry now has to do something about retention.
“This absolutely highlights it in no uncertain terms,” he said. “That is a gigantic number on average for these shops to lose two people in the last 12 months.”