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EXCLUSIVE by DANTHISDELL
Croydon venue due in weeks following Wakefield successAnd the firm is expected to announce within days that it is buying land in Glasgow for a third shop.
Croydon venue due in weeks following Wakefield successAnd the firm is expected to announce within days that it is buying land in Glasgow for a third shop.
Construction and equipment installation at Croydon is in its final stages. The first cars for repair are expected within weeks, said a spokesman.
He said management was in place and operative staff were being recruited now.
The facility will ultimately have the capacity of the 30,000 square foot shop opened in Wakefield last year. But, he stressed, like Wakefield volume would be built up slowly. Wakefield repairs about 100 cars a week.
Through its Accident Management subsidiary, the insurer is building the shops to complement the capacity of its 130 independent authorised repairers. They will act as test beds for new repair and management techniques to cut repair bills, which make up half of insurance costs. Direct Line is working with ICI Autocolor as its paint supplier.
Lessons learned at Wakefield have already had an impact on Direct Line’s authorised repairers, said the spokesman. Teams of business and technical consultants have had “fairly good usage” by the repair network, so now “we’re backing off that service”, he said, as many “are up to very high standards”.
The goal, he said, is to cut down the number of cars that come back for further work.
“It comes down to the simple practices of controlling work flow and cutting down on the need for repeat repairs,” he said.
When Direct Line’s plans for its own shops became known last year, many observers were shocked by the scale of the proposed operations. Retail Motor Industry Federation bodyshop services general manager Alan Bird warned approved shops within 100 miles of Croydon or Wakefield to look for other sources of work should Direct Line channel too many jobs into its own shops to justify its investment.
But while Wakefield’s 100 cars a week rank it among the country’s busiest shops, its current volume is a far cry from expectations that the facility would dwarf all others.
INSURANCE firm Direct Line is poised to open its second bodyshop, in Croydon, south London.direct line bodyshop in London
He said management was in place and operative staff were being recruited now.
The facility will ultimately have the capacity of the 30,000 square foot shop opened in Wakefield last year. But, he stressed, like Wakefield volume would be built up slowly. Wakefield repairs about 100 cars a week.
Through its Accident Management subsidiary, the insurer is building the shops to complement the capacity of its 130 independent authorised repairers. They will act as test beds for new repair and management techniques to cut repair bills, which make up half of insurance costs. Direct Line is working with ICI Autocolor as its paint supplier.
Lessons learned at Wakefield have already had an impact on Direct Line’s authorised repairers, said the spokesman. Teams of business and technical consultants have had “fairly good usage” by the repair network, so now “we’re backing off that service”, he said, as many “are up to very high standards”.
The goal, he said, is to cut down the number of cars that come back for further work.
“It comes down to the simple practices of controlling work flow and cutting down on the need for repeat repairs,” he said.
When Direct Line’s plans for its own shops became known last year, many observers were shocked by the scale of the proposed operations. Retail Motor Industry Federation bodyshop services general manager Alan Bird warned approved shops within 100 miles of Croydon or Wakefield to look for other sources of work should Direct Line channel too many jobs into its own shops to justify its investment.
But while Wakefield’s 100 cars a week rank it among the country’s busiest shops, its current volume is a far cry from expectations that the facility would dwarf all others.
INSURANCE firm Direct Line is poised to open its second bodyshop, in Croydon, south London.direct line bodyshop in London