Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
WHEN Christine Maskill was widowed in 1993, she had to decide whether to sell the accident repair business her husband Gary had started in 1986 or try to run it herself as managing director.
She chose the latter and made a soaraway success of it. Today Newbury Crash Repair remains a thriving concern, and occupies modern 2,400m2 premises.
Although she’s never worked as a paint sprayer or panel beater, she knew a good deal about bodyshops before she took over.
“I’d worked here doing all the admin and I saw taking charge of the firm as a bit of a challenge,” she says. “I also had incredible support from the workforce. They knew me because I was working here full time and they knew the position I’d been left in.”
She’s also been employed outside the sector, which gives her a different perspective on the way it operates. As a biochemist, she previously worked as a product manager with a pharmaceutical company.
In 1993, Newbury, Berkshire, based NCR employed six productives and had an annual turnover of less than £1m. It moved into its current location from a 460m2 site a year ago and now has 18 productives.
“We aim to repair an average of 75 cars a week,” she says.
According to MotorTrader’s survey of top 100 independent bodyshops as measured by turnover, published this month, NCR is 49th with a turnover of £1.8m.
Including lease premiums and the cost of capital equipment – it acquired new ovens, jigs and welding equipment – the move cost NCR almost £250,000. But why commit the company to such an investment and such big premises, at a time when repairers are closing all over the country?
“We did it on a shoestring really,” she says. “It means we can offer insurers service, repair quality and throughput that a lot of other bodyshops can’t. Our only major competitor in Newbury is Gowrings, the Ford dealership.
“The old site wasn’t large enough for us to cope with the work we were taking on. If we’d stayed, we’d probably have been limited to doing work for just two major insurers, and that would have smacked of putting all our eggs in one basket. The move meant we could hang on to five or six good work providers, and not be too dependent on any of them.”
The last year has been hard work, she says.
“Going from 30 cars to 55 cars a week, then heading for 75 cars a week, has meant a continuous effort by all the managers to stay on top of things,” she says. “Our staff and our systems had to be developed to cope.”
Recruiting skilled people hasn’t been easy, even though the closure of some smaller shops has resulted in traders knocking on NCR’s door looking for a job.
“Newbury is still really a market town, so we’ve had to pull them in from Andover, Basingstoke and Reading,” she says. “We offer travel allowances, however, and we believe we’re getting a reputation for being a decent company to work for.”
NCR attracts business from within a 15-mile radius. Providers include Churchill, Cornhill, Direct Line, MMA, Norwich Union and Zurich.
“I have an excellent relationship with all of them, because I think they can see that putting their work in here will reduce their headaches and hassle,” she says.
“However when they come knocking on the door – and that’s the situation I’m finding myself in now, for the first time in 15 years – I let them know that we’re here to make a profit. If we don’t, then we won’t be able to continue to reinvest.
“The average bodyshop really is struggling, net profits have definitely reduced over the past five years and the trade bodies [NCR is a member of the Retail Motor Industry Federation and the Motor Vehicle Repairers Association] need to get this message across to insurers.”
Insurers account for 70 per cent of NCR’s throughput, with fleet, local authority and private non-insurance work making up the balance. “We also do smart repairs,” she says.
If a retail customer is having a damaged rear wing fixed, for instance, then he or she may be happy to pay to have one or two minor dents elsewhere on the vehicle removed at the same time.
NCR relies heavily on franchised dealers for supplies of body panels, and they don’t always have them in stock.
“We repair as much as we can, but parts delivery delays represent a major problem for us, and the situation is deteriorating. A few weeks ago we couldn’t get Rover panels, and we had a Smart car sitting in our bodyshop for months because the parts we needed weren’t available.”
This means the customer is running round in a courtesy vehicle for longer.
“Courtesy cars are horrendously expensive, and a pain to organise and administer,” she says. “Yet if I were a customer, I’d want a replacement vehicle, and we can use it as a marketing tool. The industry can no longer say courtesy cars shouldn’t be available.”
Part of the site is rented to car rental fleet Enterprise, so the client who is entitled to a courtesy car can upgrade to, say, a people carrier for a modest fee if he or she wishes.
With an attractive entrance hall with steps leading up to the reception desk, walking into NCR is a little like walking into a private health clinic. That’s deliberate, says Maskill.
“We want our customers to feel comfortable,” she says. “We don’t want it to be daunting. We want them to be confident we’ll fix their car quickly, and to a high standard.”
As to the future, and despite the sector’s travails, Maskill is full of optimism and plans for further expansion.
“I aim to have another bodyshop within the next five years in a location to be decided,” she says. “It will probably be by acquisition. I’ve got a positive outlook for the future and I believe that if you’ve got that you’ll go far.”
Although she’s never worked as a paint sprayer or panel beater, she knew a good deal about bodyshops before she took over.
“I’d worked here doing all the admin and I saw taking charge of the firm as a bit of a challenge,” she says. “I also had incredible support from the workforce. They knew me because I was working here full time and they knew the position I’d been left in.”
She’s also been employed outside the sector, which gives her a different perspective on the way it operates. As a biochemist, she previously worked as a product manager with a pharmaceutical company.
In 1993, Newbury, Berkshire, based NCR employed six productives and had an annual turnover of less than £1m. It moved into its current location from a 460m2 site a year ago and now has 18 productives.
“We aim to repair an average of 75 cars a week,” she says.
According to MotorTrader’s survey of top 100 independent bodyshops as measured by turnover, published this month, NCR is 49th with a turnover of £1.8m.
Including lease premiums and the cost of capital equipment – it acquired new ovens, jigs and welding equipment – the move cost NCR almost £250,000. But why commit the company to such an investment and such big premises, at a time when repairers are closing all over the country?
“We did it on a shoestring really,” she says. “It means we can offer insurers service, repair quality and throughput that a lot of other bodyshops can’t. Our only major competitor in Newbury is Gowrings, the Ford dealership.
“The old site wasn’t large enough for us to cope with the work we were taking on. If we’d stayed, we’d probably have been limited to doing work for just two major insurers, and that would have smacked of putting all our eggs in one basket. The move meant we could hang on to five or six good work providers, and not be too dependent on any of them.”
The last year has been hard work, she says.
“Going from 30 cars to 55 cars a week, then heading for 75 cars a week, has meant a continuous effort by all the managers to stay on top of things,” she says. “Our staff and our systems had to be developed to cope.”
Recruiting skilled people hasn’t been easy, even though the closure of some smaller shops has resulted in traders knocking on NCR’s door looking for a job.
“Newbury is still really a market town, so we’ve had to pull them in from Andover, Basingstoke and Reading,” she says. “We offer travel allowances, however, and we believe we’re getting a reputation for being a decent company to work for.”
NCR attracts business from within a 15-mile radius. Providers include Churchill, Cornhill, Direct Line, MMA, Norwich Union and Zurich.
“I have an excellent relationship with all of them, because I think they can see that putting their work in here will reduce their headaches and hassle,” she says.
“However when they come knocking on the door – and that’s the situation I’m finding myself in now, for the first time in 15 years – I let them know that we’re here to make a profit. If we don’t, then we won’t be able to continue to reinvest.
“The average bodyshop really is struggling, net profits have definitely reduced over the past five years and the trade bodies [NCR is a member of the Retail Motor Industry Federation and the Motor Vehicle Repairers Association] need to get this message across to insurers.”
Insurers account for 70 per cent of NCR’s throughput, with fleet, local authority and private non-insurance work making up the balance. “We also do smart repairs,” she says.
If a retail customer is having a damaged rear wing fixed, for instance, then he or she may be happy to pay to have one or two minor dents elsewhere on the vehicle removed at the same time.
NCR relies heavily on franchised dealers for supplies of body panels, and they don’t always have them in stock.
“We repair as much as we can, but parts delivery delays represent a major problem for us, and the situation is deteriorating. A few weeks ago we couldn’t get Rover panels, and we had a Smart car sitting in our bodyshop for months because the parts we needed weren’t available.”
This means the customer is running round in a courtesy vehicle for longer.
“Courtesy cars are horrendously expensive, and a pain to organise and administer,” she says. “Yet if I were a customer, I’d want a replacement vehicle, and we can use it as a marketing tool. The industry can no longer say courtesy cars shouldn’t be available.”
Part of the site is rented to car rental fleet Enterprise, so the client who is entitled to a courtesy car can upgrade to, say, a people carrier for a modest fee if he or she wishes.
With an attractive entrance hall with steps leading up to the reception desk, walking into NCR is a little like walking into a private health clinic. That’s deliberate, says Maskill.
“We want our customers to feel comfortable,” she says. “We don’t want it to be daunting. We want them to be confident we’ll fix their car quickly, and to a high standard.”
As to the future, and despite the sector’s travails, Maskill is full of optimism and plans for further expansion.
“I aim to have another bodyshop within the next five years in a location to be decided,” she says. “It will probably be by acquisition. I’ve got a positive outlook for the future and I believe that if you’ve got that you’ll go far.”