LV= General Insurance hosted its LV= Sole Site Forum 2022 at F1 Williams, in Wantage on 8 September 2022. The day provided the opportunity to share its future network strategy, consider new ways to further strengthen relationships and build upon its current successes, as well as explore how best to collaborate during the testing current economic climate. ARC360 was on hand to find out more.
The LV= Sole Site Forum 2022, supported by PPG, was the first such in-person event since pre- pandemic, gathering together representatives from each of LV=’s 28 Sole Sites across the UK. Representing the network during the day were some of the UK’s leading groups: ABL Accident Repair Group, Apollo Motor Group, Fix Auto UK, Gemini Accident Repair Group, Halo, Rye Street Group, Steer Automotive and The Vella Group.
Michael Golding, Network Manager at LV= General Insurance hosted proceedings, with Martin Milliner, LV= General Insurance Claims Director opening the day with an overview of developments at LV= over the past few years.
Martin discussed LV=’s acquisition by Allianz, which coincided with its own acquisition of Legal & General’s home business. The culmination of this activity created two businesses – Allianz Personal, the UK’s largest personal lines insurer, and Allianz Commercial.
Best loved
Under the Allianz Personal banner – which uses the strapline ‘Building Britain’s Best-Loved Businesses’, sits eight brands including, specific to motor, LV=; Britannia Rescue; Flow – its new for 2022 aggregator targeted, digital-only brand with 300,000 policies already in place and rising; and EV business ElectriX – a one-stop shop offering drivers everything they need to get on the road with an electric car – from leasing a vehicle, to buying a home charger and getting electric car insurance
Following a brief overview of each business unit, Martin directly addressed the motor market challenges and declared the five aspects of motor claims keeping him awake at night:
- Parts delays and managing customer expectations
- Hire car availability
- Inflation
- Environment and sustainability
- Apprentices/availability of experienced technicians and estimators
“These are collective issues, and we need to look at how to solve them together” said Martin.
LV= own
A number of these issues were echoed by Michael, who first guided delegates through the LV= own repair network structure which up to September has overseen in excess of 73,000 mainstream repairs in 2022 via its 149 LV= approved sites.
Currently 28 are Sole Site Repairers, a figure set to grow before the end of the year. Eight of these Sole Sites also carry LV=’s Green Heart Standard – established to make sure suppliers within its network meet its corporate social responsibility goals and also become a ‘greener’ supplier – with a further five to be announced shortly.
“The Green Heart Standard is something we are extremely proud of and have invested a great deal of energy into ensuring it’s right for all stakeholders,” explained Michael.
Some 35% of repairs go through LV= Sole Sites which consistently offer a two per cent uptick on CSI scores compared to its wider network. An additional 132 prestige repairers also sit alongside the mainstream network courtesy of Avant.
Current climate
Taking a broader look at the current industry climate, Michael listed areas where he felt the industry was under most stress and posed rhetorical questions:
- Staff shortages – what can we do to attract new people and retain within the industry?
- Parts delays – how can the parts ordering process be improved, and do we fully utilise recycled parts opportunities?
- Courtesy cars – can more be done around reducing the customer need for courtesy cars?
- Energy costs – is this an opportunity to become more efficient with booth utilisation, quick drying products etc?
Michael said, “At the moment I think we all have more questions than answers, but we need to understand the impacts and work together to find solutions.”
Transition to EV
Providing an overview of the transition to electric for all, Michelle George, Strategic Partnership Manager, at ElectriX and vehicle leasing partner, Jon Burdekin, Senior EC Consultant at CBVC highlighted how the EV landscape is developing at pace.
Michelle explained how ElectriX was positioning itself as the ‘single source of truth’ and making it easy to switch to EV via its car, charger and cover offering. John highlighted the benefits of the ElectriX car salary sacrifice scheme.
Energy crisis explained
One of the hottest topics of the event (click here for the latest move from LV= to support its repairers) – coincidentally, the same day that PM Liz Truss announced the new energy price plan – was the energy crisis which saw Steve Silverwood, Managing Director of ECA Energy suggest an ‘average’ bodyshop was set to experience a 238% uplift in utility provisions from 1 October.
As the news of Liz Truss’ statement came through – with very limited detail on any business support – Steve said, “It sounds like a positive step, but businesses will still be faced with a huge uplift in prices which is going to prove a challenge for many.”
In a bid to support the forthcoming increases in cost of production, Steve offered five simple areas for businesses to double-down on:
- Data – understand where, when and how energy is used
- Energy wastage – a large percentage of energy use could be avoided
- Behavior – how to get staff engaged
- Projects – which energy efficiency projects to implement
- Process – process, products and equipment
Going green
Providing an overview of its Green Parts proposition and partnership with LV=, Synetiq’s Clients & Green Parts Director, Sarah Hirst described how the business is continuously evolving to meet the needs of the market by encouraging and listening to feedback. She explained the enhancements the business had made to three key areas: operations; mygreenparts; and dispatch/logistics based on feedback received from its partners.
Sarah said, “Our main purpose within IAA and Synetiq is to operate an entirely circular business model that keeps vehicles and green parts in use for their intended purpose.”
Customer is key
The day was rounded out by an insight into LV=’s customer feedback courtesy of Mark McFarland, Senior Customer Insight Analyst who highlighted a CSI score for LV= Sole Site repairers of 88.2% and an NPS of 79%. He too pointed at how, according to the Institute of Customer Service, LV= had the same customer effort score as Amazon, much of which was down to communication during an era of heightened customer expectations.
Michael closed the day following a short question and answer session by saying, “We’re immensely proud of what we have achieved with our Sole Site partners and as we continue to navigate turbulent times collaboration really is the key for us.”
