ARC360 introduced its first on-demand show, enabling industry stakeholders to log on and watch what they want, when they want.
The inaugural session features Paul Sell, director of Trend Tracker, discussing traffic levels and the potential impact on claims; an insight into the personal injury reforms about to come into effect from Donna Scully, director/owner of Carpenters Group; an industry interview with Chartwell CEO Chris Brightmore; and Mike Monaghan, owner of Auto-Motivate, who explains why training our brains is even more important than training our bodies.
Traffic
Paul began by presenting data from TomTom, which has found that while congestion is building the return to traditional rush hours is not so evident.
Analysing data from London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow, he said that traffic volumes are still rising, but the increases are most apparent during the weekend. He backed this up with data from Google, which revealed that 33% of us are still not travelling to work.
Critical point
Paul said, ‘I think this is a critical point and we need to see how this changes going forward.’
He concluded, ‘Congestion levels are definitely up and more people are going to their places of work, people are also going to the shops and the weekend traffic is up, but the week-day traffic is down versus 2019, the rush-hour traffic is down, therefore claims frequency is down.
‘But public transport use remains low, and as we move through May and restrictions continue to lift, we will continue to track these indicators and claims volumes.’
Personal injury
Meanwhile, after years of consultations and planning, the now infamous reforms to personal injury claims – specifically whiplash – are due to come into effect on 31 May.
Essentially, the reforms will see the small claims limit increased from £1,000 per injury to £5,000, while a new portal will enable claimants to initiate the process themselves, without a lawyer. As part of the reforms, insurers will be given 30 days to respond, and if they don’t respond in that time then it will be assumed they are accepting liability.
Donna said, ‘It’s one of the biggest set of reforms we’ve seen for a long time, maybe forever.’
However, she warns of potential teething problems.
Challenges ahead
She said that the new portal, developed by the Motor Insurers Bureau, does not include a complete list of insurers. That could result in the wrong insurer receiving the claim, and if they have to pay out there are currently no mechanisms enabling them to be reimbursed.
Further, Donna says that while compensation for whiplash will be a fixed fee, it is possible to claim for extra damages in exceptional circumstances – although it remains unclear what might constitute exceptional circumstances.
With the process going digital, there is also the greater potential for fraud with unscrupulous claims farmers likely to spot an opportunity, and, no less significantly, Donna says the reforms are only half complete.
Two parts
She explained, ‘The whole purpose of these reforms is to bring the cost of claims down because you’re taking some of the fat out of it. But unfortunately there are two parts to this. Part one is around whiplash, and part two is credit hire, credit repair and rehab, and that hasn’t been done. So they’ve only done part of these reforms, which was meant to be a package.’
She is urging the industry to get to grips with these reforms though, as it is unlikely the motorist will know anything about them until they have had an accident.
Donna said, ‘There is a duty on us to explain this to the customer, so we have to understand it ourselves.’
Skills
Meanwhile, Chartwell CEO Chris looked back on how the industry has changed in the last year and where he sees it going, identifying skills as the greatest challenge as new technology floods the market.
Chartwell serves the prestige and supercar market, but Chris says the skills crisis effects everyone.
He said, ‘The biggest challenge we face is down to our skillset. A lot of technology has come out during Covid and we’ve found ourselves a little bit exposed. Porsche have brought out an electric car, but it’s a very different electric car with a set of problems we weren’t ready to encounter. I’m picking Porsche but all manufacturers are bringing new technology into the mix and we’ve been on a steep learning curve.’
He continued, ‘A lot of it is blind technology, too, and it’s not knowing that is the problem, because you take on a repair and don’t know what’s involved and you can end up losing money. For us it’s been about restructuring and retraining to meet the market as it is today; you can’t rely on your old knowledge because they’re not building cars the way they used to.’
Sector diverging
Going forward, he sees the sector diverging into two specific parts – volume repairs and specialist repairs.
He said, ‘There are two races: the race for groups and insurers to operate on a national or large regional level dealing with things in a very processed, organised way where everything is automated; and the commercial side where volumes are lower but you’re handling an expensive product that is expensive to repair and you need extensive training before you even touch it.
‘I see the two going very separate ways.’
Mindset
One thing in common with all the above is change. There is no doubt the industry is shifting and Mike believes only those with the right mindset will be able to adapt.
After 40 years in the industry, he set up Auto-Motivate to deliver ‘mindset and human performance development training, normally only available to sporting elite and corporate giants.’
He explained how 90% of our thoughts remain the same from day to day, and how, over time, that conditions our thinking and reduces our perceptions.
How good?
He said, ‘These limits affect the individual as well as the businesses they work for and with. But we train our bodies, so why do we largely ignore our brains? The question has to be, not how good am I, but how good can I be?
‘This industry offers limitless opportunities, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve been doing it for years or are just starting out, any time is the right time to develop your mindset capabilities. If you can see more, you can achieve more.’
