The Assessor Winter 2026 PDF - Flipbook - Page 20
JOURNAL
TECHNICAL
The recent Thatcham/CEBR survey reports sharp declines in body repair
apprenticeships – most signi昀椀cantly amongst MET and Accident Repair Technicians.
A COLLECTIVE
COMMITMENT
REQUIRED
ON SKILLS
Dean Lander, Head of Repair Sector Services
at Thatcham Research.
A new study, conducted in partnership with Thatcham Research by the Centre for
Economics and Business Research (CEBR), has highlighted fresh concerns about the
repair skills shortage. However, it’s not all doom and gloom – Dean Lander, Thatcham’s
Head of Repair Sector Services, discusses the results and signposts some solutions.
he threats to smooth
and safe repair,
repairability of vehicles
and lack of a workforce
to fully handle growing
complexity, loom large in a new study
unveiled by Thatcham Research.
Research (CEBR), surveyed automotive
businesses and motorists. It offers new
evidence that these issues aren’t just
a point of view. They are challenges
experienced in the day-to-day
management of bodyshops and repair
work昀氀ows.
Regular readers will recall in past
articles that I have warned about
the repair industry’s ongoing skills
de昀椀cit for some time. I’ve also stated
that stakeholders across the value
chain must collaborate more closely
to ensure vehicle repairability is
considered as early in the design
process as possible, nipping problems
in the bud before they grow.
Complex repairs drive higher costs
and longer key-to-key times which in
turn present insurers with a dilemma.
Can they underwrite every new vehicle
entering the car parc? And, if they’re
able to do that, will motor insurance
premiums be kept as low as possible to
help today’s cash-strapped consumer?
T
REPAIR TEAMS DEALING WITH
MULTIPLE PROBLEMS
While I won’t focus too closely on
the views of the consumers surveyed,
it’s useful to note that 89% of drivers
reported moderate to high concern
about the cost of insurance when
purchasing a new vehicle.
When asking insurers about the
challenges to the provision of
affordable coverage, rising repair
costs was the most frequent response
option, selected by 68%. This was
followed by greater vehicle complexity,
at 60%, and growth in EV adoption,
at 54%.
The study, conducted in partnership
with Thatcham Research by the
Centre for Economics and Business
It’s therefore unsurprising that while
repairability and repair skills are front
of mind, they are eclipsed in the survey
results by overall vehicle insurability as
respondents’ number one concern.
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THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | WINTER 2026 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
In tandem, 73% of repair and salvage
experts agreed that the industry
is experiencing a skills gap, with
