Safe handling of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Contact Salvage Wire to book any of the advertised training - andy@salvagewire.com or telephone 07710 877411

Leadership and Management Training

2 companies, both in the business of recycling cars, within 20 miles of each other, family owned and run, and I visited both on the same day  – there the similarities end.
Leaving the first company I was enthused and motivated by their passion, vision and energy, I wanted to slit my wrists as I left the second business because I was so depressed.
Completely embracing the internet age, company number 1 has designed a process where the vehicles are dismantled, all parts quality controlled, tagged, imaged and racked, then listed on e-bay and sold. At the time of my visit they had over 12,000 listings on e-bay and were selling in excess of 200 items per day.
When I arrived at company number 2 I was immediately met by de-motivated owners and staff telling me that the business was running on fumes, had no future and was just ticking over; the owners had recently invested in another business and were putting their efforts into that, giving the message to their staff that the auto recycling business was not important to them.
The main question that I came away from this under-performing business was how did this happen? This is a business that has been running for over 30 years, very successfully giving a living to the owners and quality employment to their staff, yet it is now struggling to survive. Unfortunately the negative attitude of the owners didn’t give me any hope for a better outcome apart from closure or sale.
The difference between both companies can be summed up in one word – Vision.
The owners of the first company have a vision of the future where they are a factory that is producing green recycled parts, and sell thousands of parts daily using on-line platforms (e-bay is only one tool that they could use). The other company do not have a vision for a successful future for their business at the moment.
Vision is essential for any business to survive; the vision needs to stretch the staff to perform better, for the company to be more efficient, and for customers to want to return and also to recommend their families and friends to that business.
Salvage Wire have developed a training course for Owners, Managers and Leaders within the Auto Recycling and Motor Salvage industry that asks the following questions.

• Do you have a vision for the future of your company?
• Is your company competing at the highest level?
• Is there one thing your company could do better than anyone else?
• Do you have the right staff in the best roles for their skills?

If you have answered yes to 2 or more of those questions then you do not need to read any further, because your business is being run in a manner that will drive it towards the financial goals you have set out, but if you answered yes to only one of those statement, or you cannot answer yes to any of those statements then you need to focus on some core aspects to assist you in achieving the goals you want.

To help you do this Salvage Wire are hosting a one day Leadership and Management training day on Thursday 24th April that will focus on the vision for your business, why you are doing what you do and giving you time to think about a number of key business issues. Liberally sprinkled throughout the day will be additional help and assistance on being a leader and manager in your business, helping your staff to grow and develop, looking for and exploiting opportunities to advance your business, and plenty of time for discussion and thinking about the future.

This could be just the opportunity you are looking for, time away from the business to reflect and think, time to start planning for the next business opportunity, time to start or refine that vision you have for you, your family and your business.

Feedback received from one delegate was “ this really challenged how we run/want to run our business, both of us have taken a lot away from this course to work on”.

For more details of the course, including special discounted rates for BVSF and MVDA members please contact Andy Latham at Salvage Wire on 07710 877411, or andy@salvagewire.com.

Salvage Vehicle Categorisation

1,000’s of motor vehicles are damaged daily in accidents and incidents around the world, and there are different standards applied to each and every vehicle.

Many of these vehicles are repaired by approved body repair centres and continue in use for many years; a proportion are written-off and end up in a salvage yard for disposal.

Many will believe that these vehicles should all be scrapped, but this is not the case as some countries will allow some salvage motor vehicles to be repaired and placed back into use.

In the UK there is a voluntary code of practice in place that is administered by the Association of British Insurers, the header states that all members of the ABI should adhere to the code along with members of some other organisations listed in the same part of the code.

The code separates written-off vehicles into 4 separate categories, A, B, C and D. 

Category A is pure scrap - it is worth so little that all it is good for is processing through a metal recycler.

Category B is Break Only - so badly damaged that in the opinion of the insurance assessor the vehicle is unsafe and should be taken out of use, however there may be some ‘bolt-on’ parts available for re-use in another vehicle. These parts can be removed, once this has been completed the vehicle structure (body or chassis) MUST be destroyed and a Certificate of Destruction issued.

Category C is one category of repairable salvage - the assessed repair cost exceeds the pre incident value of the vehicle, but the vehicle could be safely repaired using cheaper labour and green recycled parts. The assessed repair cost is calculated using the insurers normal methods of repair, labour and parts costs - in many cases these would be a computer generated assessment using Thatcham or vehicle manufacturer generated repair methods and times, dealer labour charges and brand new parts.

Category D is the second category of repairable salvage, the assessed repair costs do not exceed the pre-incident value of the vehicle, but the insurer knows that claims costs can be minimised by writing the vehicle off, paying the market value of the vehicle and then banking the salvage sale funds.

The difference between category C and D is quite clear and easy to determine - the market value of the vehicle is key and drives the decision, repair cost over the market value = cat C, repair cost under the value of the vehicle = cat D, simple!

Deciding between category C and category B is much more subjective and comes down to two words - could or should.

Could the vehicle be repaired safely and economically using accepted industry standards? Manufacturers’ or ‘Thatcham’ repair methods must always be used but independent or second-hand parts and reduced labour rates may be applied.

Should the vehicle be repaired? This is a more subjective question and factors that the engineers should consider include: 

The need to remove the vehicle from a possible theft chain e.g. a stripped out vehicle requiring unobtainable or expensive replacement parts.

No vehicle should ever be categorised as repairable on the basis that second-hand shells/ frames will be used.

Some vehicles, especially higher value ones, may be considered technically economical to repair but often they are so severely damaged that they should be categorised as Break only.

It is the inspecting engineer’s responsibility to apply good engineering practice and safety considerations when deciding whether a vehicle is to be sold for repair, totally destroyed or broken for spares. 

Fire and Flood damaged vehicles must be treated appropriately, and does require a slight change in thinking. Insurance engineers must look at the potential for a safe future repair of flood or fire damaged vehicles and take into consideration the increasing use of Ultra High Strength Steel in vehicle bodies and the electronics present in high tech safety systems. If the vehicle is repaired and is then involved in another incident will it perform as the manufacturer intended and protect the occupants of the vehicle? 

I recently saw this fire damaged vehicle being sold as category C salvage, extensive front end damage affecting structural parts of the vehicle, can this be safely repaired?

I believe that it is time for a choice to be made by UK insurers on vehicle salvage categorisation, and it is simple - use it or lose it.

Use the ABI Code of Practice or face the possibility of losing the code. The worry about the loss of the code is two-fold:

No code at all will result in a free-for-all system where anything goes and criminal elements can prosper.

Legislation will come into force that could be far more stringent and costly than just adhering to the code.

The UK has the chance to become a world leader for vehicle salvage, to set the standards for the rest of the world to follow, to have safe and ethical practices that protect vehicle drivers, users and the general public, to remove unsafe vehicles from use and promote the use of green recycled parts for those vehicles that can be safely repaired, so let’s grasp that opportunity and move forward.

Write Off Concern

A number of recent articles have highlighted concerns around total loss vehicles and how they are handled by Insurers, Salvage Agents and Buyers.

Questions about vehicle categorisation, vehicle sales and vehicle disposal have appeared in various trade magazines and publications such as ATF Professional, The Assessor and more.

Disposal of accident damaged vehicles has been a concern for many years, and was the reason for the introduction of the Association of British Insurers Code of Practice for Motor Salvage in the 1990’s. 
This voluntary code was designed and completed by the Insurance Industry to protect themselves against fraudulent activity that involved written off vehicles, and for many years was a very effective document.
Questions are now being asked about the Code and how relevant it is today. I contend that it is still very relevant and there are 2 actions that need to be taken to restore credibility.
Changes need to be made to categorisation, with category C vehicles to cater for repairable vehicles with structural damage and category D being available only to repairable vehicles without structural damage.
The Code must be enforced, with significant fines being applied for Insurers and Salvage Agents that fail to adhere to the code.

Enforcement of the Code is essential to prevent two possible outcomes:
Complete avoidance of the code
Legislation that could seriously impact the industry

Complete avoidance of the code is not desirable because this then removes all safety and ethical standards and takes us back to the free-for-all that prompted the industry to introduce the Code in the first place
Legislation is unpredictable, it could be great for the industry if it is well thought out and sensible, or it could be a knee-jerk action that results in significant changes and difficulties for the UK Motor Salvage industry.

New technology is coming into vehicles all the time, advances in structural techniques, electronics and vehicle power are making vehicles more and more complicated, and failure to deal with these vehicles properly could result in serious injury or death if one of these vehicles is not repaired correctly and fails to perform as intended in the event of another serious incident.

So, what should be done? 
Industry professionals must get together and resolve this, and quickly - Insurers, Salvage Specialists and Government Agencies all need to be involved with a deadline for resolution; at the same time Insurers must be seen to put their own house in order, open their processes and records for independent auditing, salvage agents must do the same, and Government Agencies must release records showing volumes of vehicles exported, scrapped, back in use, and missing, as well as start showing serious progress on illegal vehicle recyclers - either getting them licensed or out of business.

Is this not too much to ask?

Auto Recyclers Leadership and Management

What are we here for?

Profit

How do we make more profit?

Pay less and sell for more

Easier said than done!

So we need other methods.

More motivated and committed staff who will be more efficient, prouder and more loyal could be one option.

Benefits:

          Lower costs (efficiency)

          Better Customer Service (prouder)

          Less staff turnover (loyal)

but HOW?????

Salvage Wire's latest training course specifically designed for Leaders and Managers in the Auto Recycling and Motor Salvage Industry could be just what you are looking for. 

This one day course will give an insight into how different management practices can have a significant impact on the whole business, making it a better place to be, more profitable efficient, safer and a business that will attract customers.

For more details on this and many other training courses designed for Auto Recycling Operations please contact Salvage Wire at www.salvagewire.com

Flooded Out!

As the flood waters recede the clean up begins, engineers, claims staff and colleagues have all been on the phone in recent days asking my opinion on flood damaged vehicles.

Here are my thoughts.

Before going any further, assess the type of water and the water level inside the vehicle.

Salt water, if it got inside the vehicle, then the only option is to break the vehicle

Fresh water (and given the volume of flood water any contaminants will be so diluted that there will be very limited risk of contamination), if the water reached airbag level then break the vehicle, but if it was low level flooding then consideration can be given to selling the vehicle as repairable salvage.

Good engineering practices must be used at all times to assess flood damaged vehicles, taking into consideration the age of the vehicle, type of construction, major component damage, possible electrical issues, and if any of the Supplementary Restraint Systems (SRS) components have been flooded.

Most of these vehicles will appear relatively undamaged to the casual observer and they are ripe for fraud, so great care must be taken when selling flood damaged vehicles - specially category B cases.

The ABI Code of Practice for Motor Salvage states that Category B (break only) vehicles should be dismantled and destroyed, however we see many of these vehicles being sold to overseas customers at prices that UK customers cannot afford, and this raises many questions.

How can a customer in Eastern Europe afford to pay so much for these vehicles and make a profit?

Are these customers being audited to ensure the vehicles are dismantled and destroyed?

What is actually happening to these vehicles?

This is a serious concern because we are talking about the safety of driver and passenger. If these vehicles come back into use, or sections of the vehicle are used to repair another, or SRS components are re-used and fail to work correctly if the vehicle is involved in another accident, then who is liable for the death or serious injury of the driver and passenger of the vehicle?

I don’t have the answer, but I believe that all Insurance Professionals should be concerned about this and I suggest that there is possibly a Duty of Care on UK Insurers to audit these vehicles to ascertain compliance to Terms and Conditions of purchase, ABI Code of Practice etc.

It only takes one vehicle to hit the headlines and there could be a knee-jerk reaction that will have a negative impact on the Auto Recycling industry.

Salvage Wire can assist in the correct and ethical disposal of flood damaged vehicles, call or e-mail for more details.
www.salvagewire.com

Safe Handling of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Training

Designed specifically for Auto Recycling Yards, Salvage Wire are delighted to announce a training course that gives staff the expertise and knowledge to safely handle Electric and Hybrid vehicles without putting themselves or others at risk of electrocution.

22nd Jan at Car Transplants, the training will be a mix of practical and theory, it is fully interactive and led by a trained Electric and Hybrid Technician.

The cost is £225 +VAT for the one-day course, which includes all training materials and lunch. There are discounts for MVDA and BVSF members.

Contact Salvage Wire at www.salvagewire.com for more details or to book your place(s) on the course.