Safe Handling of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Some might look on them as exotic, new, or just the latest must have vehicle, but these vehicles are now being found as End of Life Vehicles in auto recycling and motor salvage yards around the world, and unless handled properly they can kill or seriously injure employees.

High Voltages are required for the electric motor, the battery voltage is converted from Direct Current to Alternating Current and up to 750volts can be required for the motor. Heat is generated through this process and needs controlling, batteries do not function best in very cold or very hot temperatures so they also have cooling and heating capabilities, and batteries also contain electrolyte that requires careful management if it s split from a damaged battery.

Salvage Wire’s Safe Handling of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Training is a course designed for automotive recycling and motor salvage operations, that helps dismantlers to assess, make safe and dismantle electric and hybrid vehicles, and is an essential part of any responsible vehicle recyclers training programme. 

Courses are available across the country over the coming months, for more details contact Salvage Wire at admin@salvagewire.com for a training programme and full details of this course and all others available.

Have you registered for CARS 2014 yet?

CARS 2014 is picking up the pace, with even more visitors and exhibitors signing up for what promises to be the biggest event of the year in the automotive recycling and vehicle salvage calendar!

In light of ground-breaking new technologies predicted to emerge in the next few years, and Volvo’s recent ambitious claim that ‘by 2020, no one will be killed in a new Volvo’, the CARS conference programme will address future vehicles and the impact on auto recyclers. Chaired by Salvage Wire’s Andy Latham, it will explore the impact of new vehicle design and the effect on car repair and recycling businesses.

Mr Latham said: “the advance in vehicle technology is now so quick, and potentially game changing, that everyone in the industry needs to be aware of the changes so they can plan for the impact to their business. This session will highlight changes now coming into production as well as advances due in the coming few years that will all impact vehicle repair, re-use of parts and recycling.”

For more information about the full programme and other show features, please click here.

Selling Salvage Vehicles and Parts for Free

Do you have vehicles to sell? Do you want to sell these vehicles and pay no sales charges? GBC Professional can assist you.
GBC Professional have customers in Europe that are searching for vehicles and vehicle parts to purchase; vehicles and parts that you may have in your yard.
Register for free on the GBC Professional web site, (http://gbcars.eu/en-u) upload the vehicle details and images and sell - it is that simple and there are no charges for sellers.
The first 10 suppliers who sell 10 vehicles through GBC Professional web site before 31 May 2014 will receive a free ticket to the CARS Show being held at Motorhog Doncaster June 5th-6th (www.cars-expo.com) 


You can also register to purchase vehicles on GBC Professional, the unique salvage vehicle service where there are no hidden charges, all details can be found on the GBC Professional web site -http://gbcars.eu/en-u

There is also a you tube video available to watch

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?