Look out NSW repairers and insurers, IVIC is coming. By next August, the Sydney suburb of Tempe will be home to a franchise of The International Vehicle Integrity Centre Limited, dedicated to pre-purchase inspections of cars and post repair inspections and tolerance reports.
If its performance in Victoria is any guide, IVIC will bring into sharp focus the condition of used cars and body repairs. While its specialty is alignment, it will report on panel condition (including rust) and be able to tell whether there have been changes to OEM paintwork. The man behind IVIC is Melbourne former repairer, Tony Murdaca, who has set up for first company owned inspection centre in Spencer Street, Melbourne. The plan is to grow the influence of AVIA through franchising. The Sydney facility will be four times the size of the Melbourne original and will be owned and run by two partners, one of whom is mechanical engineer and the other a former panel beater. Their inspection centre will have eight Italian Contact electronic measuring machines, eight Italian ‘screw top’ hoists and a Car Bench jig. The outlay in setting up the inspection station will exceed three million dollars.
Murdaca says that it is not the aim of the inspection facility to become aligned with repairers or insurers, but to simply offer a service with reports that can be relied on as accurate evidence, should a dispute arise in relation to the condition of a car. He expects customers to be consumers who are contemplating buying a used car and want to know its body condition in detail or an insurer who is not happy with the quality of work put out by a repairer and wants the expert opinion of a third party. In Victoria, IVIC has been canvassing government authorities to offer condition reports on fleets and will no doubt follow the same promotion strategy in NSW. Although future of the venture will depend largely on word of mouth, it is being augmented by television advertising and a continuing stream of press publicity.
IVIC’s entry into NSW comes at a time when the NSW Motor Traders Association (MTA)has begun to licence independent businesses to conduct pre purchase inspections for members of the public. This service used to be offered by the NRMA but was discontinued over a year ago.
Inevitably, there will be comparisons between MTA licensed inspectors and the service provided by IVIC. On the face of it, IVIC will be dearer, but more elaborate and probably more useful as evidence in a legal dispute.
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IVIC