Thank you for showing us around

A big thank you to all the panel shops who opened their doors to the AP&P judging team. It was fascinating to see so many different workshops with individual working practices and business philosophies and to see the varying market conditions in each state.

Congratulations to all the deserving regional winners, we look forward to seeing them at our awards lunch in Melbourne in October where the national winners in each of the three categories will be announced.

On a personal level I learnt a great deal about ‘planet paint and panel’ and my respect for repairers grew even more seeing how much pride they took in their businesses and the passion and commitment that many have for the industry.

We asked each bodyshop owner or manager what they thought was the biggest issue facing the repair industry. The answers were surprisingly varied and we will be looking at them in detail in our next issue.

We had a record number of entries in the new shop category for the awards. That so many people are investing in upgrading or setting up shops is encouraging.

One interesting industry development we observed on our travels is the emergence of a new breed of workshop. These are impressive outfits bordering on, or well into luxurious territory and they weren’t just for the repair of prestige vehciles.  These shops are customer-centric, equipped to the hilt with all the latest and greatest repair products, uber tidy and organised and so clean you could happily picnic on the floor.

On the other side of the fence are more traditional, less glamorous shops who can repair to the same standards but don’t feel that, given the best hourly rate you can expect to wrest from an insurance company, that you could ever recoup such an investment.

The new shop owners feel that they are taking the industry to ‘the next level’ and that with ever-increasing consumer expectations, such a sea change is inevitable. They feel that being in the vanguard of such change will be advantageous for their business. Those opposed think the new breed could come a cropper recouping their outlay. It will be interesting to see who is right or whether the market happily continues to embrace both.

Recruitment still an issue
The news that spray painters and panel beaters have been taken off the skilled
migrants list was met with dismay by panel shops in states where the lack of tradesman continues at critical levels. Skills Australia gives it reasons for taking these tradies off the list on page 9, while on page 16 immigration lawyer Owen Harris, whose family is involved in the paint and panel industry, sets out all the ways you can still sponsor workers from overseas.

The thorny issue of technical information access
There are high hopes for the Vehicle Service and Repair information conference in September in Melbourne.
As Richard Dudley. Chief Executive of the Australian Motor Industry Federation (see interview on page 18) points out, how much government involvement does the industry want in resolving this thorny issue? The Australian automotive industry would ideally like arrangement that they have in Europe where it is mandatory for manufacturers to provide repair information, albeit at a cost. However, appealing to government to intervene to achieve this could end up as a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’. The consumer is king to politicians as they are, of course, voters. It’s possible that a government ruling might not be the outcome that the repair and
aftermarket industry is looking for.