The MTA appeared at the first South Australian Economic and Finance Committee public hearing last week, taking a stand on behalf of collision repairers and asking for a fair and functional relationship between all parties, including repairers, insurers and consumers.
The Committee had an opportunity to ask questions relating to the terms of reference for the Inquiry, addressing issues raised in the MTA's submission.
MTA CEO, Paul Unerkov, chair of the Body Repair Specialists Division (BRD), Tom Skothos, former BRD chair and former AMBRA chairman, Jeff Williams and industry engagement specialist, Paul Back, all attended the hearing and presented many examples to support MTAs claims of practices in the industry.
Unerkov said: “We asked the Committee to implement policy and to protect fairness and business confidence in South Australia by mandating and tightening the Motor Vehicle Insurance and Repair Industry (MVIRI) Code of Conduct as well as protecting consumers from the possible decline of choice, quality and safety of repairs.”
“We view this Inquiry as the first major step towards creating a fair and functional relationship between insurers and collision repairers, whilst appropriately protecting consumers.”
The MTA’s ask of the Committee also included:
- Abolishing all known variations of funny time, funny money
- Having concern for the industry wide application of average repair cost models and 'allowances' as lessening competition in the marketplace
- Increasing provisions of the Small Business Commissioner to enforce the Code of Conduct in a timely manner
South Australian Collision Repairers will be appearing at Parliamentary hearings later this month and in November before the Committee hands down its findings by the end of this year.