NRMA wants to parley

Roy Briggs, NRMA Insurance National Supply Chain Manager wants to change the way the company works with smash repairers and improve business conditions for both parties.

The company is about to undertake a major national consultation with the industry to find a path forward that can be 'travelled together'.

Briggs does not come from an insurance background, but a banking one where he was responsible for small businesses. He find the traditional adversarial nature of smash repairers and the insurance company counter productive and wants to see what can be done to change this.

The insurer said it would be offering a request for proposal (RFP) for its smash repair work and wants to hear from any repairer about how they want to work with NRMA Insurance.

Briggs told AP&P: “It may sound trite but it's absolutely true, we need to have a mutually beneficial working relationship. Whatever we do, we need to do it jointly - customer and quality need to be the centre of those arrangements.

“In the end we are both dealing with the same customer who is paying the bills for both of us. If we don't concentrate on being customer-centric then neither of us will be in business very long.”

“We think we can continue to improve our quality programme working with the best bodyshops. Smash repairers have a tremendous wealth of experience and there are a lot of clever entrepreneurs in the industry pushing for greater innovation and greater sustainability for the industry itself. One of the reasons we've gone for RFP is to tap into that vein of innovation. If we ask the right questions, the industry will respond in the right way.

“I have quite a few proposals on my desk from different repairers but I want to give the opportunity to everyone, including repairers who haven't dealt with us before.

“We have a real opportunity to build a stronger more sustainable industry by working together on improved business models.

“There's no silver bullet here, no one answer. We made the mistake in the past of thinking there was one answer. We've never asked these questions before and I'm excited at what repairers will put to us.”

The RFP begins in NSW and ACT, Sydney Metro, Newcastle, Wollongong, Central Coast and Canberra and will be advertised in September in selected media. Successful repairer partners will be offered agreements with NRMA Insurance effective 1 July 2012. All current repair agreement will run until their expiration.

More details will be published in the September/October issue of AP&P.