Today, in many countries, the franchised or retailer car dealer may well have already disposed of his in-house bodyshop. In many countries there is a difference in the labour rate between mechanical work and accident repair work, and certainly a greater utilisation of workshop staff for mechanical work, typically meaning this is more profitable. A great many struggle with the idea of an in-house accident repairer as the perception, rightly or wrongly, is of a dusty, noisy, messy facility that disturbs the customers who have come to look at shiny new cars. Environmental demands and control of hazardous substances are typically greater with a bodyshop too.
Others however, perhaps where labour rates have a greater parity or with a large facility and ever-decreasing standard mechanical service routines, have kept the bodyshop to support cash flow, offer an additional service, and maybe to recondition used cars for sale. But in many cases a mutual mechanical skill and tooling requirement between the body repair and service side has also been recognised.
This, for the future, may be a deciding factor.
That the mechanical, electrical and trim (M.E.T.) content of an accident repair will increase is probably beyond debate. Increased legislative demands globally for reduced emissions will continue to drive vehicle engine efficiency with more use of higher voltage systems, including high energy batteries and capacitors, but also into electrically driven turbo-chargers and super-chargers. Itis probable that the future will see few petrol or diesel engines not supported by an electric motor.
Driver assistance systems will surge in popularity and fitment. Radar fitment on the front and rear of a car is already commonplace, as is camera fitment to the windscreen, the door mirrors, in the front grille and in the trunk/tailgate. Additional sensors to potentially monitor blind spots and to assist with parking, and/or supporting some of the other sensors will become as everyday as airbag fitment.
All cars will become connected to the Internet, allowing users to access email, text messages, provide mileage and location to their company fleet controllers, GPS functions including accident alerts and to remain in touch with their social media.
All of these are likely to have an impact on the accident repair process, with more live and sophisticated technical communication and more advanced diagnostic and reinstatement routines. But with this will also comes Over The Air (OTA) communication between the car and the car manufacturer.
Typically a car recall campaign is for nothing more than a software update, this being usually all that is required to fix a fault. This is often seen as an inconvenience by the customer, having to bring their car to the dealer to be fixed. But already today we are seeing OTA updates of software automated, with software enhancements happening on cars much as we expect with our computers (though we don't need to press Control/Alt/Delete to restart our cars). While this reduces inconvenience for the consumer, it also weakens the traditional link between the selling car retailer and their customer as the manufacturer is communicating direct.
What does this mean for the accident repairer? Well, potentially, subject to licencing and approvals, the damaged car could be remotely diagnosed by the manufacturer and reinstated/recalibrated once those components that are diagnosed as damaged are replaced. This may remove any requirement for a car to be taken from an accident repair bodyshop to a service repair facility for diagnosis, or access to specialist diagnostic systems.
So it might be that it makes less sense for mechanical and bodyshops to be separate in many or most countries, not because cars are more sophisticated and require deeper diagnosis, but conversely because they can self-diagnose online with just the physical replacement of components being the role of the technician. It is considered by some that we may see both possibilities. In the short term, the increase in sophistication may require more work to be done with the facilities of the mechanical service centre, but longer term this may not be a requirement.
Perhaps we'll see centralised bodyshops, each serving the customers of a number of mechanical service centres and/or car retailers, with the physical mechanical presence of each being reduced from the size they are today. Perhaps the car retail outlet itself will be smaller as it centralises parts and panel storage and distribution in regional locations.
I certainly wouldn't rule out different solutions in different countries and regions. This may well be a commercial decision with forward thinking management of some companies sensing the wind direction and adjusting their businesses to the conditions in their area, perhaps even leading the way that others follow. Large urban areas may well have a higher proportion of bodyshops to service centres. But, equally, the space and environmental constraints of urban locations may drive a move toward out of town locations for bodyshops, maybe even super-sites.
In conclusion, it is unlikely that the industry model will be the same in 10 years' time, though it may still be evolving. But in each region the business leaders should start thinking now and watching the emerging trends and the impacts on their business so that they can decide on their own strategy.