IAG releases IAG Quality Report for property and motor repairs

IAG today released the IAG Quality Report, the insurance industry’s only transparent report providing annual data on property and motor repair standards.

For the fourth year in a row, the IAG Quality Report has delivered insight into the partnerships and quality standards IAG has with some of Australia’s most experienced motor and property repairers to provide customers with more quality, value and service.

The report found potential safety issues in 23 out of 32,665 quality inspections and quality issues in less than 1% of authorised motor repairs. In the property space, 23 out of 5,562  authorised repairs had potential safety issues and 2% of authorised repairs had quality issues. These issues were subsequently rectified.

Head of IAG’s Supply Chain, Steve Bubulj said the report focuses on the standards used to respond to customers in their time of need, the capability of emerging technologies and the need to build more specialised skills to fill the jobs in the future.

Steve Bubulj
Steve Bubulj

“Under our quality repair program, IAG has audited nearly 200,000 inspections of motor vehicles and more than 30,000 property inspections since the inception of our quality program, which shows repairers are continuing to meet the high standards we expect,” Mr Bubulj said.

“Where we have identified issues, we have worked closely with repairers to rectify them.”

 Repair standards

 The report reinforced that partnering and working with motor and property repairers improves the customer’s experience because it gives policyholders the confidence and certainty to know that they will receive a quality repair when they have a claim – no matter which IAG brand they insure with.

“The move towards efficient repair facilities that are capable of fixing cars quickly is becoming the norm, and the standards applied to repairs must not be compromised,” Mr Bubulj said.

Emerging technology

 Partnering with repairers who have modern equipment and up to date knowledge and skills, is critical to the way IAG continues to help its customers recover from incidents.

“The speed that customers want more diverse products and at the lowest possible cost continues to rise, which means traditional ways of delivering products and services and how we engage with customers’ needs to adapt,” Mr Bubulj said.

“We try to use the latest technology available to help our customers. As Australia’s first insurer to leverage the capability of drones to assess a property after a fire, flood or storm, we know it can improve the customers experience during a claim because assessors can get immediate access to the property, removing potential safety issues and speeding up the claims process,” Mr Bubulj said.

Skills and training

IAG continues to support the growth of the smash repair industry with initiatives such as AutoPath – a joint initiative between IAG, TAFE NSW, Auto Skills Australia and the NSW Automate Training Board. AutoPath has succeeded in securing apprenticeships for young school leavers including 19-year old Maxine, who is now an apprentice spray painter.

Key findings:

 Motor Repair Quality data

  • More than 32,600 detailed inspections completed by our motor assessors or quality assurance auditors
  • Less than 2,000 repair issues reported requiring minimal re-work
  • 100 issues logged relating to alleged repairer fraud

Property Repair Quality data

  • More than 5,500 detailed inspections performed by our home assessors or auditors
  • Less than 900 quality issues reported that required minimal re-work

“We hope that by publishing our data in this transparent way and highlighting the major themes impacting our industry, we can help maintain the industry’s high quality standards and continue to meet customer expectations,” Mr Bubulj said.

IAG has also released a video to accompany the report providing key highlights and profiling its motor and property repair partnerships. The video can be seen on www.iag.com.au.

Revisiting Don’s Garage

We paid Don Long a visit at his “Don’s Garage” in Corona, California yesterday along with around half a dozen from the PPG Australia tour before they headed back home.

Once again Don and Ann were the consummate hosts and the PPG team had a great visit.

PPG’s Tony Vaughan made mention that even in the 12 months since his last visit there was so much more to see-although Don has retired he never stops collecting and restoring and does enjoy sharing what he has with others.

The National Collision Repairer also presented Don with an Aussie special tow truck as an appreciation for the many visits made to his garage.

Cars and more cars in So Cal

Having left Las Vegas after a great SEMA event the NCR team headed to Orange County for a full schedule of visits to some amazing collections of cars, bikes and memorabilia.

Sunday we joined the PPG tourists firstly at the famous Mel’s Diner in West Hollywood for a 60s American style lunch. The PPG team and tourists were on the last leg of their tour but still looking forward to a great finish.

Mel's Diner
Mel’s Diner

We all headed off to the newly refurbished Petersen Automotive Museum. What a visit that turned out to be. John McCoy-Lancaster had booked us in not just for the normal tour but also the tour of the vault where a huge number of cars are stored and not normally on view to the public. The normal exhibits were mind blowing and we were able to take photos of them but not in the vault. If you have the opportunity do visit the museum and add the vault to your visit-it is well worth it.

On Monday we had three visits arranged-Surf City Garage and Chip Foose Design in Huntington Beach plus the Galpin Auto Sports museum in Van Nuys.

Surf City Garage was something else! Owned by Tim Miller who has a passion for everything automotive as you can see. He has a major building company and this allows him to indulge in a fantastic piece of Americana in Huntington Beach. He and his daughter Carrie really made us all welcome and we enjoyed this visit-what a start to the day.

It was then on to meet with Chip Foose, freshly back from SEMA with his team still unloading cars and equipment from that event. Chip as always made us feel right at home and we spent around an hour with him talking about everything cars and looking at the amazing Madam X car that was such a hit at SEMA. It looks like he will be out again in Australia next year so watch out for information on that visit as it is confirmed in due course.

Chris Stone and John McCoy-Lancaster headed out to the Galpin as you will see.

In the meantime enjoy the gallery of photos and watch out for reports on the visits in the December and February issues of NCR.

Petersen Automotive Museum

 

Surf City Garage

Galpin Auto Sports museum

Chip Foose Design

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SEMA Day Four

The last day of SEMA was still very busy but easier to get around and we were able to take all of the final photos we need to put together a comprehensive report on SEMA.

The RDE (Repairer Driven Education) series of seminars were extremely successful with great feedback received from attendees including one of the most prolific at attending this sort of event, Marshall Duncan from Narrabri in NSW. He is always so positive and at 71 is an inspiration to everyone.

We did manage to get into a couple of halls not previously visited – the truck aftermarket accessory and the tyres and wheels halls. The booths were large and well presented with exhibitors very happy with SEMA as were the collision repair and hot rod alley/restoration marketplace.

Take a look at the selection of photographs in our final coverage on the website there are a couple from the Sky Villa After Show Party held last night in the old Elvis Presley penthouse suites.

SEMA has once again exceeded expectations and we look forward to SEMA 2017

SEMA Day three

Well it was much easier to get around today as the crowds were smaller but still a lot of people here.

It was a day for a major education event-the OEM Forum. The session lasted all day with many hot topics including the first one up-vehicle scanning. This will be covered in some detail in the December issue of NCR.

There were lots of personality appearances at SEMA today with big crowds standing for some time to obtain autographs and photos.

I managed to get to the Central Hall today which is huge and full of trucks and truck accessories. And when I say trucks I mean big trucks!

Today and yesterday I caught up with lots of Aussies on the SCRS booth and around the show. Tony Farrugia, Bob Christie, Trevor Parkes, Alan McCarthy, Tod Sarina, Graham Moore, Jim Gunn, Richard McClunie, Robert McLymont, Terry Feehan, Paul McMartin and a host of others! PPG has a tour group of 25 and Capricorn a tour group of 70!

Major companies are hosting events tonight as we head into the last day tomorrow.

Check out the website tomorrow for more photos and information.

SEMA Day Two

What an incredible day it was at SEMA here in Las Vegas. I have not seen the attendance figures for the day but it was wall to wall people. Trying to get around the show floor was so difficult but at the end of the day rewarding!

I have just been talking to Mark Pulham (Gadget Man) and he agreed. He has found so many products that he can see would be great for his business but he would need a small container to get them back! Watch out for some news from him in the next issue.

The education program was once again well attended and I was lucky enough to spend some time at Mike Anderson’s workshop and what a dynamic presenter he is. He spends some 300+ days on the road in the US and Canada delivering his message to body shop owners and staff plus OEMs and suppliers. If you have an opportunity to see him you should take it – he is the guru of the industry over here.

There were of course a lot of auto personalities on various booths and stages throughout the show, both inside and out. In fact on the Axalta booth Candy Clark – Debbie from American Graffiti was on hand signing autographs and talking about her career and one of the cars from the movie was also on display which is owned by Ray Evernham-also signing autographs.

My feet have now recovered and I am ready to head out the door for Day three-stay tuned.

SEMA Day 1 Update

The NCR Team at SEMA all agree-this event just gets bigger and better!

It is unbelievable how this event continues to grow and present new and exciting innovations for the automotive industry.

Chris Stone and I spent the first day taking so many photographs and seeing people and attending functions it became a blur after a while! Luckily we have John McCoy-Lancaster as well as Mark (Gadget Man) Pulham and our US correspondent John Yoswick also looking at SEMA and preparing for what will be an extensive coverage in our December issue of this must attend event. Owen Webb of course is also here on the House of Kolor booth and will also be filing his own perspective on SEMA.

Chip Foose as always was in great demand everywhere and how he keeps going and looks so fresh is amazing!

Many stars of the multitude of “car shows” in the US are all over SEMA and the huge crowds certainly appreciate seeing them all and getting autographs and photographs with them.

The booth displays are better than ever and the cars, trucks and bikes are all over the halls. The outside area now includes the Velocity live stage and the displays are more colourful and organised than in the past.

Of course if you want to look for products, services and innovation/education then you cannot go wrong here.

Look out for more coverage of day two coming up!

SEMA 50th Anniversary show open for business

The 3M Team with Chip Foose and Foose original
The 3M Team with Chip Foose and Foose original
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Candy Clark from American Graffiti on Axalta booth
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Axalta outside booth

SEMA 2016-the 50th anniversary of this event is now open for business! I have been running around all morning catching up with Aussies (PPG Tour) and old friends.

While I have stopped for a breather at the SCRS Booth I thought I’d post some of the early photos for you to enjoy!

Will be posting a full report tonight, but the show is bigger and better than ever.

Lots to eat
Lots to eat
Honouring the services
Honouring the services
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Old Trucks Still Work!
Charley Hutton and his Ridler award winning car
Charley Hutton and his Ridler award winning car
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50 Years and still growing
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PPG Booth as good as ever

Opening Day at SEMA 2016

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Getting set before the big day

Well here we are again at one of if not the best event for the automotive industry including of course Collision Repair. On the way here it was a surprise to be sitting next to Chip Foose in the airport lounge at Orange County Airport. He showed us some video and photos of cars that he has on display at SEMA especially the car that had only just been loaded up that morning for the BASF booth! Check out later for more posts from SEMA 2016 with lots and lots of photographs to follow.

The official opening takes place soon (it is early morning in Las Vegas) and I will be using the SCRS booth here as my HQ during the event.

Shown below are some photos taken yesterday before the show opened to whet your appetite!