For the past few years, the UK’s vehicle repair industry has been defined by a number of key challenges – including a lack of capacity to cater for customer demand.
The COVID pandemic brought about a dramatic 80% drop in motor claims volumes, leading to widespread closures of bodyshops and repair centres across the UK. As claims frequency began to accelerate post-pandemic, this left insurers and their policyholders waiting, often weeks, for capacity to become available to repair their vehicles.
However, data now reveals that UK repair capacity is fast returning to pre-COVID levels, with demand falling to its lowest point since 2021, and new repair centres opening across the UK.
This has not only begun to improve outcomes for claims customers – reducing cost-based write-off rates, and shortening key-to-key times – but has also given insurers the privilege of more choice when it comes to sourcing repair partners.
In this article, we discuss insurers’ shifting priorities when it comes to sourcing and maintaining repair relationships, as capacity becomes increasingly abundant year-round. We also explore some of the steps repairers can take to not only enhance their competitive edge, but become indispensable to their work providers’ future strategies.
Signs of recovery in the repair industry
The most recent market data shows a vast improvement in the accessibility of vehicle repair capacity since the industry lows post-COVID.
According to Trend Tracker, repair demand is down to its lowest levels since 2021, standing at an estimated 1.67 million repair estimates in 2024, compared to 1.78 million in 2023*. Overall claims volumes are down, too, October standing roughly 17% lower than pre-COVID levels for the same month.
The past 12 months have also witnessed a rapid growth in new repair centres, which together with significant improvements in repair cycle time (best since summer 2021) has further diluted the pool of available work, having created more ‘spare’ capacity.
*Trend Tracker, The UK Motor Claims and Body Repair Report, 2024-2025
What steps has the repair industry taken to recover?
By investing in new technologies, processes, and infrastructure, repairers are actively helping insurers reduce claims costs, accelerate repair times, and deliver a better experience for policyholders.
This has included an increased focus on repair over replace, SMART repair methods, alternative parts sourcing channels, and strategic growth and expansion in high-demand regions – enhancing capability, while reducing cost and key-to-key durations.
These strategic actions not only address insurers’ immediate priorities, but also position repairers as indispensable partners in achieving their long-term operational goals.
*Trend Tracker, The UK Motor Claims and Body Repair Report, 2024-2025
Looking Beyond Capacity: Insurers’ new priorities when sourcing repair partners
So, what does this mean for insurers’ priorities when it comes to their repairer partnerships?
The regained availability of repair slots means insurers now have more flexibility to enhance their existing networks, and fine-tune them to ensure they align with their strategic priorities.
While insurers have always focused on safety and quality, they now have more room to consider areas like sustainability, EV readiness, and cost control, to add further value to their product offerings.
This doesn’t just enable insurers to raise expectations within their current networks, but also gives them room to conduct more detailed evaluations when onboarding new repairers, ensuring their networks deliver on both performance and evolving priorities.
“In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, the unprecedented strain on repair capacity meant insurers had to prioritise securing availability to keep up with customer demand.
Now, with capacity on the rebound, they have the opportunity to build networks that go beyond the essentials.
By focusing on areas like cost control, sustainability, and EV readiness, repairers can ensure their service offerings actively support insurers’ goals for efficiency, performance, and delivering an exceptional customer experience.”
– Adrian Furness, Managing Director, Motor Repair Network
Here are some of the key qualities insurers may begin to prioritise from their repair partnerships, now that capacity is getting firmly back on track:
1 – Cost control and efficiency
With repair capacity now rebounding, insurers will again be keen to maximise the value and efficiency of their repair partnerships – prioritising repairers with robust cost control processes and competitive, transparent pricing.
According to the ABI, average motor claims costs were 21% higher in Q2 of 2024 than the same period in 2023. This has not only led to increased total loss/write-off rates, but also a significant loss in revenue for insurers – amounting to £1.13 paid out for every £1 collected in revenue last year.
Repairers who actively address these cost pressures through proactive resource allocation, alternative parts sourcing and repair methodologies, and transparent pricing structures can deliver critical cost reductions for insurers, directly improving their financial outcomes.
Adrian Furness comments: “Repairers are facing mounting cost pressures across their supply chains. Balancing these immediate challenges with adapting to insurers’ changing expectations will undoubtedly require collaboration on all fronts.”
2 – EV Repair Readiness
With just over a decade to go until the UK’s ban on the production of fossil-fuelled vehicles, insurers are increasingly prioritising EV-readiness when sourcing new repairer partnerships.
2023 saw a record number of EVs hit UK roads, and as this adoption continues to accelerate, so will insurers’ demand for EV readiness across their repair networks.
If insurers are to meet increased consumer demand for EV cover, they must be confident that their networks can repair these vehicles quickly, safely, and at a reasonable, consistent cost.
That not only means repairers catering for EVs themselves, but also investing in the equipment and expertise to safely repair and recalibrate their onboard safety features, like Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
This move will be vital for insurers to keep premium prices, repair waiting times, and excess costs in-line with policyholder’s expectations, as more drivers adopt electric vehicles in the coming years.
3 – Data & technological integration
Repair data is becoming a vital asset for insurers – not just for assessing the quality and performance of their partners, but also for identifying market-wide trends, calculating risk, and projecting future claims costs & repair turnaround.
It’s for this reason that insurers are increasingly prioritising repair partners who are equipped with integrated technologies, systems, and processes capable of delivering detailed repair insights, in real time.
By adopting advanced management systems and providing reliable, real-time data insights, repairers can support insurers in optimising risk management, forecasting costs, and building more proactive repair strategies.
Adrian Furness comments: “Repairers are investing in data-driven processes to help insurers optimise risk strategies and predict future costs. Those who adapt quickly will be best positioned to secure their place within insurers’ preferred networks in this more competitive environment.”
This shift in priorities is driving repairers to review how they utilise their core systems, to not only help them keep track of tasks and cost metrics, but also deliver insight to their partners. They’re also investing in more smart, connected equipment to make data retrieval easier, and the insights they provide more valuable to their work providers.
4 – Consumer Duty & Customer service excellence
With the launch of the FCA’s Consumer Duty framework in 2023, insurers are increasingly holding customer service as a critical success factor amongst their repairer partners. The framework sets clear standards for how customers should be supported to ensure the best possible outcomes from their experience.
For insurers, this has meant reevaluating to ensure every step of the claims process is built to exemplify Consumer Duty best practice, and deliver a seamless journey from incident reporting to repair or settlement.
Not only do many insurers expect repair partners to mirror these priorities, but they also require evidence that customer standards are being met consistently. Reviews, NPS scores, complaints, and feedback are all becoming key metrics for insurers seeking to review customer experience throughout their subcontracted networks, and are increasingly being treated as core KPIs in the repair journey.
Repairers who align with Consumer Duty standards can not only help insurers meet regulatory requirements, but also improve the overall claims journey for customers – boosting policyholder retention, and strengthening brand loyalty.
5 – Sustainable repair practices
Sustainability has become a cornerstone of corporate responsibility, particularly for insurers, whose environmental principles are core to maintaining trust and credibility amongst policyholders.
With repairers playing such a critical role in their claims supply chains, insurers are increasingly taking steps to ensure partners mirror their own sustainability practices, values, and priorities. Repairers who fail to align with these expectations risk being overlooked, as insurers seek partnerships that enhance their environmental credentials and corporate responsibility goals.
Moverover, insurers are looking far beyond policy-level commitments alone – they increasingly expect repairers to provide evidence of tangible results, and transparency over processes like waste management and materials sourcing. This includes certifications for carbon neutrality, detailed waste diversion reports, and transparency around the sourcing of paint, parts, and consumables.
From repair over replace capabilities, to energy-saving infrastructure, renewable energy adoption, and on-site waste management, repairers are quickly adapting sustainability as their new competitive edge in a now increasingly stable repair market. These practices don’t just reduce environmental impact, but can also create cost and turnaround efficiencies, further enhancing repairers’ ability to compete for high-demand work.
As both consumer and regulatory scrutiny intensifies, repairers who embed sustainability into their day-to-day operations will become indispensable to insurers, as they navigate the transition to a greener economy. This alignment not only stands to strengthen insurer-repairer relationships, but also helps both parties contribute meaningfully to a sustainable future.
Activate Accident Repair: State-of-the-art, UK-wide bodyshop network
Our purpose-built Activate Accident Repair bodyshops are equipped to repair all types of damage across vehicles of all types, sizes, and specifications – located in the areas our customers need them most.
EV-ready, with the latest repair & calibration technologies
All of our Activate Accident Repair centres house the latest repair technologies, including capability for EV & hybrid repair and ADAS recalibration. We take our standards seriously; all of our bodyshops and their practices are BSI accredited, and held to rigorous quality and efficiency standards.
Reliable and customer-focused
Our core mission is to get policyholders back on the road quickly post-incident. Our bodyshops keep customers in the loop throughout every stage of their repair, handle any questions or queries with empathy, and ensure the repair journey is as communicative and hassle-free as possible – all while delivering state-of-the-art vehicle restoration.
Efficient & cost controlled
Our bodyshops work to keep repair costs and turnaround to a minimum – by harnessing alternative repair methodologies, maximising process efficiency, and utilising a wide range of supplier relationships to get the right parts, quickly. This enables us to support insurers in reducing overall claims outlay, reducing cost-based total loss occurrences, and keeping premiums & excess lower for their policyholders.
Sustainable from the ground up
All our Activate Accident Repair bodyshops are carbon neutral from the ground up, harnessing the latest offset strategies, energy saving technologies, and waste management protocols to actively minimise their environmental footprint. This not only fosters customer confidence in our environmental credentials, but also actively complements their own ESG strategies and social priorities.
Available on-demand, with no minimum deployment
Our bodyshops can be accessed completely on-demand, no matter the number of vehicles insurers need repairing, their location, or the supporting services they may need along the way.
This means you can harness our bodyshops for everything from overflow capacity for your existing network, to a complete, end-to-end repair management model, through our flexible Repair-as-a-Service solution.
To learn more aboutour industry-leading bodyshops, visit our product hub below:
In Summary: UK Repair Capacity Rebound
As repair capacity in the UK stabilises, many insurers have gained the privilege of more choice when it comes to sourcing and forging repair partnerships.
With capacity itself no longer the driving force behind these decisions, insurers are quickly adopting new priorities when evaluating repairers’ suitability for their networks.
They’re increasingly looking to service quality, cost control, efficiency, sustainability, and customer service excellence as critical success factors in these partnerships, and core metrics in reviewing network performance.
As repair volumes continue to fall, and capacity continues to become more abundant, repairers must adapt to these shifting priorities from work providers in order to gain a competitive edge.
By aligning their practices with insurers’ expectations, repairers have the opportunity to not only secure their place in leading networks, but to become indispensable partners to their work providers in a fast-changing landscape.
