The South African Motor Body Repair Association (SAMBRA) has kicked off the new year with a statement in which they made no bones about their intentions for 2023. In it they covered the various areas on which they will focus in order to serve the industry by, in what they have termed, “Driving a safer, more equitable and transparent sector”. “Having shown incredible resilience, drive and grit over the past year, SAMBRA will be renewing its efforts in 2023 to drive a safer, more equitable and transparent motor body repair sector. SAMBRA will continue to work tirelessly on the demand for publication and implementation of the VIN numbers of all written off vehicles in a write-off register available to any member of the public wishing to research the purchase of a used vehicle. Over the last four years we have applied substantial resources to ensure that members of the public, used car dealers, banks and others involved in the purchase and sale of used vehicles can protect themselves against the purchase of a previously written off vehicle,” it said. It went on to claim that “As a result of the sustained pressure a major milestone was reached last year when the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) and the Insurance Crime Bureau (ICB) eventually agreed to take steps to opening its salvage database to the public. SAIA presented its business case to the SAIA Board on 1 December 2022. We are now urgently waiting for SAIA to confirm time frames for implementation”. On the subject of fairer business, the association said “This year we will also be tackling several initiatives focused on pushing back against unfair business practices as well as rolling out several initiatives to enhance member profitability and provide members with the tools to remain sustainable in the current business climate”. The statement also once again touched on the VDQ. “The VDQ is an approved occupational qualification and registered on the country’s national qualifications framework. Several subject matters experts have subsequently been engaged and worked tirelessly to ensure that assessment tools meet the requirements of the QCTO. SAMBRA eagerly awaits the final go ahead by the QCTO, following submission of final documents (EISA & RPL assessment tool) by the merSETA”. Fair competition remains at the heart of SAMBRA and it reminded stakeholders that “The introduction of the Competition Commission’s Guidelines for Competition on 1 July 2021 changed the motor body repairer Industry. For some time SAMBRA has been advocating for greater accessibility to insurer panels by the motor body repair industry, as now provided for in terms of the Guidelines to Competition in the South African Automotive Aftermarket. Whilst broad consensus appears to have been achieved at industry level, an unexpected challenge in the insurance value chain surfaced last year in the form of the vast network of insurance intermediaries that appear not to be conforming to the overriding, and agreed-to, Insurer service level agreements with the motor body repair industry. We will continue to drive a strong agenda to eliminate any restrictive panels imposed by these intermediaries,” the statement read. An exciting announcement the organisation made was the imminent introduction of its SOP toolbox. “We are very proudly launching a free SAMBRA SOP Toolbox for our members this year. The toolbox, which is specifically designed for accredited members, has three pillars for customer facing, workshop and administration operations and is intended to support members with an array of useful and critical information and insights which they can implement in their workspace. It will assist members in running their businesses more effectively. A service provider to develop the toolkit has been appointed and we look forward to keeping our members updated on progress”. SAMBRA concluded the statement by also announcing that they will once again be joining hands with Lightstone to recognise and celebrate excellence in the sector, with the annual awards ceremony.
