News & Press Releases
Press Release
CAA launches Duty of Care Awareness Programme.
Following recent news that the first company director has appeared in court charged under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act, CAA has today embarked on an awareness programme in an attempt to make all clients, Fleet Managers / Administrators and Brokers aware of their own duty of care when instructing anyone to undertake vehicle repairs. Due to the ever increasing complexity of the modern motor vehicle and new legislation, the option of using the one man band down the road are long gone if you are to ensure repairs are undertaken to the correct standard.
CAA prides itself on being at the leading edge regarding technology and expertise. All in-house desk-top engineers have access to computerised estimating systems, e-scribe and manufacturers data ensuring any repairs they authorise make allowances for the correct methods to re-instate the vehicle to a safe, pre-accident condition. All engineers are also ATA approved or working towards accreditation.
Like many body repair specialists, CAA is regularly asked by clients if they’re compliant with the latest legislation and therefore investment in training and technology for them is also ongoing. They appreciate however they must invest if they are to continue to provide a first class service to their existing clients, stay ahead of its competitors and attract new business.
With this initiative they are therefore making all clients aware that to ensure peace of mind when having vehicles repaired clients must now use a CAA Approved Repairer rather than their preferred repairer to ensure they are repaired safely and correctly. This way, should any questions be asked at a later stage, CAA can provide a full audit trail from the estimating stage right through the repair process to quality control, of what methods were employed.
“Due to client pressure we had to ask our approved repair partners if they were looking to obtain either PAS 125 or a Manufacturers approval, by the launch of our new contract in April 2010” comments Mark Garnham the Head of Engineering and Networks Manager at CAA. “Having pre-empted this situation we started dialogue with our network partners as far back as February 2008 to ascertain if they already had, or were working towards, either of these accreditations as having built up a good working relationship we were very keen to continue working with them”. Thankfully it looks as though the majority will have one or other by the time the new contract goes live. For those who are possibly finding this a commitment too far, CAA is working on a joint project to assist them with their clients / strategic business partners, BASF.
By encouraging more repairs through their Network CAA hope to assist their repairer partners in recouping some of the financial commitment they’ve recently made in obtaining these accreditations. In addition CAA has included an allowance in its new menu pricing structure for the time required to research the correct repair methods.
