UK repairers facing key challenges on work volumes and skills gap

Almost half of UK vehicle repairers have shared concerns on reduced work volumes and a continued lack of skilled labour to take on the work that remains.

A survey of more than 100 vehicle repairers who attended this year’s Enterprise Rent-A-Car Repair Partner Event, showed that 47% think work volumes are the biggest challenge right now, followed by skilled labour shortages, which accounted for nearly a third (32%) of responses.

The rising cost of repairs coupled with policyholders choosing higher excesses to keep premium costs down, has led to reduced work volumes as people delay insurance claims and repairs, creating excess capacity in the industry.

Respondents said attracting candidates is by far the biggest employee challenge (58%), followed by training and developing appropriate skills (18%) and retention (13%).  

Making the industry more appealing to women could be one way to ease the recruitment crisis.

Most respondents (93%) said less than 10% of their current productive workforce are female but 89% would like to employ more women.  

Other solutions to the recruitment challenge include looking at how apprenticeships can help fill some of the recruitment gaps and provide the future generation of trained technicians.

Less than half of those surveyed (46%) had apprentices, and almost a fifth (19%) currently have no apprentices at all. 

Making the industry more appealing to the younger generation (those aged 20-30) is also a priority as this age group currently only makes up 10% of the workforce from those surveyed, suggesting the pipeline of skilled labour is insufficient to sustain current staffing levels and replace those who are ageing out of the profession. 

Nick Sweetman, Enterprise Mobility assistant vice president vehicle repair and service operations UK and Ireland, said: “We want to lead by listening and our Repair Partner event gave us a great opportunity to understand the challenges faced by our repairer network.

“It’s clear from our survey that labour continues to be a key challenge not just for day-to-day operations but also as a barrier to growth.”

Repairers said that labour shortages are preventing some businesses from growing according to plan. 

Nearly two thirds (60%) said they were planning to expand their business with additional locations, however 67% of those said labour shortages were the main barrier to their expansion plans.  

Sweetman added: “Our industry is exciting, technology-led and continuously innovating and evolving to keep pace with constant change. 

“It’s vital that we highlight the many opportunities available in this sector to show young recruits that they can enjoy a long and varied career that will grow with them.  

“We are already working in partnership with our repair network to improve access to training and, as an organisation, we’re looking at ways to encourage more people into a long-term career in this industry.”