By Mike Davey
Regina, Saskatchewan — April 7, 2016 — Executive Vision is a regular feature focusing on discussions with key players in the auto claims economy and the auto industry, their views on the present industry and their vision for the future. Paul McIntyre is the Assistant VP of Urban Claims and Salvage, Saskatchewan General Insurance (SGI). McIntyre received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan and worked in private practice for a number of years. In 2012 he became Assistant Vice President of Urban Claims and Salvage, the position he holds today. He is a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Bar Association.
Collision Repair magazine: What do you see as the three most critical issues for the collision repair industry?
Paul McIntyre: The first would be original equipment manufacturer (OEM) certification of repair shops on various vehicles. Shops face continuous pressure to become certified by various manufacturers to repair vehicles, which has the potential of limiting customer choice and increasing cost. The second would be technology, including different materials used in the construction of vehicles, such as aluminum and carbon composites. The third would be the recruitment, retention, and training of the labour force.
CRM: What is the single most important decision facing repair facility owners today, and how should they deal with it?
PM: A shop owner has to make a decision as to what their shop and business will look like five years from now. Owners have to determine if they want to and can be a repairer of all vehicle makes and models, or decide if they want to concentrate on one manufacturer or area of manufacture. My view is that the repair industry understands this challenge.
A shop owner has to figure out their short and long range plans and how to get there. The days of simply having work come in and go out and then the shop gets paid are over. They’ve got to have to a plan. Every facility, regardless of size, has to look at the industry and decide where they fit. They need to ask, “Where do I want to be in five years and how do I get there?”
It’s a bit of crystal ball gazing, but there are significant issues coming down the pipe with materials, OEM certifications and how they’re going to align themselves. The repair industry has to partner with insurers. We’ve just gone through a fairly lengthy process to allow collision centres to do the estimates. We used to do it. SGI used to do literally every sheet, but we’ve built a significant structure to allow us to get repair instructions out to the repair firms and give them guidance on what KPI scores we’d like to see and what they mean. I think the repair industry as a whole is reasonably sophisticated, and they want to partner with the best-in-class.
CRM: In your view, what are the most important steps for a shop to take to secure longevity?
PM: For continued success, repair firms need to have a good long-term business plan, partner with the insurance industry, and be very change-adept. I know it’s an old saw, but the only constant is change. As a repair facility, or an insurer for that matter, you have to be adept at managing change. The way I look at it, repairers have to make some choices. Do they want to be a specialist? Attempt to be an all makes and models repairer? They have to make those decisions. Just as important, they have to be able to implement those decisions.
CRM: What do you think will be an area of growth for collision repair facilities?
PM: Any repair facility that can improve cycle time and customer service will be a winner. Cycle time is a pretty standard key performance indicator. If you’re providing quality, safe repairs and so is your competitor, then I’ll go to the repair facility with the shorter cycle time every time. That saves insurers money in the long run, but it isn’t just about saving money. Our mutual customers are becoming more aware of timeliness, and they’re starting to care more about things like what the facility looks like. I would say the biggest thing is keeping people informed. Speaking just as a consumer, if you tell me and alert me that the job won’t be ready, and give me an updated timeline, that will build loyalty.
I’ve seen stats that show that even if a repair facility doesn’t repair on time, as long as they make sure to keep the customers informed, they’ll return to that shop. In a nutshell, what customers see as a satisfactory experience is that you do what you say you will and keep them advised if it changes. Most customers understand that there are circumstances outside of your control, but you need to let them know.
CRM: Thinking solely of how it’s going to change the business, what’s the biggest change we can expect in the next few years?
PM: Some of the biggest changes currently facing the repair industry include technological change, such as materials and electronics. We can also expect a pretty dramatic change in how our mutual customer interacts with both the insurer and the repair industry in the years to come.
I’ll break it down: from the insurance perspective, our customers have come to us and said they want to interact in a multitude of channels. The old way, where a customer comes in and then maybe gets a letter a couple of weeks later, simply doesn’t work.
Our goal is to interact with them how they want to interact, whether that’s email, Twitter, instant message. Our customers have told us, “We don’t want to phone and we certainly don’t want to take the time to come in.” It’s much the same for the repair industry. At one point in time, the customers would phone. Now they send an email or tweet and the repair facility has to be able to deal with those. It’s a matter of making sure you’ve got some way to manage the responses.
CRM: What does the future hold for SGI?
PM: SGI has worked hard with the industry over the last number of years to ensure we’re properly positioned to take advantage of technology which allows electronic submission and approval of estimates. It positions SGI for the future dealing with all of the challenges that the industry faces. We’re the province’s statutory automotive insurer. We’re spending a lot of time and effort improving the customer experience. Sometimes the experience doesn’t go the way the customer would want, and sometimes that’s just a matter of managing expectations. We work with our customers so they know what to expect and what the journey is.
We’re building an infrastructure to do this. I see a similar situation for the collision repair industry. They need to be able to deal with the customer in the way that the customer wants, and that’s always as an individual. For example, there are plenty of repair facilities that will provide their customers with photos of the repairs in progress, but some customers don’t want to see their cars “naked.” It’s a matter of tailoring services to customer expectations. The real question for any business is “Would this customer refer a family member to our enterprise?” As an insurer, we want the answer to be unequivocally “Yes!”
