Why its important to implement
All external partners must meet government, OEM, and work provider requirements. Proper certification prevents liability and maintains relationships.
Third party certification
There are some tasks on the estimate that the business may not handle internally. These may be due to agreements with work providers that require some services to be done by a particular company. The most common tasks taken care of by third parties are: Windscreens and all glass removal and refitting, Wheel alignments, Tyre changes, ADAS and Radar calibrations, Electronic checks, Air-conditioning de-gassing and re-gassing, Vehicle wrapping and signage application, Paint-less dent repair.
Documentation requirements
These third party companies must fulfill and be certified if applicable with all government, OEM and work provider requirements related to their field of expertise. Certifications or license numbers should be displayed on and reports or invoices as evidence for the body shop. It is good practice for the body shop to keep any formal agreements and certificates of its partners on file in case of being audited as some OEM's will require this for certification audits.
Business Impact
Profit at risk from redoing unlicensed work, customer satisfaction threatened by OEM confidence loss and potential business loss.
Profit
If work has been carried out by non-licensed or non-certified third-party partners the business will be responsible to have the work carried out at its own cost
Customer Satisfaction
OEM's and work providers are partners of the business and will lose confidence and possibly choose another body shop if non licensed or non certified partners are used
Overall Business Impact
Profit is affected when work must be redone at the business's own cost due to using non-licensed or non-certified third-party partners. Customer Satisfaction suffers as OEMs and work providers lose confidence in the business and may choose alternative body shops when non-licensed or non-certified partners are used.
action steps
Audit all third party partners, verify certificates and licenses, only work with certified providers, enforce compliance.
Policy Enforcement
Strong internal warnings if policy not followed once established.
Certification Requirements
Only work with licensed or certified third parties.
Partner Verification
The business should carry out an internal audit of its third party partners if any, requesting their certificates and licenses if not on file.
Related tasks
Milestone:
09: Implementing Quality Control Measures