Why its important to implement
Previous repairs affect hours/materials needed and repair quality. ADAS vehicles have paint thickness limits that impact safety system functionality.
ADAS Safety Compliance
On some vehicles with ADAS and Radar sensors the manufacturers stipulates that the vehicle has a maximum paint thickness which is often only the original application layer thicknesses, if this is not considered during the process of estimating it may be putting the customer in danger of the vehicles safety systems not responding in the way they were designed to when in a new accident.
Warranty Quality Impact
Painting over old paint work can affect the quality of the repair and make it impossible for the business to give warranty for the new work.
Previous Repair Documentation
If the damage to the vehicle is on an area of the vehicle that has previously been repaired and painted this must be noted and reported to the insurance company as this can affect the hours and materials required to repair the damage due to redoing some of the metal, filler and paint work once the extent of the old damage is revealed during the repair process.
Business Impact
Unreported old damage exposes business to unpaid costs. Warranty issues from paint quality problems. Unpaid technician work reduces productivity.
Profit
If the VDA does not note or report old repaired damage the business could be exposed to additional material and labour costs that are not paid for by the work provider.
Profit
If warranty if given and the old repaired damage may affect the life span of the new paint and repair quality.
Productivity
If the business carries out additional work as a result of unreported old repaired damage, productivity will be affected as the technicians will spend unpaid work on vehicles for free.
action steps
Train VDAs to report old damage, document with photos, request allowances, void warranty if work provider won't pay.
Warranty Limitation Policy
If the work provider does not pay for it then warranty should be void or not offered.
Damage Documentation Protocol
Photos need to be taken when removing old repair area material, and these need to be kept on file.
Previous Damage Reporting Training
The VDA should be trained to report all old damage and request an allowance once the extent of the damage has been revealed in the repair process.
Related tasks
Milestone:
02: Streamlining VDA Processes