For many years now, the car accident repair industry has been faced with a seemingly unsolvable dilemma: repair businesses need to earn money in order to invest in the necessary workshop equipment and staff expertise. At the same time, the insurance industry, which generally has to pay for vehicle damage, is forced to make savings. And they do this by cutting workshop bills, for example. With around ten million accident claims in Germany, this adds up to a considerable sum. As a rule, the insurance customer is not aware of this because the garages simply write off the shortfall. But this is currently changing: garages are no longer prepared to accept the increasing number of invoice reductions - and are passing the shortfalls on to the insurance customer. They are legally able to do this. This ultimately leads to dissatisfied insurance customers.
There are various reasons why insurance companies are under pressure to save. One is, for example, that insurance companies are no longer earning interest on their reserves due to the European low interest rate policy. Another serious reason is the explosion in the cost of vehicle repairs - particularly in the area of spare parts. Vehicle manufacturers have continuously increased the prices of spare parts in recent years. Insurance companies and loss adjusters are trying to counteract this by supplying their partner workshops with spare parts via their own Internet platforms. Due to the larger purchasing volumes, they can negotiate special purchasing conditions with the vehicle manufacturers and their parts distribution organizations. The victims of this development are the workshops, which are not in a position to forego the margins from the parts business.
The German Association of the Automotive Parts Trade (GVA) has now announced that the German government has made progress on the issue of design protection. To date, externally visible parts of the vehicle have been protected against copycats. If the so-called repair clause demanded by the GVA softens the design protection, any supplier can in principle manufacture and sell such spare parts. "This almost automatically raises the questions: How will the insurance industry react and which parts will be installed in accident vehicles in the future? This is a market worth billions!" says Konrad Wenz, Editor-in-Chief of "Kfz-Schadenmanager".
It is precisely in this area of conflict that the specialist medium "Kfz-Schadenmanager" is holding the "Kfz-Schadenmanagement" congress. In a new and unique format, the Vogel Communications Group will bring together the protagonists in accident repair at the Vogel Convention Center in Würzburg on November 12 and 13, 2019. This is where insurance claims managers and their inspection service providers will meet repair workshops, experts and lawyers. The industry will be informed with specialist presentations and exchange ideas in discussion rounds. The event, sponsored by the two companies "Dekra" and "Carbon", is also accompanied by a trade exhibition.
The congress "Automotive Claims Management" will take place on: November 12/13, 2019 at the Vogel Convention Center in Würzburg
Further information and registration at https://www.kfz-schadenmanagement-kongress.de/de
Accreditation for journalists at pressestelle@vogel.de.
Eight times a year, "Kfz-Schadenmanager" reaches around 10,000 managers and decision-makers in automotive businesses, bodywork and paint professionals, experts, lawyers and insurers. The specialist medium offers information on new developments, assistance with claims handling, presents the legal situation using sample cases and provides help with communication in claims management. The parent company Vogel Communications Group is one of the leading service providers for B2B communication in the German-speaking world. Its headquarters are in Würzburg. With four agencies in Berlin, the Group offers comprehensive communications expertise. The Group's services range from specialist media, corporate publishing, social media services, PR, trade fair services, networks and communities to market intelligence & insights and an in-house congress center.
