Thatcham Research strengthens ties with Malaysian partner
Thatcham Research has announced that Malaysian motor insurance research centre MRC will become a Global Associate member. It will become the second member, after Suncorp signed up in 2018.
Under the new agreement, MRC will continue to use Thatcham Research’s PLAZA system to generate repair times for Malaysian vehicles and in addition, Thatcham Research will outsource a number of UK-focused repair parts price projects to MRC.
As well as enjoying access to Thatcham Research’s vehicle research, data and services, which can be shared with its key stakeholders in Malaysia, MRC will also act as a distributor of other Thatcham Research products and services across the South East Asia region.
This builds upon a decade-long relationship between the two organisations, which has seen Thatcham Research repair times established as the standard within the Malaysian market.
Neale Phillips, global product director, Thatcham Research said, ‘It’s a huge pleasure to welcome the MRC as a new Global Associate member, following a long standing and highly successful partnership in the region. We are committed to supporting its needs and those of its insurer and industry stakeholders and we are excited to work with them to expand our reach across the ASEAN region, at a time when the speed of change in vehicle technology is as rapid as we’ve ever known.’
In response, Steve Miller CEO of MRC said, ‘Having the support and experience of Thatcham Research as our Global Partner ensures that MRC has access to the latest research and information to support our objective of assisting our stakeholders in providing a Duty of Care to their vehicle owners. In today’s fast-paced environment data is increasingly important and the agreement will provide insurance engineers and repairers instant access to the very latest researched repair methods, recommendations and technical newsletters.’
The ‘Global Associate Member status for the MRC and Suncorp is a new category established to enable international companies to benefit from and contribute to research, supporting Thatcham Research in its goals of improving car safety, security and repairability at a global level. To become a full Thatcham Research member a company must write motor insurance for the UK market.
