NAB discuss salvage with the DfT
The National Association of Bodyshops (NAB) met with Barry Sheerman, MP and chairman of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, (PACTS) and Maria Ullah at the Department for Transport (DfT) to discuss their concerns surrounding motor vehicle salvage control and the risks it presents to the public.
During the meetings, NAB expressed concerns on a number of issues including the lack of protection offered to consumers in relation to the unregulated sale and repair of motor vehicle salvage, both under the present code of practice and the proposed new code of practice.
Other areas of discussion included –
- Inaccuracies and misleading information in the Consumer Guide for Buying a repaired written off vehicle.
- The potential risks associated with the sale and repair of vehicles on an online auction site which were being sold as repairable propositions.
- The changes introduced since the abolition of the Vehicle Identity Check (VIC) scheme.
- The proposed new code of practice and its technical elements and boundaries in terms of salvage categorisation – which still do not offer protection to the consumer
- The history behind the current Motor Salvage Code of Practice and the VIC and the need for a new code of practice that is more technically based and that controls the sale and repair of salvage and offer some protection to consumers.
Frank Harvey, head of the NAB commented, ‘We were advised by the DfT that the Consumer Guide had been compiled by leading industry organisations which make the inaccuracy even more concerning, and since our meetings we have offered to draft alternative wording for the guide.’
‘Our meeting with PACTS was positive and they were keen to engage in further future discussions. Since then we have requested information from the Driving Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in relation to the number of vehicle written off each year and the numbers associated to particular salvage categories and how many certificates of destruction are issued each year.’
