South Africa’s current state of record load-shedding is wreaking havoc on small businesses across the country, especially independent car repairers.
“The outages have adversely affected many smaller members who do not have sufficient resources for large backup generators,” said Charles Canning, Chairman of the South African Motor Body Repair Sector, speaking to MotorHappy.
This comes off the back of challenges faced during the Covid pandemic as well as supply chain issues and an acute shortage of parts.
“Not only is the chain out of Europe challenged since Russia attacked Ukraine, as that is where our semiconductor, wiring units, and electronic goods predominantly come from, but also from the large increases in freight costs,” said Canning.
“We know that out of the East, for example, certain car manufacturers are even battling to find the steel to make the containers to put the parts in to get them to South Africa.”
What this means for the average driver
Due to the spotty parts availability and regular power outages that lead to forced downtime, the average motorist will now have to wait much longer for their vehicle to be repaired than in the past.
“Not only does this negatively impact customers, but it also impacts profitability with repair vehicles taking up much-needed real estate and slowing down the intake of new business,” said Canning.
“It also negatively impacts ratings with the big insurers who measure turnaround times for customer repairs.”
Canning notes that, to cut down on the time a vehicle is spent in the shop, Sambra-approved motor body repairers (MBRs) are now repairing rather than replacing parts wherever it is reasonable to do so.
“We are also working hard to manage customer expectations,” he said.
On the bright side, “developments in repair technology have advanced substantially over the recent years, significantly improving the ability of MBRs to repair metal and plastic panels on a motor vehicle,” said Canning.
Keyword: Load-shedding is hammering car repairers – What this means for the average motorist