“I just want to repair cars” by Paul Sell, MD, Trend Tracker

A repairer said this at a recent event. It stuck with me – because it perfectly captures the tension in the market right now. For decades, that was the job.

Steady volumes. Familiar vehicles. A model that worked and businesses built on labour.

But that job has changed. It’s a structural shift, a shift to a capital, technology led model.

• Fewer collisions (by design with manufacturers building with safety in mind since the advent of NCAP in 1997)
• More complex vehicles (by design too – ADAS, EVs and of course AEB mandatory in new vehicles since 2022)
• Rising write-offs (with a need to review, creating difficult claims economics)
• Changing consumer behaviours (with excess values now matching premium values [Trend Tracker April report confirming £540]
• Pressure on insurance models as a result with frequency falling but claims costs rising [ABI data reporting lowest frequency since the pandemic)
• Ageing Car parc but also a plethora of new manufacturers pushing new cars into the market at a rapid pace [Trend Tracker reporting on the 9.9 average car parc age in recent reports using department of transport data, a record number of cars over 13 years old on the road]

The result?

• Less volume; no longer a search for the ‘new normal’ which was much talked about in 2022-23, no longer about comparison to pre-pandemic, more comparison month on month, year on year in a rapidly changing market [April 2026 Trend Tracker report confirming YTD 2026 being slightly above 2025]
• More complexity and a changing skill set; the mix is rapidly changing, the vehicles being repaired more complex, the skills required to access them changing and the regulations surrounding data access such as SERMI also changing [Trend Tracker reporting 11.7% of repairs being EV in April 2026]
• Tougher economics; the average repair cost has been rising month on month since November [Trend Tracker reporting £3229 in March 2026] but this isn’t the whole picture for insurers who also absorb write-off values which is an ever increasing percentage of claims [Trend Tracker reporting an estimated 27% of claims in 2025] resulting in a higher average repair cost reported by the ABI of £3699.

The role of the repairer has evolved far beyond the workshop:

• Understanding and navigating a consolidating Insurer market 
• Investing in EV capability
• Navigating parts cost, and margin pressure
• Understanding and working with vehicle data & diagnostics
• Navigating a plethora of new manufacturers
• Understanding and dealing with data and technology complexity- GDPR, SERMI, and restricted access to modern cars

Of course, this is all in additional to a volatile world around us, with ECA regularly reporting on the changes in energy costs [Trend Tracker report contains ECA latest data reporting gas 57% and electricity 42% up from the end of February ]

In simple terms:

Repairing a car today often starts with knowing how to access and manage its data – not picking up a tool.

That doesn’t mean the core skill has lost its value, with an ageing workforce the core skill is still critically important.

But it does mean the definition of the job has changed and these core skills may now need to be accompanied by new skills for the evolving job of ‘repairing cars.’

The repairers who recognise that – and adapt the fastest – will be the ones who thrive.

Because this remains a multi-billion-pound market, still attracting significant investment.

To find out more, Trend Tracker is presenting at ARC360 2026 on 21 May taking place at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon – use the link here to secure your ticket now.

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