Perhaps the most critical issue in the industry at the moment is a shortage of skills, and that was addressed at IBIS Ireland 2017 by Bob Linwood of AutoRaise, who was introducing the charity to the country for the first time. He explained how the AutoRaise was borne into an industry that was on its [...]

Tom Hudd, operations manager, repair technology centre, of Thatcham Research, told delegates at IBIS Ireland 2017 that the ‘Bodyshop of the Future’ is already here. He said that the technology advances in recent years have arrived into the market and are no longer just the preserve of top-end vehicles. He said that a recent visit [...]

Steve Thompson of Audatex used his presentation at IBIS Ireland 2017 to urge delegates to get on board with the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). Audatex has been a growing presence in the Irish market since Glass’s withdrew last year. Steve said that the crash repair world is changing, with globalisation, consolidation, digitalisation, consumer-power, and [...]

Barry Sheehan of the University of Limerick delivered an intriguing presentation at IBIS Ireland 2017 on the future of autonomous vehicles and the impact it will have on insurers and the process of underwriting. He began by pointing out that there are 40,000 fatalities on European roads each year, and 1.5 million injuries. He said [...]

Thomas Glendinning of BMI Research told IBIS Ireland 2017 that new vehicle sales in the country would decline by 6.7% in 2017 despite the country’s positive numbers in terms of GDP. However, he said that the challenging figures would not last and that a return to growth was expected as the UK pound began to [...]