Industry trade associations have expressed concern over the growing number of complaints from their bodyshop members about parts availability.

The MVRA claimed it was receiving up to 55 calls a week from repairers who had been told six-15 weeks for delivery of parts.

Mike Monaghan, MVRA managing director, said: “If a customer's car is waiting for parts, it sits in the repair shop taking up valuable space. In the meantime the customer has use of the repairer's courtesy car.”

He blamed a “minority” of manufacturers for the problem, but said “action needs to be taken”.

The VBRA has reported similar difficulties, particularly with niche marques. Development director Alan Bird said: “Most of the complaints concern Japanese and Korean makes and especially grey import vehicles, but some Volkswagen parts have also been difficult to obtain lately.” A spokesman for Volkswagen said that the implementation of a new IT system across Europe had caused a recent parts distribution problem in the UK, but this was a temporary situation.