Director of quality and IT business systems at Thatcham, Jason Moseley, has gone back to the floor to see what life in a bodyshop today is really like.

For a week at the beginning of January, Moseley experienced all facets of the repair process, from estimating to repair and painting, at M&M Vehicle Repairs in Staffordshire.

“One of the things that struck me was the level of unnecessary work and micro management involved before you even get to touch a car,” says Moseley.

From his experiences, Moseley feels a vital skill for estimators is the ability to negotiate, given how estimates can change once they are returned by engineers.

But perhaps the most lasting impression of the pressures faced by repairers in the current market were those caused by the customers.

Recounting how one customer returned a vehicle 10 minutes after collection to complain of a barely detectable lacquer run on the underside of its freshly repaired front bumper, Moseley says: “I was stunned by the level of expectation of the customer. The level of quality bodyshops are expected to turn out is incredible.”