Silverlake Automotive Recycling [Silverlake] welcomes Rob Lewis to the management team as Social Media Manager, a newly created role developed as part of the business’ continuous improvement strategy. Rob will be the online custodian of Silverlake’s reputation for quality products and excellent customer service; responsible for further building the brand’s presence and its online community, adding value to both.  Reporting to the senior management team, Rob will work closely with Silverlake’s marketing team to deliver the business’ objectives.      

Rob is an FLTA qualified engineer whose early career was as a field service engineer maintaining fork lift trucks.  His passion is motor sports and his in-depth knowledge of car repair and maintenance comes from having built his own racing car which he races in the BRSCC Modified Ford Series.  He has become a well-known figure in online motor sports commentary, running a motor sports podcast for UK Club Racing since 2020 and as the official commentator for the C1 Racing Series. 

Commenting on his appointment Rob said: “I had used Silverlake’s self-service U-Pick-It yard to dismantle parts that I needed for the build and maintenance of my racing car for a number of years, so I had first-hand experience of the company and its services.  This role is my dream job combining my passions and working for a business that is so progressive in the vehicle recycling market.  We have so many online channels available to reach our broad customer base including insurers, public sector organisations, bodyshops, garages, the general public and motor sports industry and I will be creating content that is relevant and relatable for all.  My aim is to build trust and preferentiality for all our services including our Online Auction and Sell My Car Service and our quality graded, warranty assured reclaimed parts and part-worn tyre bay.  Then there’s the people themselves that work at Silverlake, our charity scheme and all our community initiatives.  I’m looking forward to sharing what’s under the bonnet at Silverlake!” 

Allen Prebble, managing director at Silverlake said: “We are excited to welcome Rob to the team.  *84.3% of people in the UK are active on social media and we recognise the opportunity this represents to communicate and add value to our existing customers and prospects.  Creating an in-house marketing role dedicated to social media will allow us to further boost our activity in this discipline and support our business’ growth goals.  Our mission at Silverlake is to make vehicle repair and maintenance cost effective, efficient and sustainable and to continue to educate and build confidence in the use of reclaimed parts.  Vehicle recycling is a dynamic and competitive market and success comes from understanding your customers’ needs, building trust and continually evolving and innovating to exceed their expectations.”  

Global leader in online vehicle remarketing and recycling, Copart UK, has welcomed the recent findings of the 12th annual ABP State of the Industry Report, which reflects the ongoing increase in demand for Green Parts.  

Copart plays a prominent role in promoting the economic and environmental benefits of vehicle recycling and parts dismantling through its vehicle remarketing and recycling services. 

Copart positively recognises the fact that the ABP’s Industry report clearly illustrates the continued year on year growth in, and demand for, Green Parts. 

With 79% of respondents stating that they have fitted Green Parts, Copart welcomes the fact that Green Parts have moved into the mainstream as a viable solution for the sector. 

Given the rise in usage, Copart also believes that the report clearly demonstrates how seriously organisations in this sector are taking the climate crisis and committing to reduce, reuse, and recycle by adopting and supporting the growth of Green Parts as part of their wider ESG strategies.  

Collectively, as an industry, the day one issues are being solved at pace, with provenance, quality, and supply now less problematic. As the report suggests, this progress has now moved Green Parts from the side lines to front and centre. 

Copart considers viable and scalable Green Parts vital for the repair industry, offering a pragmatic and environmental solution given the ongoing supply chain issues and parts demand. 

The report also re-enforces the reality of ongoing supply chain issues as it demonstrates a significant year on year rise, in percentage terms, that the key drivers when deciding to use Green Parts are parts availability and timescales. 

Clearly these issues impact both the Policy Holder and the Insurer in terms of time and money associated with a repair but are solved through the availability of robust green parts services in the market.  

The other key fact highlighted in the report is that although Green Parts are suitable for many repairs, Green Parts are not suitable for all. 

When it comes to safety, there is no compromise, and the report does illustrate that in some cases Green Parts are not the answer. As a key supplier in this sector, Copart believes that increasing the availability of viable, quality assured Green Parts across the industry has huge benefits in the short, medium, and long term. 

Copart is at the forefront of upcycling and recycling vehicles, and, with extensive reach through its worldwide auction platform, supports the continued growth in the global circular economy by offering widespread access to Green Parts.

Jane Pocock, CEO of Copart UK & Ireland, said: 

“The ABP State of the Industry Report clearly reflects an ongoing demand for green parts where provenance and quality are paramount. As a key supplier we recognise the need to help all our customer groups access Green Parts and we are proud to be an enabler of the Green Parts revolution!”

Global leader in online vehicle remarketing and recycling, Copart UK, has today announced that they have achieved a Carbon Literacy Silver Accreditation in record time, as part of their ongoing Plan-Net-Zero sustainability commitment.  

 This achievement highlights Copart’s ongoing commitment to tackling climate change, reducing carbon emissions, and working towards the overall commitment to achieve net zero by 2040, which is underscored by their membership to the Science Based Targets Organisation.

Jane Pocock, CEO of Copart UK & Ireland, said: 

“With transport producing almost one-quarter of global CO2 emissions, there is no denying that the automotive sector has a huge responsibility to champion climate action and carbon reduction. 

“As a global leader and influencer in this sector, we’re fully committed to making sustainability a focal point of our future strategy and we know that educating our teammates to live and breathe sustainability both inside and outside of work is a crucial aspect of this. 

“We’re delighted to have gained silver level carbon literacy status so quickly. We are now focused on achieving the gold accreditation in 2023 by delivering the training to 50% of our workforce and we are well underway towards our next goal! ” 

This company-wide roll-out of carbon literacy training is just one aspect of Copart’s ‘Plan-Net-Zero’, which also includes a commitment to achieving the ‘Greenest Fleet on the Street’, the setting of science-based targets (SBTi), and the continued expansion of their UK recycling and green parts capabilities. 

 Dave Coleman, Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Carbon Literacy Project, said: 

“Carbon Literacy is an essential skill, vital to every workplace, community, and place of study. By becoming a Silver-accredited Carbon Literate Organisation, Copart has demonstrated its commitment to genuine low carbon action, environmental and economic impact, and the building of a low carbon future for us all.” 

As the UK’s only network of nationwide vehicle recyclers e2e is in a unique position to reflect on the findings of the 2022 ABP Report on the State of the UK Body Repair Industry in relation to reclaimed parts.  Our members collectively hold the largest inventory of quality graded, warranty assured, original reclaimed parts stocks in the UK, standing at over 5million, and all members are accredited to the VRA UK Standard for Reclaimed Parts.  

It is encouraging to see that the report states that a record 79% of bodyshops that responded are now using reclaimed parts and that 74% had increased their usage in 2022.  Interestingly, the ratio of reclaimed parts as a percentage of overall parts volumes has decreased slightly with 15% reporting 10% or more in 2022 compared to 17% in 2021.  This is surprising when parts shortages are affecting such a high proportion of bodyshop jobs, but perhaps less so when you see that 60% of respondents are using more non-OE parts than in 2021 as a result of parts availability issues.  

It would be interesting to scrutinize the drivers and perceived advantages of using non-OE parts compared to original reclaimed parts.  Is it because bodyshops are struggling to identify and source original reclaimed parts?  Currently, unquestionably, the supply chain is fractured and there is no centralised view of reclaimed parts availability.  Bodyshops typically have to visit multiple providers to fulfil their bill of materials, which is time consuming and resource hungry.  The opportunity to better service and join up the supply chain is an ongoing discussion which will be taken forward at the next meeting of the Reclaimed Parts Cross Industry Working Group.  This group was founded by e2e in 2022 and its second meeting will take place in the new year, facilitated by e2e and including representatives from ABP, ILC, NBRA, and VRA.    

In parallel, 60% of respondents equally reported using more reclaimed parts than last year, as a result of parts availability issues.  There are those that may say the boom in demand for reclaimed parts will be short-lived and once new parts become readily available, demand for reclaimed parts will fall away.  Our network members take the opposite view.  Their confidence in the future of the market can be measured in the investment taking place within their businesses, to include facilities, logistics, technology and people.  They firmly believe that the parts availability issues threatening the motor repair supply chain represent opportunity to either introduce or further reinforce reclaimed parts as an ongoing, credible part of the solution for bodyshops.  Furthermore, the average age of vehicles on the roads continues to increase, as evidenced by the fact that 74% of bodyshops use reclaimed parts when the new part is no longer available.  With manufacturers ceasing to make combustion engines in 2030 and the cost-of-living crisis resulting in more people holding on to their cars for longer; this looks set to be a growing trend.  Add to this increased scrutiny on ESG compliance across the motor supply chain and the carbon reduction benefits of reclaimed parts will add to the attraction of the proposition as a sustainable solution.     

It is curious to see 44% of bodyshops citing policy holder resistance as a reason for not using or not increasing their use of reclaimed parts. This contradicts the insights gained at a recent webinar hosted by e2e which featured bodyshop and insurer representation.  Insurers were clear that in the main, policyholders were open to the use of reclaimed parts, particularly if it expedited the repair process.  At the time, there were discussions as to where the responsibility lay to educate the consumer on the practical and environmental benefits of reclaimed parts and suggestions that including reference to their use in policy cover documents was advisable.    

Of more concern is the 61% of respondents who reported that inconsistent quality was a cause of them not using or not increasing their use of reclaimed parts.  The VRA UK Standard for Reclaimed Parts was introduced to ensure quality consistency.  Vehicle recyclers accredited to the UK Standard are audited annually and required to quality grade and warranty assure their reclaimed parts.  All e2e members are accredited to the UK Standard and reclaimed parts provided by e2e’s network have an extremely low (<2%) return rate.  More needs to be done to understand the quality consistency issues reported and this will also be tabled for the working party meeting in the new year. 

Jim Loughran, CEO of e2e Total Loss Vehicle Management comments: “This is a great piece of research by ABP and we thank them for their efforts and for the insight it grants.  We mustn’t shy away from addressing the very real challenges that the supply chain and consumer have with regards to the usage of reclaimed parts.  At e2e we are already working on solutions that will address many of the issues highlighted in the report.  Reclaimed parts have to become a sustainable resource pool for the whole repair sector, it just makes sense!  Not just for bodyshops, insurance companies and salvage suppliers, but for the planet as a whole!”