Copart’s Customer Excellence Centre Open and Operational

 

Despite the national lockdown, it’s still ‘customer first’ for leading online vehicle remarketing business Copart UK, who have opened the doors of their new Customer Excellence Centre. Following the rapid expansion of Copart’s customer service functions, including Claims Settlement and Engineering Services, the company announced plans to open the new centre back in November 2020 to support their ongoing growth and the changing needs of their customers. Copart’s Claims Settlement, Customer Support Centre, Vehicle Engineering and Operational Audit teams are now operating across three floors at Franklin Court, based in Priory Business Park, Bedford.

As a company that has remained operational throughout the pandemic, including the current national lockdown, the opening of Copart’s Customer Excellence Centre further supports the essential services they provide to the insurance sector.

Jane Pocock, Managing Director of Copart UK & Ireland, said:

“We’re delighted to announce that our Customer Excellence Centre is now open and operational, allowing us to provide our partners with world class end-to-end outsourced services and drive more returns from their vehicles. Given the essential nature of the services we provide, we were determined to push ahead with opening the centre despite the current national lockdown.

“Supported by our recent ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Standard accreditation, our customers and stakeholders can be reassured we are a robust and resilient company that will continue to provide critical value-added services despite any operational disruptions.”

The opening of the Customer Excellence Centre also coincides with the appointment of Richard Howe, who joins Copart as Head of Central Operations. Formerly Head of Engineering at Markerstudy Insurance, he will assume responsibility for managing the Customer Support Centre, Claims Settlement, and Vehicle Engineering functions at Franklin Court.

 

Howe said: “I’m joining Copart at a very exciting time, as the business continues to expand and invest into the continuous improvement of products and services, in line with the growing needs of customers. I’m pleased to bring over 30 years of commercial, technical, and claims experience to Copart and am looking forward to supporting and influencing the continued growth and success of these key areas of the business.”

 

Copart currently has over 1,200 employees based across 18 UK locations, and anticipates recruiting for around 35 new roles at the Customer Excellence Centre in Bedford over the next 12-18 months.

 

 

Tyre Recovery Association Limited

New TRA Pyrolysis Group holds first meeting

 

 

The launch meeting of this recently-announced new TRA group was held on 26th January 2021 attended by sixteen of the Association’s members.

 

“We were delighted by this level of participation” said Association President, Tim Stott, “and even more pleased that several participants have recently joined TRA specifically to be part of this much needed initiative”.

 

The meeting identified a number of common interests and objectives ranging from feedstock monitoring, the clear need to influence future regulation governing pyrolysis operators as well as complex issues such as ‘end of waste’ status and planning constraints.

 

Having settled on this wide-ranging set of objectives it was resolved to schedule further meetings in the coming weeks in which a renewed dialogue would be launched with regulators from the Devolved Administrations.

 

Commented Tim Stott, “we have already identified some wide-ranging concerns but also some real opportunities to smooth the way for investors in new pyrolysis capacity to benefit from a more compliant regulatory regime.”

SYNETIQ achieves the VRA UK Standard for Green Parts

The Vehicle Recycler’s Association has awarded SYNETIQ with the Stage 1 UK Standard for Reclaimed Parts from End-Of-Life Vehicles, following a two-part assessment at SYNETIQ’s Doncaster Head Office.

This new industry standard covers the removal, processing, and traceability of parts from damaged vehicles, ensuring they are safe for reuse. SYNETIQ supplies these ‘green parts’ to major fleets, Bodyshops, garages and private customers across the UK.

SYNETIQ sells original equipment (OE) non-safety related parts, such as collision panels, engines and gearboxes, through its parts procurement platform MyGreenFleet. Each part is graded from A to C, with any minor damage clearly highlighted. This quality control process is well established and means customers know exactly what to expect when ordering, with the item condition reflected in the price. The cashable saving from RRP can be as much as 75% when compared to new OE parts.

“We’re right behind this new VRA standard – it is a very positive step,” says Jason Cross, Client Relationship Director at SYNETIQ. ”We see it as being perfectly aligned with our vision: to lead the way in creating a vehicle recycling industry we can all be proud of. New, robust industry standards create a benchmark and inspire trust in the use of Green OE Parts. This can only help us and the insurance and fleet clients we serve.” 

While reusing vehicle parts was traditionally a price-led decision, more information is being revealed about the environmental benefits of use. Last month, SYNETIQ reported it has helped British Gas to save 120,000kg of CO2, simply by using recycled replacement doors instead of comparable brand-new OE.

Jason added: “We’ve been supplying green parts to the fleet industry since 2010, and we’re now undertaking several trials with major UK insurers for use in insurer funded repair. Attitudes are changing towards green parts, and we’re grateful to the VRA for their efforts to raise the standards further.”

 

Global leader in online vehicle remarketing, Copart UK, has been awarded the ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Standard, their sixth ISO accreditation to be achieved. As part of the assessment, Copart were audited on their ability to recognise potential risks and have the necessary framework in place to continue their operations, involving comprehensive business impact assessments for all areas of the organisation.

Stephanie Barnard, Director of Performance, Quality & Risk, said: “This has been a perfect opportunity for Copart to demonstrate to our customers and stakeholders that we have a strong business continuity plan in place to rapidly overcome any operational disruptions, which is very timely due to the current pandemic. It’s been a great opportunity to revisit and revise our business continuity processes in line with the challenges of Covid-19, strengthening our already robust emergency response strategy and underpinning the high-quality, seamless service our customers can expect to receive.” This new accreditation brings the total of ISO standards held by Copart to six.

 

The business already holds the following standards:

• ISO 9001 Quality Management System

• ISO 45001 Occupational Health & Safety Management

• ISO 31000 Risk Management

• ISO 14001 Environmental Management

• ISO 27001 Information Security

 

ISO 22301 is a globally recognised standard which is designed to help businesses prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from, unexpected and disruptive incidents and threats. After an intensive three-day assessment, in which Copart was required to provide evidence of a robust and effective business continuity plan for all areas of the business, the accreditation was awarded with no further actions required.

 

Jane Pocock, Managing Director of Copart UK & Ireland, said: “I’m delighted that we have achieved a ‘Super Six’ portfolio of ISO accreditations, which is incredibly unique for a company within the automotive industry and demonstrates the market leading standards at which we operate. “We already have a well-established emergency response strategy in place which, alongside our extensive UK operational capacity and cutting-edge mobile technology, has allowed us to continue operating safely throughout the current pandemic. “The independent validation of an ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Standard provides our customers with even more confidence in our resilience, and reassurance that we will continue to operate effectively on their behalf.”

News Release – 23-09-20

 

 

Copart UK embarks on ambitious growth programme

 

Global leader in online vehicle remarketing, Copart UK, are significantly increasing their vehicle storage capacity with an ambitious growth programme underway to allow strategic development and expansion across the UK.

In 2019, Copart celebrated the addition of a further 22 acres of land at their Bristol Operation Centre with an official opening ceremony. Now, with a further 23 acres in their ownership at this location, they are preparing for development and use later this year.

The company also recently acquired and secured planning permission for an expansion to their Operation Centre in York, adding a further 7 acres of land. This is being prepared for use towards the end of 2020, alongside a 5-acre expansion of their Wisbech Operation Centre.

These expansions, alongside continuous improvement at other UK Operation Centres, will provide storage for an additional 6,000 vehicles, increasing overall storage capacity by over 10% ahead of the coming winter.

With the continued support of Copart US, there are also further investment opportunities in the pipeline to potentially increase capacity with major new developments planned across the UK.

Simon Sheldon-Wilson, Director of Property, Security and Specialist Services, said:

“Our continued success means that our requirement for land continues to grow. We currently own over 537 acres – that's bigger than the entire country of Monaco - giving us the capacity to process around 60,000 vehicles at any one time. Our strategy for ongoing growth means we have embarked on an ambitious programme to identify, acquire and develop additional land for our business.”

The expansion of Copart’s existing Operation Centres is part of their dual strategy to both develop and acquire land to better serve their customers across the UK.

Phil Briggs, Director of Operation Centres, Transport & Engineering, said:

“It’s a very exciting time for Copart UK as we continue to grow in line with customer demand. Following the recent expansion of our logistics fleet, this significant investment into land acquisition and the extension and improvement of our existing Operation Centres will further strengthen our UK wide storage capacity, offering our customers the convenience of additional locations across the country and enabling us to continue providing the industry leading service they have come to expect.”

 

Copart UK was established in 2007 and handles over 400,000 vehicles each year through online auctions for a variety of customers including finance companies, banks, dealers, fleets, rental car companies and the insurance industry; as well as franchised, independent and wholesale motor traders. Members can choose salvage and non-salvage vehicles including agricultural and plant, HGVs, commercial vehicles, motorcycles and more; with thousands of vehicles available to bid on each day. Copart was founded in the USA in 1982; and has locations throughout Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and Europe, including 16 locations across the UK. Copart is listed on NASDAQ and is a member of Standard and Poor’s 500 index. In 2015, Copart was ranked at the top of Deloitte’s “The Exceptional 100” list of companies. In 2019, Copart UK was awarded with the prestigious CCA Global Standard Accreditation by the Customer Contact Association.