Repairers face 12-week delays for car parts

Car owners are facing lengthy delays to get repairs done with reports of replacement parts taking up to 12 weeks to arrive.

Neil Pritchard, general manager of the Collision Repair Association, says some panel beaters are having to send clients away to either store the car at home or, if safe to do so, to drive their damaged vehicle until the parts arrive.

He explains that before the coronavirus crisis kicked in there was a backlog of work for panel beaters. However, the arrival of Covid-19 and the subsequent national lockdown meant fewer cars on the road, a lower accident rate and many repair shops were able to catch up on their workload.

Stocks of certain parts and panels at car distributors are now running out and it is taking up to 12 weeks to source some items, he tells the NZ Herald.

Pritchard, pictured, says the Covid-19 pandemic has created a “perfect storm” for the industry as factories overseas stopped making parts because of closures, the cost of air freight is up and shipping container space has become more limited.

Panel beaters are completing what repairs they can and in some cases are using recycled parts, he notes.

“A lot of the companies did really well in stocking up early,” adds Pritchard. “But like any business they stock fast-moving parts. You can’t expect them to stock every part.”

Other challenges for repairers today include the array of modern materials used in vehicles and having to restore electronic safety features that might have been damaged in a crash.

James Young, of CRS Panel and Paint in Newmarket, Auckland, says the wait for parts covers all types of vehicles.