Why repair times have worsened for fixing smashed cars

afr.com:

Times to fix cars and trucks have jumped by up to an additional four days, smash repair giant AMA says.

The delays were blamed on ongoing labour shortages and more heavy damage being suffered in accidents, and helped chip away at customer satisfaction levels.

AMA chief Carl Bizon. 

The extended times include more heavily damaged cars taking 12.8 days to repair in the past year, compared to 10 in 2022. Trucks or buses could take 15.3 days, up from 11.3.

It reflects increased pressure on car repair costs across the sector, with insurers saying they are having to shell out more expenses such as hire cars while waiting for a fix.

The times were unveiled as Melbourne-based AMA filed a $148 million loss for the past financial year, bringing the chain’s red ink to more than $450 million since 2020.

The latest losses were again driven by large hits to the value of assets such as goodwill.

But the company on Thursday also revealed it was raising $55 million in new capital that will heavily dilute its existing shareholder base. The amount being raised and price of new shares are coming in below earlier market expectations.

AMA, a 140-shop chain whose main clients are insurers, maintained it would no longer be burning cash this financial year. It said underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation had lifted from $18.9 million in 2022 to $63.7 million in the past financial year, and would land between $86 million and $96 million this year.

“I feel the company is absolutely poised to be everything it should be and become everything it can be in the years to come,” said outgoing AMA chief executive Carl Bizon.

AMA has been staggering after spending $420 million buying a quick repair chain Capital Smart in