Body repair costs set to rise over next five years

The report says total expenditure on car body repairs, including both insurance and non-insurance funded repairs, during 1997 stood at £5.1 billion, with 5.85 million repairs carried out. It forecasts that by 2002 total expenditure will have risen to £6.4 billion, with 6.5 million repairs being carried out.

However, high operating costs, low profitability and poor management within many bodyshops mean that the number of outlets is dropping. This, combined with an increase in volume demand, has resulted in a more equal balance of supply and demand.