The last 12 months

How has the last 12 months impacted us?

The last 12-18 months has been difficult to say the least for everyone during the pandemic. With regards to business, some have managed to weather the storm and some sadly have had to cease trading. How has the pandemic hit our industry?

The Covid pandemic hit us in many different ways. Unfortunately our industry (the salvage industry) depends on drivers misfortunes, the same as vehicle repairers and vehicle recovery firms. With lack of volume on the road during the three lockdowns, the amount of accidents seriously depleted, which in real terms is a good thing. We do however as an industry rely on the volumes of salvage vehicles through accidents.

So skip back to March 2020, with a 4 week lockdown thrust upon us we closed as recommended which for us, and the country as a whole was unimaginable.  The help from the goverment and local councils was superb making sure that all furloughed staff got paid whilst we couldn’t trade.

What did we do during the quiet times?

Like many businesses whilst it was quiet, it gave us the chance to reflect on how we operate, our systems and how we currently work. It gave us a chance to look at procedures, how could we work more efficiently. The “breathing space” proved to be valuable and really made us look at the business in a different way . Having achieved the VRA certification, our emphasis turned more to the parts and how we can become better. How many times have you looked at your business or within your workplace and said “I haven’t got time”. Its not an uncomon phrase to use and one we’re all guilty of using.

We came back to work on a skeleton staff and began replacing our lack of insurance volumes with cars from anywhere we could buy from. With customers not travelling, thus came an opportunity to sell more online. We looked at our online sales and proceeded to load more on to https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/greenpartsmart and that really started to see an upward trend.

So what now?

With the vaccination programme being rolled out at ferocious pace, we are starting see see incurance volume gradually come back. It could take 2-3 years to get back to what is perceived as “normal” volumes. Our scrap car collections have remained buoyant throughout and we continue to buy from that side too.

We will take all we have learnt during the pandemic and roll with those ideas. We certainly welcome normality and also embrace the “new normal” that has been left with us.

Stay safe.