Vehicle Damage Assessor

VEHICLE DAMAGE ASSESSOR

Activate Accident Repair - Mildenhall

41 Hampstead Ave, Mildenhall, Bury Saint Edmunds IP28 7AS

Hours: 45 hours per week Reports to: Bodyshop Manager

£5,000 SIGN-ON BONUS - paid in full on successful completion of your probation period

We're looking for a Vehicle Damage Assessor to join the friendly, fast-paced team at our state-of-the-art Mildenhall bodyshop, helping deliver outstanding service and high-quality repairs for our customers.

Activate Group is a growing UK business approaching 1,000+ team members nationwide. This is a genuine opportunity to build a long-term career with a company that invests in its people and offers real development and progression.

WHY YOU'LL LOVE WORKING HERE

• £5,000 sign-on bonus, paid in full after you complete your probation period
• 33 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Annual and monthly performance bonus
• Annual pay review so your reward keeps pace with your contribution
• Enhanced family leave covering maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay
• Life assurance at three times your basic salary
• Health Shield cash health plan for every team member
• Free breakfast cereals and milk every day, free fruit every Monday, and a free breakfast delivered every Wednesday

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

• Assisting the Bodyshop Manager to oversee all aspects of the bodyshop, ensuring customer service level agreements (SLAs) and site key performance indicators (KPIs) are met while maximising profitability
• Providing estimates for the cost of repair on damaged vehicles, both manually and via company systems
• Assisting with planning resource and equipment levels around budgets and financial plans
• Establishing and maintaining consistent workflow within the bodyshop through effective capacity planning
• Adhering to the operational workshop loading system in line with company policy and procedures, making sure all targets and deadlines are met or addressed
• Managing daily production co-ordination
• Regularly reviewing site KPI performance to identify any shortfall against plan, average repair cost target, customer satisfaction index (CSI) targets and customer service scores
• Managing customer complaints from first contact through to conclusion, carrying out root cause analysis on each one and implementing any actions required
• Carrying out visual inspections to identify any accidental damage, avoiding uninsured loss damage costs
• Estimating repairs by considering the most economical repair method
• Maintaining awareness of incoming vehicles and flagging any issues
• Explaining repair procedures and processes clearly to the workshop and to customers with varying levels of understanding
• Valuing vehicles at market rate to determine the economics of a repair
• Ensuring all chargeable materials are recorded on job cards for invoicing purposes
• Reviewing all open job cards daily and reporting any ongoing or recurrent work-in-progress problems
• Assisting in the evaluation and justification of bodywork warranty claims, providing comprehensive explanations
• Estimating the time, materials and parts required for repairs, explaining this clearly to customers, insurers and other assessors
• Making efficient use of modern estimating methods and working in line with approved times set by Thatcham or other authorised repair times
• Flagging any problem, fault or issue that might affect the performance and safety of a customer's vehicle

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Relevant experience as an estimator
• The ability to qualify and quantify repairs required
• Confident negotiation skills with third parties
• Audatex trained
• Escribe trained, with strong adherence to process
• The ability to discuss and agree solutions to customer problems
• Up-to-date technical knowledge and skills, including SMART repairs
• Awareness of, and compliance with, Health and Safety requirements

WHAT WE OFFER

• A competitive salary, dependent on experience
• Annual and monthly performance bonus
• A supportive, professional working environment
• The opportunity to grow with a dynamic and ambitious company
• Genuine career development and progression opportunities

ABOUT ACTIVATE GROUP

Every role at Activate Group is aligned to our wider vision and purpose: making someone's bad day better. Activate Group is a fast-growing business approaching 1,000 team members nationwide, working with some of the UK's largest fleets and insurance companies to support drivers involved in road incidents. We manage every step of the repair journey, repairing vehicles at our own Activate Accident Repair (AAR) bodyshops as well as through a UK-wide network of trusted independent repair partners.