Business North May 2021

| 9 Crash Management REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Taking the hassle out of vehicle accidents Crash Care includes co-ordination of emergency services, salvage and towing, claims and repairs. W hen a vehicle accident occurs it can take hours to navigate the process – salvage, claiming, managing the repair etc. That’s why Karen Knight, director of Crash Management, has come up with a better way. The service is called Crash Care, and for a small annual fee, people can have access to the service 24/7 in the event of an incident. “It takes an average of four hours to deal with a vehicle accident,” says Karen. “We provide an easy end-to-end experience, sorting everything for our clients to get them back on the road faster. Our objective is to save our clients time, money and resources,” she says. Crash Care includes co-ordination of emer- gency services, salvage and towing, claims and repairs. Crash Management contracts over 100 quality collision repair facilities nationwide including insurance company approved and certified for structural repairs. All locations have access to manufacturers’ collision repair specifications and these tech- nical standards protect the integrity, value and safety of clients’ vehicles after repair. Karen says that other benefits include free courtesy cars in most locations and free rental cars, SUVs, utes and vans for all not-at-fault drivers. Proactive timely communications, daily progress tracking and status updates to cus- tomers mean people always know where their job is at. Customers have login access to a specialised accident management cloud-based portal for full transparency and permanent record keeping. While the benefits are clear for businesses operating fleets, where if a vehicle is down it costs time and money, since Covid-19 Crash Management has also been servicing a new growing market – private motorists. An Auckland Unlimited Covid-19 Recovery grant saw Crash Management working with Max Marketing, which identified an untapped consumer market. With about half the vehicles in New Zealand in private ownership it’s a significant market and motorists can sign up via a portal on the Crash Management website. Leading on from the creation of this sub- brand Crash Management has discovered a T Karen Phelps significant market for private car owners who work in the business space such as courier drivers “If their vehicle is down, their business is down. We are seeing good uptake and growth in this market,” says Karen. Karen was a panel beater by trade and worked in vehicle leasing before starting Crash Management in 2004. Having seen first hand the awful repairs and processes in place in the industry, this knowledge gained meant she was in a unique position to design a better way. Crash Management is now the number one preferred accident management and colli- sion repair service for private motorists and fleet operators, and was the winners of the prestigious Insurance Industry Award 2009 for Innovation of the Year. Its fleet clients and alliance partners include some of New Zealand’s best-known brands. Karen says accident reduction is the overall aim of her service. Crash Management tailors a solution for fleet clients to suit their particular operational goals including health and safety compliance requirements. Detailed incident reporting allows clients to identify any commonalities and areas for improvement thus hopefully preventing acci- dents before they occur in the first place. “We provide an easy end- to-end experience, sorting everything for our clients to get them back on the road faster. Our objective is to save our clients time, money and resources.” ∙ Accident Replacement Specialists for over 30 years ∙ Product ReviewAwardWinner 3 years running Proudly supporting Crash Management No Cost Rental - For not-at-fault parties Policy Rentals - Billed directly to Insurers Competitive Retail Rates 0800 022 676 www.acornrentals.co.nz