Smash repairers and auto mechanics can get a little edgy around school holiday time, even those without kids. While students are enjoying a break from their studies and extra-curricular commitments, schools are busy handling the repair and service of their fleets of buses and commercial vehicles, ready for next term’s carnage. For our technicians, this means a lot of work in a very short period, and it can get hectic!

This period requires extensive planning by both schools and repairers. The Como Panel & Paint workshop currently resembles a bus interchange. We have Toyota Hiace Commuters, Mitsubishi Rosa buses and multi-passenger transport vehicles of every make, model, size and colour, booked months in advance and waiting for the attention of our technicians. Each has its own dents, scratches, paintwork, signage and maintenance issues. For every one we’ll need to conduct assessments and estimates, contact insurance brokers, source parts, book deliveries and handle the repairs – and they all have to be finished before school term starts again.

Even without the mad rush and tight turnaround, commercial vehicles and buses are a tricky proposition, and many other repairers refuse to work on them. For a start, these vehicles see a lot of wear and damage. They’re tricky to drive; we get asked to install a lot of cameras and reversing sensors for this reason. But even with technological help, negotiating corners, reversing and parking are not easy in a bus. Add to the situation dozens of loud, excited schoolkids and it’s easy to see why these vehicles take a beating on the road.

Bus repairs, even for minor damage, can be very labour intensive. Their welded panels are larger and tend to stretch more, and their size also means they’re physically exhausting to work with and can cause bottlenecks in already-crowded workshops. The same panels often get damaged time and time again, which means even more work as the old repairs are ground out, the panel is re-shrunk, shaped and skimmed all over again. Bus replacement parts are expensive and often need to be ordered from Japan, which can turn a tight deadline into a nailbiter when repairs and refinishing are factored in.

This is why school holidays are the time of year we appreciate our repair team the most. Working painstakingly on the same square metre of bus panel for two days and turning out perfect repairs every time without complaint takes a certain sort of repairer. We are exceptionally fortunate to have Gary, Alvin, Greg and Adam on our team, who handle the holiday madness and all its tricky jobs without a murmur. Thank you and well done boys!

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Higer buses have generated a lot of interest in Perth, particularly among schools. They are a relatively new brand in Australia, with only one importer who sells to a handful of dealerships. Their sales incentives are very appealing – alongside their highly competitive price-point, Higer have been offering purchasing officers a trip to China to see the manufacturing plant.

These newcomers to the Australian roads have now been around long enough to need some maintenance. We love the opportunity to get our hands dirty with new types of vehicles, so since Higer’s arrival, we’ve gained some experience in repairing these buses. Given the popularity of Higer buses with schools in particular, we thought it was worth sharing some of our more interesting findings:

1. Workmanship.
We’re accustomed to certain norms in modern vehicle manufacture, and Higers held quite a few surprises for us! The buses show signs of traditional, more hands-on production methods which we rarely see these days.

– Instead of being bolted on (like most other vehicles), Higer’s door handles are attached with glue.  The cut-out for the door handle also appears to have been done by hand. The holes are rough and irregular, not uniform as they would be if machined.

– The panels are covered in body filler. This is essentially touch-up putty which ‘fills out’ the surface of irregular or damaged panels to make them appear smooth. Again, this technique is rarely seen on vehicles made in the last 40 years, as panels manufactured with current technology don’t usually require it.

– The paintwork itself has quite a dull, old-fashioned finish, in contrast to the super-shiny modern buses. This could be a result of the type of paint, the painting processes used or the body filler underneath – or it could be a combination of all three!

2. Servicing, Parts and Repairs.
Like a lot of vehicles manufactured overseas, Higers can be a little tricky to service and repair due to the difficulty in ordering parts. This is not an insurmountable problem, but it’s something to consider if your fleet operates under a regular repairs and maintenance regime or if you have tight deadlines – school holidays, for example.

– Parts must sometimes be ordered from the east coast and from China for the same repair job, which can cause delays.

– There are also still a few quirks in the chain of command (e.g. wrong parts charged and delivered) which can cause unnecessary delays and expenses. These may simply be teething problems with what is still a relatively new vehicle in Australia.

3. Safety.
This is very important to us, especially for vehicles that are used to carry large numbers of children.

– After doing a little research we were surprised by how little vehicle safety testing  has been done on Higer buses by independent organisations. We also discovered that the Australian federal body for road transport has very few safety requirements for vehicles like these that can carry 60 people. We didn’t find any definitive indication that the buses are safe, unsafe or otherwise, because there doesn’t seem to have been any real benchmarking done – which is quite a worrisome ‘unknown’ for a school bus.

– We are led to believe that the buses have a great motor in them. They may not be suitable for all kinds of driving, however. We recently spoke to a bus driver from a local college who took a Higer on a trip to New Norcia (about an hour from Perth). He had so much trouble handling the bus at higher speeds that he refused to drive it back, and swapped with another driver who had exactly the same problem. The school now only uses the Higer bus for shorter trips within the metro area.

We can certainly see why Higer buses are an attractive option for schools, many of which have tight budgets and significant transport requirements for large numbers of people. We encourage anyone who is considering their options to do some research before making a decision:

–       Always insist on a test drive with your regular bus driver. Ideally you should take the bus out for at least an hour, and see how it drives for extended periods above 100km/hr.

–       Think about the typical driving conditions of the vehicle – will it be making primarily short trips in the city or taking longer trips for camps and excursions?

–       Repairs and maintenance should be considered from the outset, both in terms of what they’ll cost and how much time your bus will be out of action waiting for parts. We are happy to discuss this with you!

–       Consider the re-sale value alongside the purchase price. All vehicles will depreciate over time, but with the ongoing expenses of running a bus, it’s worth getting one that will still be worth something as a second-hand sale.

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This is a question many people ask when weighing up the ‘extras’ on a car insurance policy. A hire car is a convenience many people find invaluable when their car is out of action, but the higher premium it incurs can be a significant deterrent.

Many policies only provide a hire car for two weeks if your vehicle is stolen. But it’s worth thinking about the reality of having your car stolen when considering these policies. It can often take a week or more to locate a stolen car, get it fingerprinted by police and released to the insurer or smash repairer. On top of this, the repair work for a stolen car is often lengthy and complicated. Your repairer will need to estimate the damages, assess the claim, change the locks, make external and mechanical repairs, panelbeat, spray-paint and detail the vehicle before it’s released to you. In many cases, the car hire provided under one of these insurance policies will fall well short of the time it takes to get your vehicle back – which means either making alternative arrangements or paying for the additional car hire yourself in the meantime.

You should also think about the fact that repairs for accidental damage take time as well – and these policies make no provision for a hire car if you have an accident. Depending on how much you use your vehicle, the extra premium for a better policy that includes a hire car can be an excellent investment.

Consider Rose, a client of ours. Rose is a local, single mother of three boys. Her kids are all school-age, active and social, and her car is a vital part of how their family lives. Rose pays for a ‘Platinum policy’ (i.e. the highest level of cover) with her insurance company. This allows her to choose her own repairer, priority assessment and full car hire in the event of accident or theft. Unfortunately Rose has put her policy to the test several times, but her level of cover worked out exceptionally well for her needs – it has literally paid for itself, not to mention the quality and convenience of the treatment she received.

Incident One: Rose’s car was hit by a truck whilst parked. It had to be towed to our workshop and within the hour Rose’s insurance company had called to confirm that we had received the vehicle. We estimated the damages, her claim was assessed and authorised the same day and her hire car arrived within four hours of lodging the claim! Rose’s car also needed parts from Japan, which meant it was two months before she got it back – and her excellent policy meant she was never without a vehicle.

Incident Two:  A motorcycle impacted the side of Rose’s car at high speed. The rider survived but the bike was destroyed and Rose’s car suffered severe structural damage. Again, parts from overseas were required. And again, Rose’s claim was assessed and authorised within 24 hours and she had her hire car provided immediately, for the duration of the repairs.

For Rose, this high-end policy was the perfect choice for her family and recognised their reliance on her vehicle for their everyday life. As with any choice around your car insurance, you should always consider your circumstances when deciding whether you want to pay the extra premium for a hire car. Your location, your access to public transport and your dependency on your car for your job, family life and freedom should all be carefully weighed up; once your car is in the workshop, it’s too late to ask yourself whether it’s a convenience or a necessity!

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Car insurance isn’t just about your car and the cost of getting it repaired. Think about the difference your vehicle makes to you and your lifestyle, not to mention your family, your job and your independence. As smash repairers we manage car insurance claims for people every day, and if there’s one suggestion we have for every driver it’s to pay for exactly what you’ll want in the event of damage to your car.

The tricky thing about this is that it can be hard to know what you’ll need until the worst happens and you’re stuck dealing with the mess! If you don’t know which questions to ask, it’s easy to get blindsided by the things you didn’t consider – and by then it’s too late to make changes.

The first thing to think about is your damage assessment. Getting an assessment at the insurer’s yard is often a cheaper option, but it can also be less reliable. An insurer’s assessment yard is a busy interchange of tow-trucks, assessors and repairers which pumps out assessments all day long. They don’t have hoists or proper lighting to check for damage underneath your vehicle so you can end up with incomplete assessment and estimating, which in turn leads to delays in parts ordering, scheduling and repair work.

An assessment in our workshop is much more thorough. We are able to put the vehicle on a hoist, get parts diagrams and pricing and discuss possible repair options with our tradesmen straight away. We also research the recommended repair procedures and specifications with the vehicle manufacturer database and Thatchems, which gives us details on every inch your vehicle, down to verifying weld types and locations of joins. We take the time to get your assessment right, so we can provide the most accurate information to you and your assessor.

Questions to think about when choosing your policy:

• If you can still drive your car, are you willing and available to drive all over town getting quotes?  Or would you prefer to get one quote at your choice of repairer, and book your insurance assessment and repairs all in one place?

• Are you happy to travel 10-20km to your repairer, without your car? Or would you prefer to get your car repaired locally, within walking or cycling distance?

• If your vehicle is undriveable, will your insurer get multiple quotes on your behalf?

• How long will it take to process multiple quotes and allocate a repairer? Do you need the car as soon as possible or do you have alternate transport you can use over a longer repair time?

• Will your insurer tow your vehicle to the repairer of your choice and liaise directly with them?

• Will your insurer allow a partial dismantle of the vehicle by your chosen repairer to determine the extent of the damage?

• Do you have a replacement hire car on your policy for accident and theft?

So when you choose a policy, take the time to decide what’s important to you. Peace of mind and convenience are important considerations to weigh against the price of your premium. Ask the insurer the appropriate questions and pay for what will suit your requirements, not just your budget.

For more information, or to see what else we’re up to, please follow us on Twitter or check our Facebook page.