Waseem Malik: It's great to be here today, and I'm joined by Vicky Keating from Solus. She'll talk to us about our Solus proposition, our growing Solus network and the fantastic proposition we have for all of our motor claims customers. So, hi Vicky.
Vicky Keating: Hi Waseem.
Waseem Malik: Great to have you here. Tell us a little bit about Solus and its relationship with Aviva.
Vicky Keating: Yeah, absolutely. So, I am going to start just talking about how Solus fit in into the Aviva Group. And, you know, accidents happen. That's why we have insurance. And that's why we have Aviva, and Aviva are there for our customers when they need us the most. And for customers that have a motor accident, especially customers that maybe that vehicle is a company vehicle, it's a vehicle that keeps a business trading, it keeps a business moving - we really understand how important it is to get that vehicle repaired after an accident and get it back on the road. And that's where Solus come into play. Solus, really, their main purpose is to get customers back to normal quickly and safely and get them back on the road. And we do that in a number of ways. So, first of all, we've got our Solus repair centres, so our vehicle damage repair centres are dotted all around the UK. In fact, we've got 21 repair centres, soon to be 24, and this year we actually opened up in Wales in Newport. We've also got, for customers that want to maybe use their own repairer, we've got Solus engineers, so we've got over 50 of them, qualified motor engineers that are dotted around the country and again, we'll work with a repairer of the customer's choice to ensure that the vehicle is repaired to a standard that we expect. And we've also got a relationship with our strategic partners Vizion who manage a network of repairers that again are dotted around the country. So, whichever route the customer wants to go down for repair, Solus will ensure we get the customer back to normal. So, Waseem, Solus very much sit part of your team structure. So, we're part of the claims team. Are you able to tell me a little bit more about what it means to you to have Solus as part of your team?
Waseem Malik: Yeah, sure. So, we're really proud that Solus is part of the Aviva family. We're one of two insurers who own their own repair centres, and I think it gives us a fantastic proposition and something to differentiate. I think the expertise, the intelligence that you provide us across our motor claims journey is really powerful. We know we can be there for customers from the start of their claim all the way through, and we keep it within the Aviva-managed process. And I think that really gives us an advantage. And for me, I think through both Solus and our wider Vizion network, we can almost repair any vehicle that is out there. And I think that's really powerful. So, fantastic proposition, really proud to have it in our stable and really look forward to continuing to grow it. So, Vicky, what would you say sets Solus apart from other repairers in terms of customer service?
Vicky Keating: So, for customers using Solus to get their vehicle repaired or using our approved repairer network, the feedback that we get from customers is really good. We have customer service experts that sit within Solus and we'll very much look after the customer and really understand what is important to them in terms of getting their vehicle repaired. We consistently achieve 4.6 out of five in terms of star rating, which is really good. And it's something that we're really proud of in Solus. Something that we also look at is the time that the vehicle is in for repair, so the number of days, and we try and keep that to a minimum and the way that we set up our Solus repair centres and the way that we flow the work and the work that we do before the vehicle actually comes in for repair, means that we could keep those days of repairing the vehicle being in the actual workshop down to a real minimum.
Waseem Malik: So, I think working with Solus gives us a real advantage in leveraging your expertise so we can make sure that, for every individual claim, we have the right expertise put on it and we get the right solution for the customer. But also I think we have a much better in-depth understanding of the trends that we're seeing coming to the market. If you look at the UK car park, now we have very different vehicles. We've seen aluminium bodies. They need to be repaired in a different way. We understand that. I think because of the transition to EV. all of the Solus sites are able to repair EV vehicles. 75% of our technicians are also able to work on EV vehicles. That's fantastic. And it means that we can give the best advice to our brokers and to our customers around how they should manage their fleet or their vehicles better and what are the things they need to be aware of.
Vicky Keating: So, from a commercial customer perspective, I think there's a little bit of a myth around Solus and what we can do with some of our commercial customers. I think that anything up to 3.5 tonne, so a small van, it's all to do with us being able to fit the vehicle into an oven when we've obviously painted the vehicle. So, we're very much able in our repair centres in Solus to deal with commercial vehicles. It's not just cars that we repair, obviously we repair lots of commercial vehicles as well. Waseem, do you want to just talk us through a little bit about our growth plans?
Waseem Malik: We're very excited about the growth plans that we have for Solus and they're twofold, so we want to increase our geographical footprint across the UK. So, as you mentioned earlier, we currently have 21 repair centres, soon increasing to 24. But we will continue to grow that. We want 50% of all of our repairs to be serviced in Solus sites. That's really exciting, so there will be more Solus sites available to you to utilise. But also what we want to do alongside that is really grow our commercial network so that we can repair more specialist commercial vehicles, and we'll either do that through Solus sites or through partner network. So given our expansion plans, what's your view on the industry and the challenges ahead?
Vicky Keating: So, the industry, like many industries, is facing a skills shortage, the number of vehicle technicians that are leaving or retiring from the industry versus the new people that are joining - there’s a gap. And at Solus, we've taken very much accountability and responsibility for that in developing an apprentice programme, and for the last four or five years we've recruited a cohort of apprentices into Solus. They've worked with our experienced vehicle technicians, and we've given them the skills and experience to be the next generation of vehicle technicians, which is great. And I love seeing it when the apprentices qualify and gain their qualification, seeing them hopefully have a long, successful career in the industry, in Solus and being here for many years to come.
Waseem Malik: For me, there's a number of key takeaways for our brokers and our customers. Solus is a critical part of our proposition. We are here for our customers to give them the best service, and we're investing in this industry. We're hiring new apprentices to cover skills shortages. We're understanding the trends that we're seeing. We're investing in the right vehicle technology. All of this means that we're going to be able to be there for our customers when you need us. We believe in this market. We believe in our proposition, and we're here to support you every step of the way.
