Vehicle Damage Assessor

Activate Accident Repair; Bradley Stoke; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sign-on bonus

33 days holiday

Performance bonus

Annual pay rise

Family leave

Life assurance

Health plan

Free breakfast

Job summary

Activate Group is hiring a Vehicle Damage Assessor at our Bristol bodyshop. You’ll assist the Bodyshop Manager, estimate repair costs, plan resource levels, and ensure KPIs and SLAs are met while maximising profitability. A £5,000 sign-on bonus is paid after probation.

The role involves hands-on assessment, customer communication, and efficient workflow management. You will review damages, prepare estimates, and coordinate with customers/insurers.

Qualifications

• Ability to qualify and quantify repairs
• Strong negotiation with third parties
• Knowledge of SMART repairs and repair times

Responsibilities

• Assist Bodyshop Manager to oversee all bodyshop activities while meeting SLAs and KPIs and maximising profitability
• Provide repair cost estimates manually and via systems
• Plan resources and equipment within budgets and financial plans
• Maintain workflow through effective capacity planning
• Ensure adherence to workshop loading system and meet targets
• Manage daily production coordination and review site KPIs
• Handle customer complaints from first contact to resolution with root-cause analysis
• Perform visual inspections to identify accidental damage and prevent uninsured losses
• Estimate repairs using economical methods and explain to customers and insurers
• Flag issues affecting performance and safety of vehicles

Skills

Negotiation with third parties

Estimating repairs

Customer service

Planning capacity

Job description

1 Orpen Park, Ash Ridge Rd, Bradley Stoke, Bristol BS32 4QD

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 Bristol 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

• The ability to qualify and quantify repairs required
• Confident negotiation skills with third parties
• 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.