MONTREUX, Switzerland - OEMs and repairers have several things in common. They both want to push as many shiny vehicles with flawless finishes out their doors as possible. OEMs want to sell parts to help return their crashed vehicles to pre-collision form. Repairs want these parts to do just the same thing. But from there, the two seem to be on widely disparate paths that times conflict with the interests of both.

For complete coverage of the IBIS conference, click here.

This was apparent at IBIS 2008 as the international symposium took up the topic of OEM-repairer relations. Speakers pointed to a problem widely discussed in the U.S. – OEMs appear to engineer and build their vehicles with little thought given to how these vehicles will be repaired once they are involved in an accident. Mercedes Benz sent representatives to the symposium to discuss just that point.

Speaking to the symposium attendees, Thilo Remus, manager of Collision Repair Systems for Daimler-AG, who stated that his company’s goal regarding reparability was to have a car “be repaired the way it should be.” For this reason, Mercedes has its own body shop programs, to ensure techs are properly trained and have the right equipment to bring a Mercedes vehicle back to proper form, explained Remus.

Even outside those programs, Remus believes his company’s vehicles do lend themselves to reparability. For example, Remus noted how the truck area for a Mercedes is put together – with bonding, rivets and welding. Remus stated that the techniques and equipment necessary to perform those tasks are all very much within the means of shops.

Outside of this point, one other was raised that pointed to OEMs being more active in the collision repair market. Andrew Marsh, operations manager of Advanced Data and Methods for THATCHAM, noted that once a vehicle leaves a factory, only three percent of the revenues generated by it are ever returned to the manufacturer. Recognizing that fact, Marsh noted that OEMs need to ask themselves, “What is your new business model?”

That model could be one where manufacturers concentrate more on reparability as they push to expand their presence in the repair market.