One of the UK’s largest car insurers* has combined its salvage operation with its green car parts supply, significantly increasing its capacity for green repairs.

The move by Ageas will give the insurer access to tens of thousands more ‘green’ car parts by feeding its salvaged vehicles through to its green car parts supply.

A green car part is a part taken from one vehicle, which is then used to fix another.

With the current climate emergency, insurers are increasingly seeking to introduce this more environmentally-friendly approach to vehicle repairs and BIBA (British Insurance Brokers’ Association) has called upon the industry to do more in this area in its 2020 manifesto.

Leading the charge

Ageas has been using green car parts for more than a year. Already, it has used close to 5,000** recycled parts on customer and third party vehicles, helping to save cars from the scrapheap and reducing the amount of plastic, metal and glass required to make new parts.

Now, Ageas has appointed Hills Salvage as its salvage provider and Hills’ green car parts arm, The Green Parts Specialists, as its green parts provider. By integrating the two, it means parts from Ageas’ salvaged vehicles now feed back into its repair network as ‘green’ car parts.

It’s hoped that the move could see Ageas triple the number of green car parts used by its approved repairers by 2023.

Claims Director Robin Challand says this will have benefits for the insurer, its customers and the planet.

He explains: As well as reducing the amount of glass, metal, plastic and energy required to make a new part, it means quality controlled parts get a second life, extending their use and reducing unnecessary waste.

Reusing these parts also reduces the likelihood of damaged cars being scrapped due to the cost of a new part outweighing the value of the vehicle. On occasions where new car parts have to be shipped in from overseas, it can also reduce the environmental impact through less need for international transportation of parts.

Cutting demand for plastic

Using green parts can mean customers’ cars are fixed and back on the road quicker. This is because it can be faster for Ageas to source a green car part than to order in a brand-new manufacturer part, especially if that new part needs to be imported from abroad.

Instant access to a library of 500,000 green car parts

As part of the deal, The Green Parts Specialists will remove car parts that could have a second life as green ones from Ageas’ salvaged cars.

All of the vehicles and parts are electronically tracked, allowing Hills to create a huge database of what parts it has available, where they are located now and where they came from originally.

When an Ageas approved repairer needs a green car part they simply log onto an app or web portal and will hear within an hour whether the part they need is in stock.

Because The Green Parts Specialists will be continually gathering data on the kind of parts Ageas’ approved repairers regularly need, it can work to make sure it has the right amount in stock.

Once the relationship is in full flow, The Green Parts Specialists is expected to have access to around 500,000 green car parts available on any given day.

Ian Hill, Managing Director at Hills Salvage, said: Our partnership with Ageas represents a big step forward for Hills and The Green Parts Specialists. We are passionate about sustainability, and look forward to helping keep Ageas’ customers on the road.

The UK insurance industry replaces more than 19,000,000 car parts every year***, with front bumper parts being the most commonly replaced item, according to figures from Thatcham Research.

Ageas deals with around 40,000**** vehicles that have been damaged in crashes annually, requiring an estimated 400,000 plastic and metal parts to make them roadworthy again. 

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

*Ageas is a leading UK general insurer in the ABI General Insurance Company Rankings 2018, published Sept 2019.

**Ageas replaced 4,926 car parts with green ones as part of its pilot scheme Jan 2019 to Jan 2020

***19,252,144 car parts were replaced in 2018 – Thatcham Research

****The total number of vehicles repaired by Ageas in 2019 was 42,818