Following an in-depth review and assessment of the certification of after-market car parts, and consultation with its Insurance Members, Thatcham Research has decided to hand over all after-market parts certification activities to its current partner TÜV Rheinland AG.
The Thatcham Research/TÜV Rheinland partnership will officially end on 31st March 2018, with Thatcham Research not providing any new after-market parts certification services as of 1 January 2018.
The move allows Thatcham Research to invest more resources into the priority areas of active safety systems and vehicle structures/materials, that are increasingly contributing to repair costs. In parallel, the company is also gearing-up its investment in countering the growing risk of cyber theft of vehicles.
Peter Shaw, chief executive of Thatcham Research comments: “A healthy after-market parts supply is vitally important for the UK repair industry. However, we need to make key strategic decisions to ensure that we are addressing current and evolving challenges for the repair and insurance industries. This move will allow us to achieve this, while at the same time handing over the certification of aftermarket parts to a trusted and qualified partner to ensure consistency now and in the future.”
Massimo Bianchi, Business Stream Manager Mobility TÜV Rheinland Italy, comments: “We believe that certification of equivalent parts is very important to answer the need of the market of high quality spare replacement parts. Voluntary independent certification of products is one of TÜV Rheinland’s core businesses and increases the trust in customers.”
The transition steps will be:
- TÜV Rheinland will take over all new parts certification operations from 1st January 2018.
- There will be a gradual removal of the Thatcham Research brand from certified parts.
- Newly certified parts will carry the sole TÜV Rheinland brand from 1st April 2018.
- As parts certification remain valid for two years, joint Thatcham Research / TÜV Rheinland branding will remain on certificates issued or renewed before 1 April 2018, until the date they expire
Together Thatcham Research and TÜV Rheinland have provided aftermarket certification services for the past nine years, and there are more than 1800 parts certified under the scheme.