May 2007 1,000,000 Registrations Call 24-7 Ltd are proud to announce our 1,000,000th claim registration. All involved with the establishment of the company see this as milestone in our ongoing development. Glen Taylor Operations Director was quoted as saying “this is a huge milestone for our company.
March 2007 Collin Morris Promotion. Call 24-7 has a proven track record of utilising its best asset, its existing staff, and wherever possible recruiting from within.
Derek Howarth
At Call 24-7, we are proud of our relationships with new business partners and the service levels which which strive to achieve.
December 2007 Strategic Partnership with Morelli Group
Insurance claims outsourcing specialists Call 24-7 have announced the appointment of Morelli Group as their preferred paint supplier to work with their national approved repairer network of circa 100 bodyshops.
The strategic partnership will see Morelli providing additional technical audit and quality management to Call 24-7’s in-house programme to encourage the adoption of the PAS 125 Quality Assurance kitemark.
Morelli Group is the largest independent paint refinish distributor in the UK, employing around 240 staff and operating out of 18 strategically located "super" branches offering full national coverage. Morelli are specialists in supplying high levels of service and a range of support packages including Health and Safety, waste management, and marketing & equipment. Morelli have the largest technical department of any distributor with 8 technicians including a dedicated commercial vehicle specialist to support Call 24-7’s fleet activities. This is complemented by a dedicated equipment department to support the ever more complex and changing requirements in this area and has been reflected in the recent award by the Bodyshop Magazine of "Paint Distributor Branch of the Year". Technical expertise is supported by dedicated account management enabling consistent service delivery through a state of the art web-based IT platform. Investment in the latest technology allows for customised reports on technical and sales support, buying trends, and repair cost management.
Speaking of the alliance, Call 24-7 Corporate Development Director Andy Whatmough commented; “Like our company, Morelli have demonstrated that they are uniquely placed to deliver most flexible service packages in the industry, designed around the customers needs. We look forward to developing the relationship for the benefit of our insurer and fleet clients.”
Sue Wardle, Morelli Group National Accounts Director added “We are positive that the Morelli partnership will provide beneficial working relationships to Call24-7 and their bodyshop network” This link-up provides obvious synergy and will allow each group to focus on providing further specialist benefits within each of its core markets.
September 2007 Ken Lane Appointment
Call 24-7 are investing heavily in IT and general infrastructure but recognise that the key strength of any business is the people it employs. Consequently, Call 24-7 Ltd are pleased to announce the appointment of Ken Lane who has joined the group as a Non Executive Director. Ken will bring his expertise to all sectors of the business and help strengthen the current management team.
A specific area of growth is related to both Insurance and Fleet vehicle repairs and Ken’s impressive CV and experience was a perfect fit for Call 24-7 and an opportunity not to be missed. From 1994 Ken was Managing Director of Nationwide Crash Repair Centre, part of The Perry Group. Ken’s brief was to buy and establish a national chain of bodyshops across the UK. Over the following 10 years he acquired over 60 independent repairers who employed in excess of 2500 staff. Ken integrated them into a cohesive business with a turnover in year 10 of circa £110 million.
Call 24-7 are pleased to have Ken’s skills, drive and energy on board to support Call 24-7’s significant expansion plans.“
Photo here soon
July 2007 Prestige Vehicle Rental Facility
We are pleased to announce the expansion of our own prestige vehicle rental facility at Call 24-7. To date this facility comprises 150 newly purchased luxury vehicles, including 70 Volvo S40s, 30 Mercedes Benz E320s, 15 Chrysler Grand Voyagers, 7 Mini Coopers, 15 Jeep Grand Cherokees and several luxury sports vehicles.
The purchase of these vehicles has been facilitated by the ongoing rapid expansion of Call 24-7’s hire programme in support of the insurance and bodyshop industries. The primary aim of the Call 24-7 Vehicle Rental Service is to provide a facility superior to others in the field, making the sometimes complicated process of car hire and repair an easy and pain free experience.
To ensure this aim is met, Call 24-7 takes control of the whole credit hire process in order to create a ‘one stop shop’ for the customer, allowing them to easily and successfully stipulate delivery times and destinations for their ‘like for like’ hire vehicle.
Speaking of this development Andy Whatmough commented; “The result of this ‘in-house’ solution is a quick and seamless progression from the initial accident to getting our clients back on the road”.
May 2007
1,000,000 Registrations
Call 24-7 Ltd are proud to announce our 1,000,000th claim registration. All involved with the establishment of the company see this as milestone in our ongoing development.
Glen Taylor Operations Director was quoted as saying “this is a huge milestone for our company. All involved over the past seven years have seen the company go from strength to strength. Hitting this mark provides us with the opportunity to recognise everybody involved”. To mark the hard work and achievements of our employees Call 24-7 are hoping to hold a summer barbeque to mark this achievement.
March 2007
Colin Morris Promotion
Call 24-7 has a proven track record of utilising its best asset, its existing staff, and wherever possible recruiting from within. We have experienced growth in all departments over the past twelve months and this has only been possible due to the commitment and drive of several key employees. In particular the Call 24-7 motor engineering department is forecast to experience a six fold increase in volumes of repair work and estimates over the next twelve months.
Colin Morris who has been chief engineer at Call 24-7 since 2001 will join the Call 24-7 Board as Director of Engineering. Colin has spent the last 30 years in the insurance industry including the role of Chief Engineer for London & Edinburgh Insurance Co. He has historically been directly involved in some of the major developments in the motor repair industry which now form part of the Call 24-7 current repair process. Colin was instrumental in developing an innovative repair methodology for both cars and motorcycles which helped reduce
average repair costs. He also pioneered implementation of the Audatex computer estimating system for London & Edinburgh some years ago and is a keen advocate of utilizing non OE parts where appropriate. More recently Colin has been recruiting additional repairers for the Call 24-7 network, not only for Motor but for Taxi,LCV and HGV also.
Ian Griswold Chairman of Call 24-7 added “Colin has an impressive track record and has been an asset to my organisation, we couldn’t have sustained our rapid but controlled growth without his expertise and dedication. I deem his promotion to be well deserved”.
Colin plans to maintain his aggressive expansion plans and integrate more volume into his department and growing team of dedicated engineers.
01 November 2006
Fleet Accident Management
As part of our business plans for 2007, Call 24-7 Ltd will be expanding our fleet accident management programme and actively tendering to provide a comprehensive solution to further fleet customers. We have recruited two Fleet Business Managers, David Yardley and Matt Chessell, to promote the Call 24-7 brand within the sector. David joins us from Network Services (Nationwide) Ltd and Matt from Elite Incident Management. They both have considerable experience in fleet accident management and have proven track records in winning new business.
Call 24-7 has proven itself to be the outsource option of choice for an increasing number of fleet customers due to the 24 hour availability, internet based claims solution and transparent on-line reporting. For further details of our fleet product portfolio, please contact Dave or Matt at:
Over the recent weeks a group of Call 24-7 employees from a cross section of departments have embarked on a new challenge away from their everyday duties.
This has allowed their teamwork skills to develop in a completely new environment. The formation of the Call 24-7 football team has brought about much healthy competition between the players.
The squad is very healthy in numbers and this has made the weekly training sessions held at the sports complex adjacent to the site in Marple an interesting site for spectators.
The key figures in the squad include Andrew Whatmough as the Director of Football, Glenn Taylor as the Manager and Nick Stone as Captain.
The rest of the squad consists of members of numerous departments including Claims, Operations, IT, Accounts, Administration and Lawcall to name but a few. Pre-season training is still underway, but there are matches throughout September and October where Call 24-7 will be taking on various Manchester solicitor practices. We would welcome challenges from other football teams, perhaps from one of our solicitor panels or our other business partners.
In light of all the interest shown in the football, management have begun plans to organise two activity days aimed at helping departments and clients alike build stronger relationships away from office hours.
Plans in the pipeline include a 6-a-side football tournament and a golf and cricket day later in the year, where staff and business partners will be invited to come along and (hopefully) enjoy the sporting activities on offer.
To challenge Call 24-7 contact Andy Whatmough at
andrew.whatmough@call24-7.co.uk.
24 August 2006 Investors In People
Due to the ongoing successes and growth of the Group, Call 24-7 have pursued forms of accreditation in order to recognise our processes and people.
These accolades are an internal quality benchmark for the services we provide with a strong focus on continuous development of the company and our strongest asset, our people.
“Investors in People”, is a business improvement tool used to advance organisational performance through its people.We have gained this accreditation by fulfilling the three main criteria stipulated by “Investors in People” which are to plan, to do, and to review, and other indicators of good practice.
We are also in the final stages of accreditation for ISO 9001-2005, and are confident that we will be successful.
17 June 2006 "1 For 1"
Following the huge success of our own non-fault bodyshop programme "Accidents Happen", Call 24-7 have announced an exciting new initiative: "1 for 1".
Available places on this scheme are limited for one simple reason: for each non-fault repair job referred to Call 24-7, we will reciprocate with another repair to be undertaken within the subscribing repairer’s bodyshop.
Market leading commissions on Credit Hires and Personal Injury.
Replacement vehicles delivered within 4 hours .
Call 24-7 and our "Accidents Happen" scheme have enjoyed huge success since the launch 9 months ago. Growth rates have been in excess of 300% over the period and our team are dedicated to enhancing the relations that we have built with our bodyshop partners.
Such is the interest in the scheme, that we have launched a similar product aimed specifically at insurance brokers offering the option of "white labelled" legal expenses products.
Speaking of this success, Andrew Whatmough, Special Projects Director commented:
“’Accidents Happen’ has been one of our runaway successes of 2006. The team are working hard to further develop the brand into 2007.”
For further details, please contact our National Sales Manager, Jim Toole, on 07773 332149 or our Client Services Manager, Barrie Fitton, on 0161 426 1601 for further details.
19 March 2006 IT FREEDOM
At Call 24-7 we have always considered the effective use of the latest Information Technology as critical to our business plans.
Our IT systems, along with our people, are key to our ability to achieve service levels with our various customers and clients.
Our current system has performed both reliably and effectively for a number of years. However in this day and age of continuous advances, we are constantly reviewing and assessing alternative solutions in order to utilise ever progressing technology.Consequently, our management team have been consulting with operational staff to research and evaluate alternative claims management systems. We have been looking to identify a product best suited to manage our ongoing expansion, whilst maximising efficiency and improving our existing processes.
With all of these factors taken into consideration, we are delighted to announce that a contract has been signed with our new strategic partner, IT FREEDOM.
Their ICE Claims system will be implemented across Call 24-7 during the last quarter of 2006.
IT Freedom Limited are a bespoke insurance claims software house providing unique tailored solutions to the insurance sector. They employ 25 dedicated software consultants from their purpose built facility in Camberley, Surrey. Call 24-7 will tailor ICE Claims in order to meet our bespoke requirements.
We have requested the input and recommendations of all our staff but comment and thoughts are also welcomed from our business partners.
The ICE Claims system will provide several new features and advantages including:
Web-based application.
Increased speed and efficiency.
Enhanced management information.
Automated sending of documentation by desktop faxing or e-mail.
Pro-active third party claims management.
Automated instruction of repairers, engineers, solicitors, hire companies, etc.
Reduced downtime.
Andrew Hindmarch, Financial Director said:
“The development of this new system in conjunction with IT Freedom is an extremely important step for Call 24-7 and represents a further significant investment for the future. Benefits will be clear and demonstrable for all our customers.”
10 December 2005 DaimlerChrysler Fleet Management Services
A major agreement for the daily rental supply of replacement vehicles for Insurance Claimants has been reached between DaimlerChrysler Services Fleet Management (DCSFM) and Call 24-7.
Call 24-7 processes an average of 95,000 claims per annum and DCSFM will be supplying approximately 200 to 300 vehicles of all makes per month, equating to a monthly average of between 3,000 and 3,500 rental days.
Continued requirements from claimants driving top of the range vehicles has also prompted Call 24-7 to acquire its own 100-unit prestige fleet under contract hire agreements from DCSFM. This will provide an exceptionally comprehensive service to meet the demands of insurers and their policy holders.
Derek Howarth, Managing Director of Call 24-7 commented:
“DCSFM has demonstrated that they have the systems, resources and commitment to offer a high level of requests for replacement vehicles following accidents and breakdowns.
Their emphasis on delivering quality service supports the approach we apply to our business in providing total reassurance to our customers”.
24 August 2005 Accidents Happen
Call 24-7 has launched “Accidents Happen”; our own non-fault vehicle repair scheme offering a £35 perhour labour rate, the provision of a like for like replacement vehicle and 30 day payment terms.
The launch happened in late August when bodyshop managers were invited to Call 24-7’s head office in Marple for a day of presentations and industry discussions. Call 24-7 staff were on hand to provide guided tours of the claims handling facilities available on site and to introduce key personnel in the bodyshop programme.
The focus of the day’s events centred in the specially commissioned marquee where Call 24-7 chairman, Ian Griswold, and Special Projects Director, Andy Whatmough, delivered the keynote address focused on the financial and operational pressures that repairers face in the current market.
Speaking afterwards, Ian Griswold said:
“Today has been a huge success. It’s been great to hear the positive feedback from our repairers and I’m delighted with the comments regarding the level of customer service we provide and our prompt payment terms. “Accidents Happen” should further improve on our offering to the bodyshop industry by reducing operating costs and increasing the profitability of each job.”
