Our Operations department is dedicated to enhancing vehicle safety, repairability, and security through the collaborative efforts of four specialised teams.
Each team focuses on a unique aspect of automotive risk intelligence, from ensuring safe and efficient vehicle repairs to evaluating passive safety features, assessing vehicle security risks, and testing advanced driving systems.
Together, they drive innovation and provide high-quality data to support insurers, repairers, and manufacturers in making vehicles safer and more reliable.
Our Teams
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Repair Technology Centre (RTC)
We support safe, sustainable vehicle repair through a combination of hands-on and desk-based assessments, collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to maximise support for our partners.
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Crash
Understanding vehicle risk through passive safety is crucial. As vehicle designs become more complex, knowing how these materials perform in impact scenarios helps us estimate repair times and costs more accurately.
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Track
Based at our Dual-Ops site in Gamston, Track is where we turn theory into data. We provide physical testing of cars and technology, combined with our informed engineering opinions, to assess the risks of these technologies.
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Vehicle Risk Assessment
We conduct Damageability & Repairability inspections and New Vehicle Security Assessments that provide automotive risk intelligence for our insurer stakeholders, helping them calculate the security risk of UK vehicles.
Repair Technology Centre
In the RTC we deliver Automotive Risk Intelligence through research, supporting the safe, efficient, and cost-effective repair of vehicles.
We provide clear instructions to repairers, risk management data for insurers, and guidance to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Our mission is to ensure safe, sustainable repairs by providing high-quality data promptly.
What we do
Vehicle Repair Insight: generating and assessing vehicle repair methods, ensuring OEM methods are fit for purpose, and providing feedback to OEMs.
Specialist Support: offering support to customers with challenging repair issues and conducting bespoke assessments for OEMs.
Customer Engagement: hosting launches and engagements for OEMs, insurers, and other stakeholders.
Project Support: assisting operations and research teams to maintain Thatcham Research's leading position in vehicle risk rating data.
Crash
Our main objective is to evaluate the passive safety features of vehicles, analysing how their designs and structures influence repairability and occupant safety. While simulation testing is popular for quick assessments, physical testing remains vital to validate these findings.
As new and emerging technologies become more prevalent, understanding their effect on insurance risk is crucial.
We work closely with Research operations to support tasks related to passive safety, ensuring all research objectives are achieved.
What we do
Crash Testing: planning and executing full-scale vehicle crash tests, adhering to meticulous protocols to collect accurate data.
Data Analysis: using data to evaluate occupant injury potential and vehicle damage.
Targeted Assessments: conducting assessments of Child Restraint Systems and Head Protection Devices.
Innovative Designs: understanding the impact of new vehicle designs, like front and rear mega casting, is essential for our insurers.
Track
As cars become more complex, it's our job to test active and assisted driving systems to understand their impact on insurance risk.
We test a variety of cars and new technologies to help our customers understand their functionality and impact, ensuring that new advancements are both safe and reliable.
Collaboration with research and the other operational teams is key, recognising the overlap between track testing and other areas like repair and crash.
What we do
Safety Testing: evaluating systems such as AEB and blind spot monitoring using cutting-edge technology.
Assistance Systems: assessing automatic lane keeping and cruise control to identify their performance and weaknesses.
Driver Support Systems: testing features like seat belt reminders and speed sign recognition to ensure they perform effectively.
Innovative Technologies: testing new OEM and third-party hardware and software to understand the risks they pose to insurers.
Vehicle Risk Assessment
We're at the forefront of assessing damageability, repairability and vehicle security risks.
We provide crucial vehicle risk data to stakeholders and influence vehicle manufacturers on best practices for insurability by design.
Internally we work closely with operations, commercial, vehicle data management, and research teams to provide accurate risk data to our insurer members. Externally, we collaborate with global OEMs and aftermarket security product manufacturers to offer best-practice support and guidance.
What we do
Damageability
and Repairability (D&R):
evaluate how vehicle design, materials,
construction techniques, affect the cost of repairs and the repair strategy for
a cost-effective repair process.
New Vehicle Security Assessments (NVSA): evaluate vehicle security of systems and technology implemented to protect vehicles from theft and unauthorised access, considering both physical anti-theft devices and digital security protocols.
D&R
and NVSA: applied to all new and facelift vehicles entering the UK which
require an insurer Vehicle Risk Rating calculation and often involves global
travel to OEM facilities to assess vehicles before launching in the UK.
Insurability by Design: consult with OEMs to help them achieve high levels of insurer Vehicle Risk Ratings against D&R and NVSA protocols.
Thatcham Security Certifications (TSC): certify aftermarket and OEM security products, ensuring they meet high standards of security, functionality, safety, and reliability.