Washington, D.C.--The United Kingdom’s national standards body, the British Standards Institute, has confirmed that CAPA-certified parts meet the requirements of the new body repair standard, PAS 125.
PAS 125 is quickly being adopted by the UK collision repair community as motor insurers and others mandate that their repair networks be certified to the new collision repair shop standard.
The purpose of the standard is to independently identify those shops that agree to a series of quality repair standards, one of which relates to the quality of parts to be used in a repair.
Already, there are nearly 300 shops certified to the PAS 125 standard, with another 200 expected to be approved in the next six months. All the major insurers and accident management companies in the UK are supporting PAS 125.
According to PAS 125, alternative parts must be certified. In the materials and parts section of PAS 125, alternative parts (non-car-company brand parts) must be independently certified as being “original equipment” or “matching quality” by a recognized conformity certification program based on ISO/IEC Guide 28.
Having reviewed the CAPA standard, BSI was able to confirm that the robust technical nature of the CAPA standard meets the requirements of PAS 125.
“By providing standards that certify the quality of work and parts used by collision repairers, PAS 125 provides a model for quality improvement that should be considered worldwide,” said Jack Gillis, executive director of CAPA, the independent, nonprofit Certified Automotive Parts Association.
“It is virtually impossible for insurers, collision repairers, or consumers to determine if alternative parts will perform the same as their car company brand counterparts,” Gillis said.
“CAPA standards provide the market with that ability, and we appreciate the recognition of the British Standards Institute, one of Europe’s most respected bodies,” he said.
Currently, there are 39 manufacturers worldwide that meet CAPA’s quality and comparability standards.
