Ageas sets up supply of green parts with Hills Salvage

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.

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 said: "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."

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."