Global leader in vehicle remarketing and recycling, Copart UK, has announced their newly acquired status as an IMI approved accreditation centre, which will enable them to deliver essential IMI TechSafe electric and hybrid vehicle training across their nationwide Operation Centres.
The company will initially be focused on delivering IMI training for the Level 2 Award in Electric/Hybrid Vehicle Routine Maintenance Activities and the Level 3 Award in Electric/Hybrid Vehicle System Repair and Replacement.
The courses which Copart are now accredited to deliver will continue to provide their operational teams with the knowledge and skills required to work safely with electric/hybrid vehicles (which may have sustained damage to their high energy/electrical systems) during maintenance, diagnostic, testing, and repair activities.
Long term, the company plans to stay ahead of the curve and offer a wide range of training courses in line with further sustainability developments within the automotive industry, such as hydrogen vehicle awareness.
Sarah Oakman, Training Manager at Copart, said:
“We’re delighted to have met the rigorous requirements of the IMI to achieve accredited training provider status and expand our remit to offer further qualifications to our teammates which will provide them with expert knowledge and technical skills development.
We are now fully focused on establishing Copart as a high-quality and high pass rate centre for EV courses, initially operating out of our HQ in Bedfordshire with a view to setting up further locations to cover the North and South of England in the future.”
Duncan MacRae, Head of Performance, Quality & Risk, added:
“At Copart, we continually invest in training and upskilling our teammates to ensure that their knowledge is always relevant and up to date, enabling us to maximise value and deliver a world-class quality level of service to our customers, whilst delivering our Plan Net Zero sustainability commitment.
With the electric car parc continuing to grow and evolve, it’s vital that we remain strongly focused on delivering specialist training alongside the EV handling infrastructure, equipment, and processes we’ve already established over the last decade.”
Steve Nash, CEO of the IMI, acknowledged the important role Copart is playing in upskilling the sector.
“Our data shows that the automotive sector is not keeping up with the growing EV car parc. It’s therefore hugely encouraging that businesses like Copart are making a real difference by committing to their own training and accreditation.”
Copart, which has the largest, fully qualified, vehicle engineering team in the UK salvage industry, will be externally regulated against a strict quality assurance process in line with IMI standards going forward.
In addition, the company has trained and continues to train, over 240 drivers on IVR VR27 – Electric (EV) and Hybrid Vehicle, ensuring the safe handling of these vehicle types during recovery and transportation and further boosting their industry-leading position within this field.
Copart is also an approved IVR UK Training Provider (Institute of Vehicle Recovery) and is currently in the process of being assessed to deliver IOSH-certified training (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health), which will begin a roll-out of ‘IOSH Managing Safely’ to all management level teammates.
