Parts availability is becoming more and more of a concern for coach operators.
I’m quite fortunate that we carry a lot of stock, but availability of parts that could once be acquired quite quickly is now becoming an issue.
Everything seems to be that little bit more of a drag. I understand that some of these parts are made in Eastern Europe and many manufacturers there have switched to making components for military equipment.
We are also still feeling the hangover of COVID-19. When businesses stopped manufacturing, stock that had been built up over the years was sold off. Now stock is depleted, and some companies have stopped making items, compounding the problem.
I’m especially aware of many operators complaining that they must endure long waits for glass. There is also reluctance from companies to hold stock due to costs, and this problem is affecting insurance as well, as the supply chain issues impact the claims process.
One supplier told me that when glass manufacturing ceased, energy prices for glass production — itself an energy intensive process — soared, and many businesses in that sector didn’t reopen again. So, the market has become smaller.
This is of course not just affecting the coach industry, and some will say other industries are feeling it harder, but it is becoming noticeable. We had a water pump fail on a vehicle last year while on tour in the South East. Not a fortune to fix, but no agents in the area could get us a new pump within two days. That shows the issues we are having. Things like water pumps you would expect to find easily, but it’s getting tougher.
I now spend a lot of my time researching part numbers and seeing if I can find aftermarket equivalents. But that takes time, and if you have a problem with a vehicle and you need it back on the road, it is not ideal.
Richard Bamber
Runcorn
