Vehicle Damage Assessor

There is one level of accreditation available to Vehicle Damage Assessors. This ATA is in two parts.
Part A is an online examination. Candidates must successfully pass Part A before they are able to sit Part B.

• Part A. On Line Assessment (90 minutes)
  This element will be offered Free of Charge when attending the course, VDA03 Essential Vehicle Damage Assessment for ATA & BSI Kitemark. Any subsequent attempts/retakes will be charge at £50 + vat. Delegates wishing to attend the Part A but not attend the VDA03 course, will be charged £100 + vat (including £50 IMI registration fee)
• Part B. Practical Assessment (1 day)
  £500 per candidate

For details on assessment dates please call Thatcham on 01635 294825.

A requirement of ATA is the prerequisites for the Vehicle Damage Assessor. To be eligible to take the assessment, a Vehicle Damage Assessor must have a minimum of 2 years industry experience in the role.

Assessments

To attain accreditation, Vehicle Damage Assessors will have to pass an on-line knowledge test and a practical assessment.

Candidates must successfully pass Part A before they are able to sit Part B.

Part A

Part A is the online knowledge test comprising of seventy questions with multiple choice answers covering seven categories and for which candidates have a maximum of ninety minutes to complete. Candidates must achieve a pass (70%) in each one of the seven categories below. Part A categories:

• VDA 4.1 Damage Appraisal & Identification
• VDA 4.2 Estimating systems
• VDA 4.3 Repair Methodology
• VDA 4.4 Salvage Categorisation
• VDA 4.5 VDA General
• VDA 4.6 VDA Safety & Liability
• VDA 4.7 Vehicle Appraisal & Valuation

You can download the specific Part A application form here.

Part B

Part B is a one day practical examination that comprises of five practical elements on three damaged vehicles. The specific ATA VDA elements covered are shown below:

• VDA01-01: Establish and Record Customer and Customer needs
• VDA02-01: Establish and Record Vehicle Data
• VDA03-01: Appraising the Damage : Compiling a safe and appropriate repair specification using published data.
• VDA04-01: Establish and Record Vehicle Valuation
• VDA05-01: Audit of a Printed Assessment

The practical assessments will measure competence in estimating in some or all of the following:

• front impact damage
• rear impact damage
• side impact damage
• mechanical damage caused by impact
• established damage not related to the accident
• vehicle pre accident roadworthiness
• vehicle pre accident value

The assessments will be based on different vehicles that ensure the above estimating competences are assessed. The vehicles are to be current and not more than 5 years old.
The time allowance for each assessment is 2 hours, with half an hour for the printed assessment audit.

The requirement to calculate a fully priced assessment has been withdrawn as of 1st January 2009, The candidate is required to hand write a safe and appropriate repair specification process, researching repair methods from escribe or other published data.

'Further Guidance for Candidates' from IMI Awards is available here.

Application

There are two application forms depending on whether you are applying for Part A or Part B.

You can download the specific Part A application form here.

The Part B application form is the normal ATA application form.

Please indicate on the front sheet of your ATA Application form if your delegate has any special needs that Thatcham need to be aware of.

Also, please indicate your BSI Audit/Inspection date, if you are applying for PAS 125. This will assist us to ensure delegates are offered assessment dates, where possible, prior to the audit/inspection taking place.

Thatcham will require the original copy of the application form for audit purposes, however, customers may also fax their application to us for initial processing.

Please Note : To ensure currency of assessments the IMI have stated that no more that 12 months may elapse between the first assessment and the last successful assessment. Therefore once the 12 month period has expired, a delegate will be required to commence all elements of their chosen assessment from the beginning. We would like to advise that for VDA the 12 month period will commence from the first time the on-line test is activated.

Please click here for details of our cancellation policy.

'Further Guidance for Candidates' from IMI Awards is available here.