Autoglass sees the positives in a recession

BusinessCar Award winner Autoglass believes this year will buck the downward trend in the replacement glass market thanks to a combination of the recession and bad weather.

Speaking at the collection of the BusinessCar Award for best windscreens firm, Autoglass managing director Nigel Doggett said: “The glass market was down 10% last year, and the underlying long-term trend is still down.”

However, he said that conditions had conspired to increase glass work.

“We have to have the capacity to deal with spikes – the snow caused one due to all the gritting.

“You have to think about road surface deterioration as well. The weather means the roads are in a shocking state at the moment.”

He added that this, coupled to a lack of money to repair the roads, meant the outlook for glass in 2009 was stable.