BACKGROUND

The Research Council for Automobile Repairs was established in 1968 with the objective of bringing together insurance financed Research Centres at least once a year for the purposes of exchanging information on the damageability and repairability design aspects of motor vehicles and the economic repair techniques developed by the various Centres.

The spheres of interest of the Members of RCAR have developed over the years to include safety features, anti-theft measures and recycling.  Between Annual Conferences, the Members are encouraged to communicate and exchange information.

The Activities of RCAR

1. The Council consults with motor manufactures, through position papers and other publications in respect of technical matters regarding vehicle repair, damageability and reparability, safety and anti-theft.
2. The Annual Conference acts as an exchange media for Members to discuss the technical results of research and testing of motor vehicles provided the results are not subject to confidentiality agreements.
3. The individual Members may, from time to time conduct joint studies where appropriate and by agreement.
4. The individual Members may, from time to time discuss repair methods and training with representatives of the motor repair trade or individual repairers.
5. The individual members may, from time to time participate in the development of techniques, tools, materials and processes associated with the design, development, manufacture and repair of motor vehicles.
6. The individual Members may, from time to time discuss and develop with interested bodies new methods of training for those involved in repairing and estimating or assessing damage to motor vehicles.
7. The individual Members may, from time to time consult with the appropriate bodies within the motor industry, insurance industry and vehicle repair industry regarding the safety, repair, recycling, and security of motor vehicles.

The above list of activities shall not be deemed exhaustive.  Any activity may be considered by an individual Member provided the overall purpose of the activity is to improve and advance the level of knowledge in motor vehicle design and engineering in order to reduce costs for the insurance industry and the motoring public.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership of the Council is by invitation from the Members and is normally extended to existing insurance financed Research Centres with a proven two year record of research  in insurance related motor vehicle loss research, which includes damageability and reparability, safety and/or associated training experience.

The Centre shall be operated by:

1. The whole or a substantial part of a national motor insurance market.
2. An individual insurance company being a member of a national motor insurance committee.
3. An individual insurance company with a substantial share of the motor insurance a market but where no national committee has yet been formed.

There shall be two grades of membership:

1. Full Member
2. Provisional Member

i. Full Member

A Full Member shall be an existing insurance financed Research or Training Centre which meets the requirements of (a) or (b) or (c) above, and can provide evidence of two years of insurance related motor vehicle loss research, which includes damageability and reparability and safety.

ii. Provisional Member

A Provisional Member shall be a research centre whose track record is yet to be established for the requisite two years.  Otherwise all the requirements of the Full Member shall apply.

It is for the Steering Committee to decide whether a new applicant should be offered Full Membership or Provisional Membership on presentation of the required evidence of activity, and make the appropriate recommendation to the Members.

Provisional Members shall be reviewed at the two year point by the Steering Committee and a decision made as to whether upgrading to Full Membership should be recommended.  Alternatively if the Provisional Member has not met the criteria for Full Membership, a recommendation should be made to the Members to terminate the Provisional Membership.  In this case the Provisional member leaves RCAR.

A Provisional Member is entitled to attend meetings, give presentations, has voting rights and shall pay the Full Membership fee.

The election of new Members, whether they be Full Members or Provisional Members, must have support of two thirds of all existing Full Members.  In the event of a ballot, there shall be one vote per centre regardless of the number of centres which exist within national boundaries.

Provisional Members have voting rights but cannot become a member of the Steering Committee.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Conferences shall normally be held on an annual basis in the host’s country on the invitation of a national committee or an individual Centre.  The date and venue of any conference shall normally have been agreed during the proceedings of the previous conference.  Agendas shall be arranged in advance by consultation with those Centres expected to attend.  The agenda shall be finally agreed between the host country and the Secretary General, if required.

From time to time, the Council may set up ad hoc sub-committees, in addition to the permanent Steering Committee set up at the Tokyo Conference in 1991, to consider subjects of concern to the membership.

THE STEERING COMMITTEE

Main Responsibilities of the Steering Committee

1. To oversee and manage the affairs of the Organization in a businesslike and legal manner.
2. To approve the expenditure and salary of the Secretary General.
3. To ensure that all and any expenditure of the Organization’s resources is undertaken in the interest of the Members.
4. To direct the activities of the Secretary General in accordance with the wishes of the Members.
5. To decide, after due examination and deliberation, the grade of membership for new Members.
6. To review the membership status of all Provisional Members with a view to upgrading on an annual basis.

Constitution of the Steering Committee

1. The Steering Committee shall consist of representation of the Members drawn from the main continental regions broadly in line with the numbers of members in that continental region.  Thus, at present the representation is North America 2, South America 1, Asia 2, Europe 3.
2. The Steering Committee Members shall offer themselves for re-election by the membership on an annual basis.  Each region will review their Steering Committee representation no less often than every two years.
3. The Chairman shall be appointed by the unanimous vote of the Steering Committee Members and shall offer himself/herself for re-election annually.
4. The Steering Committee Chairman shall deliver a full report of its activities to the membership at the Annual Conference.

EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

Between Annual Conferences, individual Members are encouraged to exchange information and to visit each other’s Centres as often as they wish or is practicable.  Centres are invited to distribute to the Members any information arising from their research that they think will be of interest or concern to others.

The Secretary General shall arrange from time to time a more formal exchange of information by listing and distributing a summary of current work and projected work from all the Centres on an annual basis.

A sole Research Centre may, if it so desire, call upon the services of the Secretary General to assist in any program which the Centre might wish to hold within its national boundaries, provided the Secretary General’s expenses are reimbursed by the Centre.

Topic Seminars may be held within the main body of the Annual Conference, provided they are open to all Members and do not clash with any other planned event.
All information provided by a Research Centre, whether it be written, video, electronic or presentation format, is the sole property of the originator.  Should any other Research Centre or the Secretary General wish to pass such information to a third party, then the prior permission of the originator must be obtained.

However, any conclusion or general item of policy, which might be formulated by the RCAR as a result of a single or several submissions of papers or presentation by individual members, shall be the property of the RCAR as a body.  In this case, should any Research Centre or the Secretary General wish to pass on such a conclusion or general item of policy in written format other than the written format produced by the Council, they shall seek the advice of the Steering Committee through the Chairman.  In order to avoid undue delay in this situation, it may be appropriate for RCAR Members to agree to the general release of the information when it is formulated at the Annual Conference.

CHAIRMAN

The Council shall have no permanent Chairman but each Annual Conference shall be chaired by a senior member of the host Centre or appropriate Insurance Committee in the host’s country.  The chairmanship shall cease at the end of the Conference and in the intervening period before the Council next meets, any issues, other than finance and policy, requiring a decision shall be referred by the Secretary General to all Members for their views.

In the reporting of matters of finance and policy outside the Annual Conference, the Secretary General shall be required to refer such matters to the Steering Committee through its Chairman.  The Chairman of the Steering Committee shall be duty bound to communicate such reports received to each Member of the Steering Committee for comment, decision, or action, as necessary.

SECRETARIAT

The Secretary General shall be appointed by all members with  simple majority vote to serve a period of four years, after which he or she may be confirmed for a further four years by a simple majority vote of all the Members.

Main Duties of the Secretary General

1. To act as a source of information to the outside world regarding RCAR generally, especially focusing on electronic communication such as the Internet.
2. To assist and participate in the development of methods of exchanging information between Centres.
3. To assist the host country in arrangements for the Annual Conference, if required.
4. To co-ordinate the submission of presentations and papers for the Annual Conference.
5. To attend Steering Committee Meetings by invitation in order to provide information to the Chairman and Members.
6. To co-ordinate, produce and distribute any literature issued by the Council from time to time.
7. To act as a contact for, conduct correspondence with, and assist Members as required.
8. To suggest to the Members relevant projects and the collection of statistical data that will be of benefit to the global motor insurance industry.

Secretary General Salary

The Secretary General shall be paid an annual salary.  This salary shall be initially determined by the Steering Committee and reviewed annually.  He/she shall also be entitled to recover from Council Members any costs or expenses he/she incurs in connection with his/her work for the Council.  Such expenses shall be shared pro rata among Council Members and be known as the membership fee.  This fee shall be collected annually by the Secretary General on the authority of the Steering Committee.  To obtain reimbursement, the Secretary General shall submit a budget for the coming year and certified accounts from the previous year to the Steering Committee through its Chairman for prior approval.  The period for submission of both shall be determined from time to time by the Steering Committee.

The Secretary General shall submit a progress report to the Steering Committee through its Chairman, outlining his/her expenses, travel and progress of administrative items on a quarterly basis, or as directed by the Steering Committee.

VOTING

The informal nature of the Council does not give rise to any regular or formal voting structure.  If deliberation of a subject does eventually require a vote for a decision, then the motion shall be carried by a simple majority.  At a conference, the Chairman shall have a casting vote, but if an issue were to be referred to Members by correspondence between conferences, then a simple majority would be necessary to carry the motion.  In the event of a ballot, the voting rights shall be one per Centre, regardless of the number of Centres that exist within national boundaries.

THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

The official language of the Council, spoken, written and for all presentations shall be English.

AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION

The Constitution may be amended in the course of an Annual Conference of the Council providing that at least one month’s notice has been given of the proposed changes.  Any such amendments shall require approval of at least three quarters of the Members present.  The Chairman of the Meeting shall have a casting vote if necessary.

September 2008