A car crash doesn't just have financial implications: there's a circular aspect too.

Say the driver behind you didn't realise you were stopping: the resulting quote for repairs currently considers only the financial aspect. But the environmental one counts too. 

Eco Repair Score NV and VITO have developed the Eco Repair Score® to assess the environmental impact of a specific repair job. It does this using a single score, with categories from A to E and associated colour coding.

This ground-breaking calculation method is based on a Life Cycle Assessment of the repair to the body damage. Factors that can influence the score include:

• the repair method (replacement with a new or second-hand part, repair, spot repair, dent removal without painting, etc.),
• manufacturing of new parts or products and packaging them,
• transport of parts and products to the repair shop,
• painting of the parts,
• recycling of parts or products and packaging them after the repair, and
• the energy used by the repair workshop.

The Eco Repair Score® accounts for the climate change impact (expressed in CO_₂-eq): it considers 18 environmental impact categories, including ozone formation, emissions of particulate matter, emissions of carcinogenic substances, acidification, consumption of fossil and mineral resources, and water consumption. To validate the accuracy of the results, an independent third-party critical LCA review has also been conducted.