Minor damage repair company Shine! has launched a training school for repair technicians.

It is based at a new development in Derby.

Shine! is a national network of mobile repair technicians, owned by minor damage insurance specialists, Smart Insurance, and has a number of corporate partnerships with large dealer networks and independents such as Halfords and Kwik Fit.

The Shine! Academy has the latest technology and equipment on which each technician will be trained.

Training is designed to ensure students achieve IMI certification and their repairs are to BSI criteria. Training also includes using OEM approved products.

Smart Insurance managing director Mark Boote said: “The Shine! Academy came about for a number of reasons, but mainly due to demand and our desire to develop the highest quality repair technicians.

“There is a real trend nationally of more and more people taking minor damage insurance and that demand is driven by an increase in consumers experiencing minor damage. This is due to people driving bigger cars and we are seeing more and more incidents of prangs and scratches.

“Shine! works in tandem with Smart Insurance and the demand for minor damage repair technicians has escalated rapidly over the past few years, so we developed the academy to fulfil that growing need.”

Dean Meadows, Shine! director, said: “We’re keen to control the quality of repairs we offer our customers, whether that’s through dealer or commercial partnerships. By developing an Academy we have complete control of the quality of repairs we carry out.

“These are on top of the obvious benefits of helping get people into work by training them in a way that benefits them practically and ultimately creating jobs in the automotive industry across the UK.”