We’re celebrating International Women’s Day 2021, an annual global event that highlights the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
The day is celebrated and supported globally by industry, governments, educational institutions, community groups, professional associations, women’s networks, charities and non-profit bodies, the media and more.
At Copart, we support and encourage gender balance within the automotive industry and we’re proud to have strong female representation across all areas of our business, including our senior management team.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’. This gives us the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how we deliver on one of Copart’s Values, ‘Challenge the Norm,’ by introducing you to our very first female engineer, Rachael Martindale.
Rachael has been working at Copart for five years, having started as a Claims Settlement Advisor before moving across into the Vehicle Engineering team in an administrative role. It was at that point that she first became interested in pursuing a career as a Vehicle Image Engineer.
“I hadn’t ever thought about becoming an engineer before joining Copart, but when I joined the Claims Settlement team, which works very closely with Vehicle Engineering, my interest started to grow.” said Rachael. “Our claims and engineering functions have expanded rapidly over the years, but back then it was a small team, so I was able to learn a lot about what the engineers did and became intrigued to find out more.”
When Rachael was first approached about a career move into Vehicle Engineering, she jumped at the chance, and at her interview asked about the possibility of pursuing an engineering career path.
“During my interview for the admin role, I asked if Copart would be willing to support me with training and development towards becoming an engineer.” Rachael said. “At the time, another teammate was already in the training programme, but my manager agreed that once the current trainee had qualified, they would be happy to support my personal development.”
When the time came for her Trainee Vehicle Engineer role to commence, she had already gained an all-round knowledge of the engineering function thanks to her administrative role. This had provided her with solid insights into the daily workload and reporting processes of Copart’s Vehicle Engineers, and a great foundation for her future development.
“In my first two years as Trainee Vehicle Engineer, I became AQP qualified, trained on the safe handling of hybrid & electric vehicles and studied at college to gain an IMI Level 2 Diploma in Vehicle Maintenance & Repair.” said Rachael. “I was then ready to take the final steps towards becoming a fully qualified engineer and applied for my IMI Vehicle Damage Assessor (VDA) accreditation assessment.”
The IMI VDA accreditation is specifically for individuals whose job involves estimating accident damaged vehicle repairs. It demonstrates that they have the necessary skills, knowledge and techniques required to determine the damage and identify the correct safe repair method to return the vehicle back to its pre-accident condition.
The assessment took place over four days, consisting of two days online studying and revising with the tutor, an exam on the third day, and full vehicle assessments on the final day.
“The physical assessments took place on site at Bridge Automotive Academy in the West Midlands, with all necessary social distancing measures in place.” Rachael said. “I had to provide estimates on three vehicles – one from images only and two in the workshop – completing a fully detailed job sheet including information on repair and paint methods, time estimates and parts to be replaced.”
Rachael passed with flying colours and with her IMI VDA qualification under her belt, progressed into her new role as Vehicle Image Engineer – making her Copart UK’s first ever female engineer.
“I was so focused on the new role itself that it didn’t really cross my mind I was Copart’s first female engineer!” said Rachael. “I feel that I’m just part of the team, but when other people point out how unusual it is in such a traditionally male dominated industry, I do realise what a great achievement it is.”
She is now fully immersed in her Vehicle Image Engineer role, compiling reports containing valuations, categorisations, and repair methods for Copart’s insurance customers and claims settlement team. The reports are based on images supplied by our Vehicle Damage Evaluators, who perform the physical inspections across our 15 nationwide Operation Centres.
Rachael’s personal development within the role will be ongoing, as she will have to undergo AQP refresher training, and be assessed for VDA re-accreditation, every three years.
And, with technology and processes continually changing in the automotive world, there will always be new things to learn!
“I’m really grateful for all the encouragement I’ve had from the other Copart engineers, who have always made me feel like part of the team, and I hope my new role encourages other women within Copart and the wider industry to pursue similar paths.” Rachael said. “I’m sure that in a few years from now female engineers will become more commonplace. Things are moving in the right direction and perceptions are changing, which is brilliant, and I’m very proud to play a part in that.”
“Copart has created a culture that welcomes equality and diversity and encourages personal development. We support our people in growing their skills, knowledge, and experience to maximise their potential within our business, and career progression opportunities are available for all teammates, regardless of their gender.
Rachael is a valued member of the team and we are very proud of her achievements. International Women’s Day gives us a great opportunity to highlight this Copart success story and I hope it encourages other women to consider a career path in engineering.”
Russ England, Engineering Services Manager
Follow International Women’s Day 2021 on social media: #ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021
