LKQ Academy will increase its seating capacity to 12,500 in 2025, representing 10% growth year-on-year, as it continues to open new training sites and launch new courses.
The training provider is set to open additional sites in 2025, alongside launching new programs for the modern garage, supporting customers to get ahead of evolving market trends for the late 2020s.
It will also be introducing new virtual reality compatibility to a selection of its online training courses to help technicians learn under-the-hood work anywhere at any time, safely.
LKQ Academy expects ADAS to be a key focus for training in 2025, with plans to support the aftermarket with its professional ADAS theory and calibration courses through the LKQ Academy. The business has equipped all its state-of-the-art sites with the Autel Advanced IA900, offering hands on ADAS and wheel alignment experience to technicians.
It is growth plans follow a successful 2024. It now has more than 21,000 registered technicians and opened three new sites in Glasgow and Manchester this year, with a flagship site launched at its West Midlands HQ in Tamworth.
More courses at LKQ Academy
The training provider now offers 87 unique courses, with several new programmes introduced in 2024. Its latest training launches include servicing hydrogen vehicles and diagnosing and repairing AdBlue system faults. It also launched an exclusive programme with Varta on battery construction to enhance technicians understanding of battery health in the context of EV and hybrid.
Course delegates can progress to the popular IMI level 2/3 Hybrid and EV training – which saw more than 1,600 bookings in 2024, with an expected increase in the new year.
As part of its growing course offering, the LKQ Academy has also partnered with Andy Savva – The Garage Inspector – to deliver a one-day ‘Financial Mastery and Lean Workshop for Technicians’. The course will be available across five LKQ Academy sites in Glasgow, Sunderland, Manchester, Tamworth and Bristol and is specifically designed to give technicians an understanding of the financial side of the garage business, with insights to increase efficiency and profitability.
“The UK car parc continues to evolve and we are committed to supporting the independent aftermarket to meet its growing needs and to close the industry skills gap,” commented Lee Chapman, Head of Support & LKQ Academy. “We have further increased our UK coverage for the LKQ Academy this year, with the new site at T1 acting as a central hub for operations, to help respond to demand for upskilling.
Particular focus
“ADAS will be a particular focus for us in 2025, with only 2% of technicians, 4,425 individuals, qualified to service and repair these systems. We are also working on introducing more high-level courses to the LKQ Academy and VR to our online courses, to help garages stay ahead of the game when it comes to market needs.
“We take our responsibility as a market leader seriously and the last 12 months have been a period of significant growth and investment, that we are looking to continue into 2025 and beyond. Upskilling plays an important role for garages to prepare for the future and in doing so offer high standards of work and customer service that will help boost growth and profitability.”
LKQ Academy also offers a Technical Helpline that helps independent garages to identify and resolve faults first time, maximising throughput, profitability and customer satisfaction. Over the last 12 months the helpline has taken more than 12,500 calls, saving technicians a massive £1,500,000 in labour costs.
All LKQ Academy courses are fully accredited by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) and garages and workshops can get a free skills assessment to identify areas for improvement. Courses can be accessed individually, with individual memberships starting from £999, or through workshop memberships from £1,299.
For more information, visit: https://lkqacademy.co.uk/
