Insurance companies and accident repairs
I have a major gripe with how insurance companies treat their customers 'behind the scenes'. It is a natural assumption to think that after an accident, your insurance company will pay for the full cost of repairs done by the body shop, but sadly this may not be the case any more.
Here's a brief explanation of how the accident repair process works to the best of my knowledge. Major insurance companies now have contracts with body shops whereby they send a little over £1,000 with every job, and that is the payment. It is then up to the body shop to complete the repairs to your vehicle within this cost.
I think this is officially called 'The average repair cost'. It is a figure that the insurance companies say will balance itself out over the course of the year as they are supposed to send the bodyshop both large and small jobs, with the smaller jobs being, of course, overpaid.
This might work out well on paper, but in reality, and with the greed of the insurance companies most of the small jobs would end up being sent to the other body shops with whom they have no such contact. I suppose it's understandable as they wouldn't want to pay their £1,000 contracted cost for a £200 repair job. However this leaves the original body shop having to fully absorb the cost of any repair.
Now think about it. If they were sent, for example, a standard size job that costs in the region of £4,500 to complete, and only getting paid £1,000 for it, something has to give. Firstly, as much as possible would be repaired and not replaced. This is because the cost of every single new part comes directly out of the £1,000 cost. Could it be that most jobs are simply beaten back into shape and filled with body filler, broken headlamps and bumpers are plastic welded back together and the absolute minimum is done? Basically, as you can imagine, the vehicle body repair industry must now be turning into a cost saving exercise.
...have slipped right back to the bodging 70's again
I personally think the whole process is disgusting. People pay a lot of money for their insurance policies and the least they expect is a decent job done on their vehicle if they ever need to make a claim. We are living in the 00's but have slipped right back to the bodging 70's again, and its all due to the greed of the insurance companies. We are not talking about the smaller insurance companies here, but the main names (I'm sure you know who we're talking about!). No wonder they can offer such cheap insurance.
By: Andrew
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insurance employee - 14-Jan-11 23:50
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I can't beleive any repair company would agree to the scam in the first place.
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My servicing, on two privately owned cars, is all done through one family owned business locally and has been for 10 years. I trust them and they have got it wrong a few times in the past, but they have put things right without further cost to me or fuss. On that basis, I try to be fair with them, when I would not do this for many other businesses. If they charge me for work I did not ask them to do, I am very confident they have done it for the sake of safety. I keep my paperwork and can easily check if they are trying to pull the wool over with several, "repeat repairs." They never have. On that basis I have owned one car for 11 years and the other for 7. Being German built helps but they are in excellent condition and keeping up with newer cars is not a problem in the slightest. On the contrary, frustratingly, I always seem to be on the tail of a line of traffic, never at the front!
They are not the cheapest, nor the dearest, of garages but where cars are concerned doing things on the cheap is not a sensible option. You might well regret being in an accident at which torn and crushed metal is widely in evidence, because you were anxious to save twenty quid on some brake repairs.
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Horrified to read this. I shudder to think how they would deal with a customer who challenged the practice.
You have mentioned NU and Axa. Without risking a civil claim for infringement of privacy clauses (i.e. 'gagging') could you list which insurers operate this awful scam?
Or in contrast, can you say which of the insurers with whom your firm deals do not impose a fixed limit?
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I heard nothing for weeks, until some solicitors called me asking me saying they'd like to represent me as the victim in the incident. Apparently the third party withdrew the statement that she was to blame. I went through a lengthly telephone questionnaire about the incident, the events leading up to and after. Anyway, 6 months had passed and the third party insurer wasn't willing to pay the bill. In the end, county court proceedings were launched and that was the last I heard about it so I assume they got their money. But shows what insurers will do to avoid paying the costs. The solicitors said that when court proceedings are launched, that's when they'll cough up as it'll cost them more in the long run.
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Youthful Griper - 27-Jan-09 16:06
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