Inflated cost of motor claims: interesting article
Discussion
The industry really needs to stop what seems like the promotion of dubious practices or even fraud.
Cost containment doesn't seem like a priority.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/may...
Cost containment doesn't seem like a priority.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/may...
In my experience, some examples:
1. A car in for rear damage is flagged for the tiniest (repairable) chip on the windscreen. It gets approved for replacement (with genuine parts, yet the same insurer won't allow OE if it was a windscreen claim)
2. There's a 'claim management' company I work with that provides courtesy vehicles to motorists while their car is in for repair. If that loan car gets damaged whilst under their care, the cost gets added to the claim.
3. People on the internet promoting willful damage to say a scratched windscreen/a leaking 'screen/or what amounts to a maintenance issue. "Accidentally drop a brick on the windscreen and claim from your insurance company".
4. Car sellers selling a car with a pre-existing windscreen issue. Many (even main dealerships) will offer to pay the excess so that the new owner can claim it on their insurance.
5. Perfectly repairable windscreens condemned to waste because it is more financially beneficial to replace.
1. A car in for rear damage is flagged for the tiniest (repairable) chip on the windscreen. It gets approved for replacement (with genuine parts, yet the same insurer won't allow OE if it was a windscreen claim)
2. There's a 'claim management' company I work with that provides courtesy vehicles to motorists while their car is in for repair. If that loan car gets damaged whilst under their care, the cost gets added to the claim.
3. People on the internet promoting willful damage to say a scratched windscreen/a leaking 'screen/or what amounts to a maintenance issue. "Accidentally drop a brick on the windscreen and claim from your insurance company".
4. Car sellers selling a car with a pre-existing windscreen issue. Many (even main dealerships) will offer to pay the excess so that the new owner can claim it on their insurance.
5. Perfectly repairable windscreens condemned to waste because it is more financially beneficial to replace.
The car hire costs quoted are crazy.
There has to be many people like me, that don't need a replacement car if mine is in the garage.
Plus a rental shouldn't be more than £50 a day or am I out of touch? A lot of the damages in the pics I wouldn't bother claiming for (my excess is £1000) and I like my long NCB.
My owned for 23 years BMW was covered in dents and scratches, all done by others, part and parcel of daily use and parking in London.
Never claimed once.
There has to be many people like me, that don't need a replacement car if mine is in the garage.
Plus a rental shouldn't be more than £50 a day or am I out of touch? A lot of the damages in the pics I wouldn't bother claiming for (my excess is £1000) and I like my long NCB.
My owned for 23 years BMW was covered in dents and scratches, all done by others, part and parcel of daily use and parking in London.
Never claimed once.
Few years ago I had an e-class Benz, somebody went into the back of it at very low speed and admitted responsibility.
The Merc approved Bodyshop recommended the following:
Two new light cluster
New bumper and bumper bar
New rear parking sensors and loom
Numerous trim bits and pieces.
Paint
The total bill for the repair was over £10k. I saw all the bits that came off and I am convinced that had it been a cash job everything could have been repaired rather than replaced.
Plus a like-for-like replacement hire car for nearly 6 weeks while they tried to get the parking sensors working. And of course the claim management fee. I have no idea how much that was but I expect another £10k wouldn’t be far off.
The Merc approved Bodyshop recommended the following:
Two new light cluster
New bumper and bumper bar
New rear parking sensors and loom
Numerous trim bits and pieces.
Paint
The total bill for the repair was over £10k. I saw all the bits that came off and I am convinced that had it been a cash job everything could have been repaired rather than replaced.
Plus a like-for-like replacement hire car for nearly 6 weeks while they tried to get the parking sensors working. And of course the claim management fee. I have no idea how much that was but I expect another £10k wouldn’t be far off.
Insurance co's - parking firms - banks - estate agents - internet providers - Carol Vorderman.
None are your friends and all only want your money.
Saying that though, and for all their faults, I can't help thinking car insurance is actually quite cheap for what you actually get compared to other things some people don't seem to question.
None are your friends and all only want your money.
Saying that though, and for all their faults, I can't help thinking car insurance is actually quite cheap for what you actually get compared to other things some people don't seem to question.
Nothing new in the article other than re-inforcement of my long-term view that insurers are happy to keep claims high, to keep the premiums high, to make their turnover higher, and their profits higher.
All in the churn.
Are car insurers' profits in the UK going up?
Would an insurer offering a sales pitch of 'we can beat any quote because we use the cheapest repairers and will bodge your car up with secondhand bits' get any business? (Personaly couldn't give a s
t).
Also, approved repairers used to be pared down to the bone on price. Has that changed?
All in the churn.
Are car insurers' profits in the UK going up?
Would an insurer offering a sales pitch of 'we can beat any quote because we use the cheapest repairers and will bodge your car up with secondhand bits' get any business? (Personaly couldn't give a s
t).Also, approved repairers used to be pared down to the bone on price. Has that changed?
I imagine this does not occur quite as often as perhaps implied. Insurers are very robust on who they use and have some strong metrics in place to track (and benchmark repair centres against each other). One being Key 2 Key, minimising the time the customers are without a car (limiting courtesy car and hire car costs).
"We were contacted by someone who works at an “approved” accident centre who has described how minor bumper repairs are inflated from £1,500 to £7,500 by adding unnecessary painting and other unneeded work – all because the work is being paid by an insurer"
One driver of repair costs might be the growth in ADAS, (drivers assist systems), that often need re-calibrating after an accident.
Saying all that, I was speaking to someone senior in the industry, and he suggested it's very quiet, all due to a very mild winter.
"We were contacted by someone who works at an “approved” accident centre who has described how minor bumper repairs are inflated from £1,500 to £7,500 by adding unnecessary painting and other unneeded work – all because the work is being paid by an insurer"
One driver of repair costs might be the growth in ADAS, (drivers assist systems), that often need re-calibrating after an accident.
Saying all that, I was speaking to someone senior in the industry, and he suggested it's very quiet, all due to a very mild winter.
"DG’s car was written off when a road worker did minor damage to the rear wheel arch. The insurer paid out £4,820 for the car, which was recorded as a category N write-off (which means it had no structural damage and can be repaired). He took the money, was able to buy the car back from the insurer for £626 and had it repaired for £300."
Happy days for DG. £4000 in the pocket.
Happy days for DG. £4000 in the pocket.
My car got hit in the rear last year so claimed against the insurer of the car responsible.
Rear bumper had minor cracks in it, but their suggested repairer managed to come up with an estimate of over £2K even though a bumper cover from BMW in primer was less than £650.
But as a result they made my car a Cat N. After some haggling they valued it at £2,240 and I kept it for 22% of that which meant I got 50% of what I paid for it 5 years ago.
Although I would have rather not had it made Cat N. Still I haven't spent anything on repairs because you need to look really hard to see the damage!
Rear bumper had minor cracks in it, but their suggested repairer managed to come up with an estimate of over £2K even though a bumper cover from BMW in primer was less than £650.
But as a result they made my car a Cat N. After some haggling they valued it at £2,240 and I kept it for 22% of that which meant I got 50% of what I paid for it 5 years ago.
Although I would have rather not had it made Cat N. Still I haven't spent anything on repairs because you need to look really hard to see the damage!
The whole thing is a scandal.
I had an accident 20 months ago, someone just drove straight onto a roundabout, as I was going round and hit my car.
The damage was just to the front wing and headlamp.
I reported it to my insurance company and was passed onto a claim management company. They asked me what sort of car I wanted to hire. I said I didn't need a hire car as I had access to two other cars. They tried all sorts of wheedling but I said I didn't need one. They then said they couldn't handle it then and it would be passed back to my insurance company and that would mean all sorts of delays and problems.
I therefore agreed to get a hire car at about £350 a day! They sent a statement for me to sign that said I necessarily required a car of this standard as an equivalent replacement. Obviously not true, when I pointed this out to them, they just said everybody just signs it, nothing to see here.
The car was away for weeks and was written off eventually, Cat N. I bought the car back, repaired it (new wing, second hand headlamp, new headlamp washer, bit of paint on the bumper) and made £2500 profit!
I have taken it to France twice since then and it is running great.
How many thousands did this claim management company make? There is no doubt they are in a relationship with the car hire company and they are conspiring to inflate the hire car costs way beyond what someone would pay for a normal (non insurance) car hire.
I had an accident 20 months ago, someone just drove straight onto a roundabout, as I was going round and hit my car.
The damage was just to the front wing and headlamp.
I reported it to my insurance company and was passed onto a claim management company. They asked me what sort of car I wanted to hire. I said I didn't need a hire car as I had access to two other cars. They tried all sorts of wheedling but I said I didn't need one. They then said they couldn't handle it then and it would be passed back to my insurance company and that would mean all sorts of delays and problems.
I therefore agreed to get a hire car at about £350 a day! They sent a statement for me to sign that said I necessarily required a car of this standard as an equivalent replacement. Obviously not true, when I pointed this out to them, they just said everybody just signs it, nothing to see here.
The car was away for weeks and was written off eventually, Cat N. I bought the car back, repaired it (new wing, second hand headlamp, new headlamp washer, bit of paint on the bumper) and made £2500 profit!
I have taken it to France twice since then and it is running great.
How many thousands did this claim management company make? There is no doubt they are in a relationship with the car hire company and they are conspiring to inflate the hire car costs way beyond what someone would pay for a normal (non insurance) car hire.
The entire industry is a ripp off and we’re paying. The fact claims companies still exist with insane car hire prices even though anyone with half a brain can see it’s corrupt is telling. Any slightly older car is written off as not repairable due to value. Maybe the govt are generally complicit due to it helping to keep the industry moving, buying new cars, getting rid of the old ones etc
link said:
Around £10m of this total comes from just four sources: Gary Lubner (£4.6m)...
...Lubner is the former CEO of Belron, a global firm specialising in vehicle glass repair.
Link for above: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-invest......Lubner is the former CEO of Belron, a global firm specialising in vehicle glass repair.
link said:
two groups declared that they were given £11.7 million in the first half of 2016 – with Mr Banks the main donor to both, including making loans worth £6m
Banks made his money in car insurance. Link for above: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-invest...QED
CoolHands said:
The entire industry is a ripp off and we’re paying. The fact claims companies still exist with insane car hire prices even though anyone with half a brain can see it’s corrupt is telling. Any slightly older car is written off as not repairable due to value. Maybe the govt are generally complicit due to it helping to keep the industry moving, buying new cars, getting rid of the old ones etc
UK car insurance premiums rise by 34% – and far higher than in rest of Europe^Banks achieved his objective
The entire thing reeks of a cartel in my view. Insurers, repairers, parts suppliers, hire car firms, and above all those bent "accident management" companies, all taking the piss, all facilitating one another in taking the piss.
The last time I had the displeasure of dealing with an "insurance approved repairer" (name sounds like a theme park with cars in place of towers) it took them four attempts to carry off a simple bumper paintwork repair to a tolerable standard. So the money certainly very obviously isn't going into high quality professional repairs.
The last time I had the displeasure of dealing with an "insurance approved repairer" (name sounds like a theme park with cars in place of towers) it took them four attempts to carry off a simple bumper paintwork repair to a tolerable standard. So the money certainly very obviously isn't going into high quality professional repairs.
croyde said:
The car hire costs quoted are crazy.
There has to be many people like me, that don't need a replacement car if mine is in the garage.
Plus a rental shouldn't be more than £50 a day or am I out of touch? A lot of the damages in the pics I wouldn't bother claiming for (my excess is £1000) and I like my long NCB.
My owned for 23 years BMW was covered in dents and scratches, all done by others, part and parcel of daily use and parking in London.
Never claimed once.
Yep you see people taking the piss with them. My neighbour has 3 cars. One was away for 2 weeks in a prang. A brand new car appears for 2 weeks, used twice. There has to be many people like me, that don't need a replacement car if mine is in the garage.
Plus a rental shouldn't be more than £50 a day or am I out of touch? A lot of the damages in the pics I wouldn't bother claiming for (my excess is £1000) and I like my long NCB.
My owned for 23 years BMW was covered in dents and scratches, all done by others, part and parcel of daily use and parking in London.
Never claimed once.
Typical boomers attitude to life, We paid for this we are entitled.
My neighbour has just completed an insurance repair on her Discovery Sport following what looked like significant contact down one side with a low wall, probably self inflicted. ( Her 4th significant event in the 7 years she has lived next door; 2x stolen plus one other wall collision.)
Hire car for 4 weeks was a new Lexus RX and I’d love to know what the daily rate was.
I am not sure she would have the slightest understanding though if i tried to explain that it really wasn’t a good thing really.
Hire car for 4 weeks was a new Lexus RX and I’d love to know what the daily rate was.
I am not sure she would have the slightest understanding though if i tried to explain that it really wasn’t a good thing really.
Zed Ed said:
My neighbour has just completed an insurance repair on her Discovery Sport following what looked like significant contact down one side with a low wall, probably self inflicted. ( Her 4th significant event in the 7 years she has lived next door; 2x stolen plus one other wall collision.)
Hire car for 4 weeks was a new Lexus RX and I’d love to know what the daily rate was.
I am not sure she would have the slightest understanding though if i tried to explain that it really wasn’t a good thing really.
If it was her fault then she must have like-for-like replacement car cover, so the rates would be far lower than the AMC's try and charge. Hire car for 4 weeks was a new Lexus RX and I’d love to know what the daily rate was.
I am not sure she would have the slightest understanding though if i tried to explain that it really wasn’t a good thing really.
Anyway, insurance companies don't pay those bonkers headline bills from AMC's - they settle at industry agreed rates.
When I had someone hit the rear of my car, I sorted it directly with the 3rd parties insurance, just informed my insurance co I was doing it, I chose the repairer, the 3rd party insurance supplied the hire car direct, all very simple, when the OH’s car had a minor hit when parked she went through a claims company, it was a total shambles, designed to extract as much money as possible from the 3rd parties insurance co, including the claims company also owning the hire car company, the amount of times the car was is ‘quality control’, was crazy, I ended up going to the repairer direct to find out what was going on, parts on back order, it had never been near ‘quality control’, company poilicy was not to order parts until the vehicle was with them, another thing designed to extend the hire car duration. Eventually, after complaint after complaint, request to send the hire car back, which were met with ‘that’s what insurance is for’ from the claims company, what should have been a repair that was done in a week, extended to closer to 8 weeks, not surprising that the 3rd parties insurance then objected to the hire car charges, which then cause another near 10 months of dealing with ‘proving’ that my OH could not have afforded to pay for said extortionate hire car charges by supplying financial information in such detail that they could have probably estimated our spend on the weekly shop, and if we had bought branded tomato sauce on any given day.
My advice to anyone, do not, under any circumstances, allow a ‘claims’ company to get involved with any part of a claim, even if it is your own insurance recommending it.
My advice to anyone, do not, under any circumstances, allow a ‘claims’ company to get involved with any part of a claim, even if it is your own insurance recommending it.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff