Overcharging on insurance claims.

carcookie

The garage nominated by my Insurance Company as repairer for vandal damage to my car has charged my Insurance Company £600. When I asked how much they would charge me if I paid myself and did not go through Insurance I was told it would cost £200. When I queried it I was told they had to charge a certain price because the Insurance Company had a set of rates they had to work within. What is going on here? Is this a job for Martin to investigate massive overcharging of car repairs which translate into higher car insurance premiums?

tinkerbell84

Common practice.

Repairs through insurance come with guarantees - that costs more than just the repairs on their own.

Plus it pays for the courtesy car that the garage provides.

tinkerbell84

If you accepted a shoddy respray job from a garage (by paying the bill) you'd have no recourse whatsoever. I doubt they would provide any guarantee on the work, and if that body panel then rusted within 6 months I doubt you'd be protected by any law whatsoever.

To provide you with a car, the garage has to buy the car, service the car, maintain the car, insure the car, have someone to manage the rental of the car................. So that cost can be quite high, especially if it's a small garage.

Insurance companies don't make very much profit, but I doubt any savings from the charges the garage makes would be passed on to the consumer anyway.

carcookie

How can a garage justify a respray of drivers door which takes one day only to do, plus hire car of one day for £600? Surely the same work I would pay for as an individual customer at £200 would be covered by 12 month guarantee under Goods and Services Act anyway? Still seems like a rip-off to me to charge my Insurance Company 3 times what it would charge me for the same job - thus giving Insurance Companies a good excuse to increase premiums!

tinkerbell84

carcookie wrote: »

How can a garage justify a respray of drivers door which takes one day only to do, plus hire car of one day for £600? Surely the same work I would pay for as an individual customer at £200 would be covered by 12 month guarantee under Goods and Services Act anyway? Still seems like a rip-off to me to charge my Insurance Company 3 times what it would charge me for the same job - thus giving Insurance Companies a good excuse to increase premiums!

Not sure why you deleted this post (which I answered above) and then reposted it


But my answer still stands.

duncanb

Its nothing more than deception and has been widely reported on, but for some reasons the authorities fail to address.

The garage charges the insurer £600. The insurer complains the cost of claims are rising faster then premiums hence the cost of insurance is rising. The insurer forgets to mention that of the £600 invoiced price they get a discount or rebate of a figure close to £400

Highway robbery 21st centuary style