What's more damaging, an accident or the wrong insurance

1 December 2017

It’s a question worth investigating in the current insurance environment. At Precision AutoWerk we deal with all insurance company’s on a daily basis and there is no doubt that average repair costs are and have been escalating for some time while the insurance industry has been slow to identify and approach the situation, resulting in some nervousness in regard to motor in general.

Star Insurance indentified the increased cost of parts early on and are taking steps to address dealing with it in a proactive manner, from claim acceptance to assessor authorisation, all focused on speeding up the repair process which in turn minimises the inconvenience to the client. 

From my perspective all insurers have methods in place to control repair costs some have their own repair networks working to a tight schedule, others have assessment centre’s to have complete control over the repair estimate and now the introduction of Smart repair facility’s churning out high volume repairs.  

With the average repair costs increasing the directive from the larger insurance company’s is to reduce costs often compromising the repair quality, enforcing second-hand parts or a repair option (both of which can compromise vehicle manufacturer warranty) in a bid to reduce overall repair costs. 

Many insurance companies haven’t seriously evaluated the vehicles they are insuring. The technology being introduced by the vehicle manufactures over the last few years is a double edged sword, the active and passive safety systems and collision avoidance technology’s installed do make the car far safer to drive and less prone to having an accident, but the flip side to this is if the unfortunate does happen there are expensive components mounted around the extremities of the vehicle which are the first things to be damaged on impact. 

It’s important for insurers to work with us to gain an insight into the change in technology taking data back to underwriting so the policies can be priced appropriately. 

From the clients perspective insurance is the one thing they purchase hoping never to use, but they expect to have the claim resolved with a minimum of fuss and the vehicle returned with all relevant manufacturer warranties in place. In extreme cases we have experienced claims where clients have had to top up repair costs to retain or reinstate a manufacturer body warranty that was jeopardised by an insurance company’s cost cutting in repair. 

At Precision AutoWerk we specialise in repairing high end European vehicles which often have a complex method of repair. For example an airbag sensor has to be repaired to perform to split second accuracy, an airbag going off a moment to late could cause serious injuries to a driver.  We understand and are experienced in the repair of such vehicles and our relationship with Star Insurance means our service and their quality product are a good fit.