Motor Insurance & Repair Costs

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Fri 3 Feb 2017 10:42
Motor Insurance & Repair Costs - MikeM100

Recent news on motor insurance premiums blames rises partly on cost of repairs:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38841837

One of the 'culprits' is the increasing use of sophisticated electronics, of which, I despair.

IMO we have made cars so complicated that no one, including main dealers can repair them, even if they have the diagnostic tools or the inclination to do so.

This also affects second hand cars which can become a nightmare if cursed with an 'electronics' problem. (E.g. My VW Passat - Comfort Control Module full of water)

In the 'olden' days it was possible to dis-assemble things (such as carburettors), see the problem (Oh it was just a blocked jet) and fix them.

A friend of mine has surmised that in the future we may no longer have working 'classic cars' of this era as no living person will be able to make the electronics work !

When I read posts such as this:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4128220/Tesla-dri...l

forums.tesla.com/en_GB/forum/forums/no-internet-co...0

I really think we have gone too far with this electronics malarky and I certainly don't want my car connected to the Internet !

How about anyone else ?

P.S. I am an electronics engineer !

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Fri 3 Feb 2017 11:15
Motor Insurance & Repair Costs - daveyjp

Cost of repairs also includes the huge costs of the accident (mis) management companies and their vastly inflated car hire charges.

A friend was run into last summer - he was in his £800 station car park car. The damage was dented panels he didn't want the car writing off as it did the job.

Agreement to buy it back took his insurance company 6 weeks and for that time he was in a brand new Focus which will have cost thousands in rental fees.

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Fri 3 Feb 2017 12:00
Motor Insurance & Repair Costs - SLO76
There's much wrong with the UK insurance industry. From fraud to bodyshops, claims management firms and hire car firms which are often sneakyily owned by the insurance firms themselves. Unfair handshake deals between firms to force sly and unjust bump for bump terms on claims costing both parties their excess and no claims to fly small print to limit their liabilities, it's long overdue a shakeup.

The skyrocketing cost of repairs has more to do with the unfair practices within the industry than anything else. Insurance firms are just a front for a whole raft of underhand dealing behind the scenes. Although I agree the overcomplex nature of modern motors is having an impact. I personally prefer basic simple transport with none of the unnecessary fripperies which only go wrong in the long run.

Independent bodyshops often have to pay a particular insurer to be on their approved repairer list and thus competition to cut costs in the repair industry isn't there.

Edited by SLO76 on 03/02/2017 at 12:10

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Sat 4 Feb 2017 11:50
Motor Insurance & Repair Costs - RaineMan

I tend to agree with the earlier posts. The issue with the other driver’s insurance company not settling with mine drags on and my company has passed it on to a claims handler. The first I knew of it was when I got a letter from the claims handler asking if I had suffered any injury in the accident (or any injury had subsequently come to light) and had any additional out-of-pocket expenses. Subsequent to the accident the main issue has been chasing it up by phone and letter/e-mail. The sum involved is less than £500 and if no one else had been involved I would not have claimed, but then it would never have happened!

I think I mentioned another friend whose car was hit in November. His car is still drivable. It’s value makes it an automatic insurance company write-off. He wants to buy it back and repair it but dotting the i’s and crossing the ‘t’s drags on. He has made some enquiries and it appear that it can be repaired for less than half its value.

Edited by RaineMan on 04/02/2017 at 11:52

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