9 best kept insurer secrets | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Fri 17 Aug 2012 12:28

9 best kept insurer secrets - insurance guru

The 9 Best Kept Secrets your Insurer would not like you to Know.

1. The Courtesy Car. Many insurers offer a courtesy car if you use their “Approved Repair Centre” this would reasonably appear to something they pay for. NOT TRUE. The cost is borne by the repairer with no additional revenue or supplement, so even before the repairer lays a hammer on your bent motor he has to recoup the cost of that car somehow.

2. The Insurer Approved Repairer. This is a garage who has agreed with an insurer in exchange for a supply of their policy holders damaged vehicles, to a stringent service level agreement which includes a range of free services and at a discounted rate, typically 30% below normal high street rates. So every time you visit one, they will be paying back to your insurer a hefty chunk of your repair bill in discounts and rebates. Ask yourself who benefits from that? Also remember that you are not obliged to use them, as a policy holder its your choice who repairs your own vehicle, there are however a few exceptions to this rule, where its written in the small print. Approved Repairers will always try to the best they can but their hands are tied and they have split loyalties when it comes making decisions about how your car is repaired.

3. Repair Methods. Each time you visit an “Approved Repairer” the method of repair to your damaged vehicle will be strictly controlled by that insurer and every decision taken in that process will only be driven by one criteria and I’m sure you know by now what that will be. Exactly.. COST. Example:- Someone has bumped into the back of your brand new car and now its at your insurer “Approved Repairer”. The bumper has a nasty crack in it and as we know all bumpers are designed to take a 5mph impact without sustaining damage so to protect you and your passengers it should be changed. But your “Approved Repairer” will be made to repair it so it looks good as new but obviously won’t be. Silly, as chances are, your insurer will get all the money back form the other insurer as it wasn’t your fault. But you’ll never know this.

4. New Parts. A large number of insurers will instruct their “Approved Repairers” to fit NON-GENUINE parts to your vehicle and some of them do it without telling you. If you look closely in the small print you may see they reserve the right to fit “Equivalent Parts” or parts of an equivalent quality. Reason being, obviously COST. When your car sustains damage you would want it put back to pre-accident condition and if FAKE parts are used that’s never going to happen. No one will guarantee that those parts will perform or deform in a subsequent accident exactly as the original equipment would. But you’ll never know this.

5. Insurer Paint Deal. A large number of insurers have agreements with vehicle paint manufactures and insist that their “Approved Repairer” takes on that paint type and uses it to paint their policy holders vehicles in and yes you’ve guessed, every time one gets painted the insurer gets paid a rebate by the paint company. So in effect every time you crash they get paid. How does that benefit you?

6. Total Losses. You may find yourself in the situation where your vehicle, after an accident becomes beyond economical repair and deemed Total Loss. Hopefully your insurers will agree a reasonable settlement with you and you can buy a new car, but what happens to your old one. One would hope that your insurers dispose of it ethically but do they? Typically it will be sold to a major salvage company who will then sell in an online auction to the highest bidder and vehicles categorised C or D can be bought and repaired by anyone to any standard including cutting two cars in half and welding them together which is perfectly legal and put back on the road with no real checking or testing apart from a ‘Vehicle Identity Check’ done by VOSA which only confirms the chassis number matches the V5. Vehicles bought by eastern European countries can be taken away and repaired to be re imported with a new identity. Some insurers will even dispose of their CAT D total losses into various outlets and decide not to actually categorise them first. So when they are repaired and sold they appear “Clean”. So if you buy a second hand car be sure to get it checked thoroughly first.

7. Insurers & Accident Management Company’s. Insurers are now increasingly referring their own policy holders, for a referral fee, to accident management companies on discovering they have been involved in a non fault accident. This then results in the accident management company hiring the policy holder a like for like vehicle and arranging repairs and advising them of their rights to claim compensation for any personal injuries sustained in the accident. The cost of all this then goes to the “at fault” insurer resulting in a much higher bill for them and a commission coming to the clients own insurer who in turn will charge their own policy holder extra on their premium next year because they have been involved in an accident.

8. Claims & Underwriting Exchange. This is a secret list compiled and kept updated by all UK insurers with details of every motor claim including policy holders name and vehicle registration and date of incident and if there is any personal injury involved. So when you come to renew your motor policy and forget to mention that last incident you were involved in even though it wasn’t your fault, your new insurer will still put you on cover and take your money but should you make a claim they may throw it out when they check the CUE.

9. Insurer’s Penalty Excess. Some insurers will charge you an additional insurance excess if you exercise your right to use your own repair centre to repair your vehicle. They should however point this out to you at the inception of the policy as it is NOT a normal caveat and as such should be brought to your attention when you buy the policy, If it is not that could be MIS-SELLING. So be extra careful when buying on-line and check that you are able to use your own repairer, otherwise you could be faced with an extra unwanted bill. Insurers that do this include Aviva Direct, Esure, Sheila’s Wheels and Swift Cover.

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Fri 17 Aug 2012 18:40

9 best kept insurer secrets - No FM2R II

>>1. The Courtesy Car. Many insurers offer a courtesy car if you use their “Approved Repair Centre” this would reasonably appear to something they pay for. NOT TRUE. The cost is borne by the repairer with no additional revenue or supplement, so even before the repairer lays a hammer on your bent motor he has to recoup the cost of that car somehow

Well kind of. Repairers usually offer a courtesy car when servicing a vehicle as well, and there there's never anyone to sue.

And the insurer does kind of pay for it, either because he's settling someone else's claim, or because its bult into the Repairers rates & discount scheme which the insurer pays.

2. The Insurer Approved Repairer. .........Ask yourself who benefits from that?

Isn't it clear? The insurer because they pay out less, you because you have less insurance losses and, theoretically at least, everybody is dealing with an agreed level of service and quality.

>>Also remember that you are not obliged to use them

No, but there may be some benefits and automatic guarantees not available to you if you use a non-approved repairer. There may also be delays whilst the repair is authorised.

There is also likely to be a financial limit equivalent to the the recommended repairer would have cost.

3. Repair Methods.

I wouldn't know, but that doesn't sound likely to me,

4. New Parts. A large number of insurers will instruct their “Approved Repairers” to fit NON-GENUINE

I wouldn't know, but that doesn't sound likely to me,

I'm bored. This is reactionary rubbish based on a few grains of actual facts,

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Fri 17 Aug 2012 19:13

9 best kept insurer secrets - madf

If any of the first post was true, there would be few Cat D cars as insurers would use s/h parts..

Which of course does not happen : Rovers being a classic case in the past after they went phut. For a while many parts were unavailable new and cars were written off.

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Sat 18 Aug 2012 08:13

9 best kept insurer secrets - Buster Cambelt

A couple of half truths padded out with a few thousand words of conspiracy theories. Where do you keep those axes you are grinding.

Take CUE, hardly secret, hardly sinister. It's been there for years, not everyone uses it and it's there to combat fraud. If you aren't straight with an insurer then why shouldn't they check up on you? A bit like the banks and the Anti-Money Laundering systems they use. For sure these are a minor irritant to law-abiding folks every now and again but they do far more good than harm.

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Sat 18 Aug 2012 20:36

9 best kept insurer secrets - Tiller24

Insurance Guru, a valiant attempt to bring these underhand insurance tactics out into the public domain. Every word you have typed is factually correct, but some people are showing their naivety. To these we must say thanks as the cheaper insurers can repair their cars, the less you and I have to pay in insurance.

Edited by Tiller24 on 18/08/2012 at 20:37

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Sat 18 Aug 2012 22:15

9 best kept insurer secrets - Avant

There are rotten apples in every industry, including insurance. I think the OP exaggerates, but our best bet is to take the nine headings as useful things to look out for if we have to make a claim - and try to make sure they don't happen to us..

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Sun 19 Aug 2012 00:18

9 best kept insurer secrets - bathtub tom

I recall reading the small print in my policy which stated they could use second hand parts for repair.

Saga policy.

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Sun 19 Aug 2012 00:47

9 best kept insurer secrets - unthrottled

Why would anyone object to the use of second hand or pattern parts? The parts being replaced were 'used', so secondhand parts restore your car to the condition prior to the accident. New parts would be 'betterment', which ought to demand a contribution from the owner.

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Sun 19 Aug 2012 18:22

9 best kept insurer secrets - Buster Cambelt

Why would anyone object to the use of second hand or pattern parts? The parts being replaced were 'used', so secondhand parts restore your car to the condition prior to the accident. New parts would be 'betterment', which ought to demand a contribution from the owner.

That's it in a nutshell. Say you have a tyre that's 40% worn. The insurer would fit a new one but would expect you to cough up 40% of the cost. The whole principle is that insuarance will put you back where you were immediately before the accident. I doubt very much that any reputable repairer would use second hand parts where safety was concerned and, frankly, I'd be surprised if much was recovered under betterment for those items.

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Sun 19 Aug 2012 18:36

9 best kept insurer secrets - unthrottled

But it would make sense on things like body panels, wouldn't it? Since the bulk of accident damage is body work, the savings could be worthwhile. It could reduce the proportion of cars written off. New for old is employed as a matter of convenience-but there's no entitlement-unless the policy guarentees this at the outset.

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Sun 19 Aug 2012 18:58

9 best kept insurer secrets - thunderbird

But what would the actual cost saving be?

New wing delivered strait from either dealer or factor to body shop. Should be simple fit (unless its a really bad pattern part) with minimum prep.

Used wind from breakers, would the breker deliver?, if not time to collect. Then it may not fit since its alredy been on one car and there will probably be extra prep needed.

Time to paint etc will be no different after fitting and prep and in all repiars its the time that adds up and makes the bill ever bigger.

Personally I don't think the saving would be noticed but if its a DIY repair on the cheap its a different matter.

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Mon 20 Aug 2012 10:25

9 best kept insurer secrets - bonzo dog

Clearly the OP had had an early, long & very liquid lunch when he posted!

On the subject of second hand parts however, are you sure it actually said "second-hand" or was it "reconditioned" or something on these lines.

The reason I question is that the latter would normaly come with a guarantee whereas the former would not necessarily. Certainly reconditioned parts would be suitable in my eyes.

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Mon 20 Aug 2012 13:27

9 best kept insurer secrets - insurance guru

Firstly s/h parts are different to non genuine. The key point being is to be aware of your insurers agreement with their approved repairer.

No one would voluntarily choose to have anything other than original parts fitted, unless their car was a possible total loss. Then there are many options to save the vehicle using any part available.

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Mon 20 Aug 2012 14:46

9 best kept insurer secrets - No FM2R II

This is just so much stuff and nonsense.

Edited by No FM2R II on 20/08/2012 at 14:50

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Wed 22 Aug 2012 06:00

9 best kept insurer secrets - 1litregolfeater

How about this then to set your kilt on fire.

40% of English teenagers who are legally driving and not being stopped, have overstated their age by ten years for insurance purposes.

A 20 year old saves £1000 a year

Their insurance is invalid, but the insurance industry is still raking it in.

Just that one point.

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