After an accident, you are free to choose where you have your car repaired. There may, however, be risks attached to not choosing your insurer’s preferred repairer. You may find that you aren’t entitled to a courtesy car, are faced with a higher excess charge and that any repairs are not guaranteed.
For these reasons it is always advisable to seek the go-ahead from your insurer before undertaking any repair work, and to have asked for and passed on to your insurer relevant repair quotations.
Recommended repairers
Car insurers will generally have their own recommended garages who they trust, and with whom they have negotiated preferential rates. They will generally encourage you to use these. Although you are not obliged to do so, and insurers must pay out on successful claims whoever the repairer, they may impose conditions to discourage you from choosing your own repairer.
Courtesy car
These generally include the loss of your entitlement to a courtesy car. Although a 2014 survey found over ninety percent of insurers included courtesy car provision within their policies, less than ten percent extended this provision to clients who didn’t use an insurer-recommended repairer.
Repair guarantee
They may also include the loss of the typical three to five year guarantee of repairs provided by most insurers. If you choose to go with your own repairer, it’s important to be aware of this, and to be clear as to whether your chosen repairer will offer a guarantee on work carried out, and the length of this.
Excess charges
Insurers may also choose to raise the excess charge applied to repairs if you choose your own repairer. This can be as much as doubled.
Disputed claim
Your insurer may also decide not to pay out the full cost of repairs made by a non-approved repairer, paying out no more than it estimates it would have paid to its approved repairer. It is therefore vital to have a quote from your chosen repairer agreed to by your insurer before you proceed with repairs.
Using your own repairer
If you do choose to go with your own repairer, it’s important that you read the small print in your car insurance policy, regarding any potential penalties your insurer might impose.
As you are likely to lose your entitlement to a courtesy car, if you do need a temporary vehicle you need to ask whether your chosen repairer can provide one. Many will be prepared to offer this free of charge.
Make sure you get a quote from your chosen repairer for work to be undertaken and have this agreed by your insurer before work commences. At this point it would also be useful to determine whether you are responsible for paying the initial bill and then reclaiming the cost from your insurer, or whether they will take responsibility for the initial payment.
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