I thought it was a FREE country…well it may be, apart from the insurance companies putting restrictive practices upon their clients – YOU!

It is illegal for your insurance company to tell you where to have your car repaired.

The Association of British Insurers wrote to the Office of Fair Trading and stated that all their members (that is every insurance company in Great Britain) had agreed to advise their clients (YOU!) that YOU have a right to go to the repairer of your choice.

The reality is, I think without exception, is that your insurance company attempts to coerce you into going to their “approved” repairer. This is someone that has done a deal with the insurance company to repair your car for an agreed amount for a promised volume of work. We will not be told by an insurance company how to repair your car, as we do it the correct way with skilled and trained individuals.

The “approved” repairer gives their individuals a “time saved” bonus; a bonus that encourages short cuts! They also use products that the insurance company insists they use, often inferior and cheaper to the best products that we use.

We have always paid our team a bonus based upon quality and experience you receive from us, this month we have introduced a score where you give us a quality score when you pick up your car, this then drives our bonus payments.

Due to this new measure, we believe this will ensure we can prove we carry out the highest quality repairs in Dorset. We look forward to your comments on this new scoring system when you next need to use us.

Meanwhile, we really appreciate you sending in your family, friends and colleagues when they have a little ooops! Another reason that unlike the insurance company’s “approved repairer” we can give a LIFETIME GUARANTEE.