Car Insurance Repairs UK: How Claims and Repairs Work

Whether your insurer pays for a repair comes down to two things: the cover you bought and the size of your excess. Comprehensive cover pays for damage to your own vehicle, subject to that excess. Third party, or third party fire and theft, only pays for damage you cause to other people's vehicles and property, so your own bodywork is your problem. Everything else about the claims process follows from that starting point.

Does car insurance cover car body repairs?

Comprehensive cover pays to repair your own vehicle after an accident, vandalism, fire, theft or storm damage, less your excess. Third party cover does not pay for your own vehicle at all, no matter who caused the damage.

Two exceptions are worth knowing:

• If the incident was clearly the fault of another identified driver, you can claim against their insurance even if you only hold third party cover. That route can be slower, but it avoids your own excess and your own claims record.
• Wear, tear, corrosion and mechanical failure are excluded from every standard motor policy. Rusting sills or a failing clutch are maintenance, not an insured loss.

Bodywork repairs

Collision damage to panels, wings, doors, bonnets, bumpers and boot lids is the most common insured repair. Everything from a creased door to a rebuilt front end falls under this heading, along with the paint and refinishing needed to put it right.

Glass repairs

Windscreen, side and rear glass are normally covered under a separate glass section with its own, lower excess. Many policies charge nothing at all for a chip repair but apply an excess for a full windscreen replacement, and using an insurer approved glass firm usually costs you less than going elsewhere. A glass only claim does not normally affect your no claims discount, but check the wording.

Mechanical damage caused by an incident

Suspension, steering, radiators and cooling components damaged in a collision are covered, because the cause is the accident rather than a fault developing. Mechanical parts that simply failed are not. If a kerb strike has bent a suspension arm, that is an insured loss. If a wheel bearing has worn out, it is not.

How do you make a car insurance claim?

Report the incident to your insurer as soon as you reasonably can, even if you have not decided whether to claim. Most policies require notification of any incident, and delaying can prejudice your position later.

Have this ready when you call:

• Date, time and location of the incident
• Registration, make and model of every vehicle involved
• Name, address, phone number and insurer of any other driver
• Names and contact details of any witnesses
• Photographs of the damage, the scene, the road layout and the other vehicle
• Any dash cam footage
• The police reference number if the police attended or if you reported it

If anyone is injured, or a vehicle is left obstructing the road, or details were not exchanged at the scene, you must report the incident to the police within 24 hours.

What should you do at the scene of an accident?

What you do in the first ten minutes shapes how straightforward the claim is. By law you must stop, and you must give your name, address and vehicle registration to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask.

• Stop and make the scene safe. Hazard lights on, and move the vehicles out of live traffic if they are driveable and it is safe to do so.
• Exchange details. Name, address, telephone number, registration and insurer for every driver involved. Note the make, model and colour of each vehicle.
• Photograph everything before anything moves. The damage on both vehicles, the position of the cars, the road layout, road markings, signage, skid marks and the weather conditions.
• Get witness details. Independent witnesses are far more valuable than either driver's account, and they are almost impossible to trace afterwards.
• Do not admit liability. Stay factual and leave fault to the insurers. Apologising at the scene is often taken as an admission.
• Save the dash cam footage. Many units overwrite within hours, so remove the card or lock the file straight away.
• Report to the police within 24 hours if anyone was injured, if details were not exchanged, or if a vehicle was left obstructing the road.

Note the time, the location and anything unusual while it is fresh. Insurers regularly settle disputed claims on the strength of a photograph or a witness name that took thirty seconds to record.

When is it cheaper not to claim?

If the repair costs less than your excess, or not much more, paying directly is almost always cheaper. Work out the real cost of claiming before you commit:

• Your excess. Compulsory plus any voluntary excess you chose to lower your premium. Both are payable.
• Lost no claims discount. Unless you bought protection, a claim usually knocks several years off your discount, and the effect is felt at every renewal for years.
• Higher premiums. Insurers rate on claims history. Even a non fault claim can raise a quote.

A kerbed alloy, a scuffed bumper, a car park dent or a set of stone chips typically costs less to put right privately than a standard excess. That is why smart repairs exist: they treat only the damaged area, at your home or workplace, with no claim recorded against your policy.

What happens during the insurance repair process?

The process runs through four stages once you have reported the incident.

1. Assessment. The vehicle is inspected, either at a repairer, at your home, or by photographs submitted through the insurer's app. On larger claims an engineer or loss adjuster reviews the estimate. This is where hidden damage behind the visible dent is identified, and where a car is judged repairable or written off.
2. Authorisation. The insurer approves the estimate and the parts to be used. Nothing is ordered before this point, which is why authorisation delays hold up the whole job. If additional damage is found once the car is stripped, the shop submits a supplementary estimate and waits again.
3. Repair. Panels are repaired or replaced, structural alignment is checked on measuring equipment where needed, and paint is mixed to your vehicle's paint code and blended into the surrounding panels. Sensors, cameras and radar units disturbed during the repair are recalibrated.
4. Quality control. Panel gaps, alignment, paint finish and any electronic systems are checked before the car is released. Ask for the repair to be shown to you in daylight rather than under workshop lighting.

Can you choose your own repairer?

Yes. You are entitled to nominate your own body shop rather than use the insurer's approved network, and no insurer can force you into its network.

There are trade offs either way.

If you nominate your own repairer, ask the insurer in writing what hourly rate it will pay and whether any shortfall falls to you. Get that answer before work starts, not after.

How do you choose a car body repair shop?

Judge a shop on method and evidence rather than the headline price.

• Check the guarantee. A written guarantee covering both parts and workmanship is the baseline. Signature guarantees both.
• Look at qualifications. IMI or City and Guilds qualified technicians, plus any manufacturer specific approvals if your car uses aluminium panels or bonded structures.
• Ask how they will match the paint. The right answer involves your paint code, a test sprayout and blending into adjacent panels, not simply spraying to code and hoping.
• Read recent reviews. Look for comments on communication and timescales as well as finish quality.
• Ask for photographs of similar jobs. Repairs of the same type on the same kind of vehicle tell you more than a general gallery.
• Confirm what is included. Stripping and refitting trim, recalibrating sensors, valeting on completion, and whether VAT is shown.

For bumper damage in particular, ask whether the shop repairs plastic bumpers or only replaces them. A cracked or scuffed bumper can usually be repaired rather than replaced, which is faster and cheaper.

How long do insurance repairs take?

Expect a few days for a small cosmetic repair, one to two weeks for a multi panel repair, and longer for structural work. The variables are:

• Authorisation. Days can pass between the estimate being submitted and the insurer approving it, and again if a supplementary estimate is needed after strip down.
• Parts. A genuine panel on back order is the most common cause of a car sitting in a workshop with nothing happening to it.
• Paint. Three stage pearls and some metallics take longer to match, and every coat needs curing time.
• Calibration. Cars with driver assistance systems need cameras and radar recalibrating after certain repairs, which sometimes means a separate booking.

Ask for a target completion date at authorisation and ask to be told promptly if it slips.

What happens if your car is written off?

An insurer writes a car off when the repair cost, plus the salvage value, exceeds what the vehicle is worth. That threshold is a commercial judgement, not a safety one, which is why perfectly repairable older cars are frequently written off.

UK salvage categories are:

• Category A. Scrap only. The whole vehicle must be crushed, including parts.
• Category B. Body shell must be crushed, but serviceable parts may be reclaimed.
• Category S. Structurally damaged but repairable. Can return to the road once properly repaired and re registered.
• Category N. Non structural damage, repairable. Often cosmetic or electrical.

If your car is declared a total loss, the insurer offers its market value, not what you paid or what you owe on finance. You can challenge that figure with evidence: advertisements for comparable vehicles of the same age, mileage and specification, plus proof of service history and recent work. You can also usually buy the salvage back and arrange repair yourself, though the category will stay on the vehicle's record and affect its future value.

What if you are not happy with the repair?

Raise it with the repairer first, in writing, with photographs and a specific description of what is wrong. Paint that does not match in daylight, uneven panel gaps, overspray on trim and rippled filler are all legitimate complaints, and a reputable shop will correct genuine defects under its guarantee.

If that does not resolve it, complain formally to your insurer, since the insurer arranged the repair through its approved network and remains responsible for its quality. Insurers have eight weeks to give a final response. After that, or if you are unhappy with the answer, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service at no cost. Where you paid a shop directly, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires the work to be done with reasonable care and skill, and The Motor Ombudsman handles disputes with subscribing garages.

Keep every estimate, invoice, email and photograph. Documentation is what settles these disputes, and it is far easier to gather as you go than to reconstruct months later.