In recent weeks a number of stories have emerged from repairers concerning delays to invoice settlements by insurance companies, because the customer’s paperwork is not in order. In one particular instance a bodyshop operator is having difficulty securing payment by an insurance company because the customer’s drivers licence had expired a month before the accident took place.

Although insurance companies may not want to make a big issue of this publically, there certainly now appears to be considerable increased scrutiny of driver and vehicle paperwork by insurance companies before settling insurance claims. In particular checks are carried out to ensure the driver has a valid license, the NCT certificate is up to date and even that tyre treads are above the legal requirements.

To the repairer fighting for every insurance job, checking customer paperwork is generally not a top priority, but it is certainly now prudent to check details when doing an estimate. The sound advice is also to make absolutely sure that written approval for work to be carried out from the insurer is in place before starting the job.   

In most cases it appears that problems of this nature can be resolved between the insurance company the customer and the repairer. However, in many cases payment delays due to such issues are leaving repairers out of pocket.