In over 90% of the cars we repair it is cheaper to make a claim on your insurance policy than to pay for repairs yourself.

It takes a lot of skill, knowledge, equipment and training to repair vehicles to the manufacturers standards and safety requirements. It's expensive to do properly.

And, as you are obliged to inform your insurer of any incident or risk being uninsured, we believe you may as well claim and get what you have already paid for.

Because we think it will be more expensive than to pay for repairs ourselves, but is it?

Let’s look at some facts;

The Average UK car insurance premium in 2021 was £412, according to Money Supermarket.

The average policy excess (the amount you need to pay if you claim) will be around £250.

The average policy increase following a claim is between 20% to 50%, if you stay with the same insurer.

You need to declare any accidents at renewal, whether you claim or not. So your premium may increase anyway, while not being totally honest could mean your policy is void. Would you risk it?

If you make a claim, you will need to pay your excess amount on completion of the repair and you may well see an increase in your premium at renewal time.

So in the worst case, using those figures, making a claim costs an average of £450. However that is before you try shopping around on comparison sites to get a better price at renewal.

Most modern cars have some sort of driver aid (lane assist, blind spot warnings, adaptive cruise control and so on), which will need calibrating after almost every repair. That’s a minimum of £250 before anything gets done to your car, so it should be no surprise that in 2021 insurers paid out around £5400 per claim, including injury. The repair costs are around half of that (£2750).

As inflation increases and expenses rise, money is tight. Unless the damage is very minor, we’d recommend letting your insurers do what you pay them for, and have them pick up the tab.

Always remember, it is your choice who repairs your car, not your insurers. AX Welwyn will always put your needs first, because YOU are our customer, not the insurance company.

You’ve been involved in an accident, and decided to make a claim on your insurance policy. The first thing your insurance company will want to do is get one of their approved repairers to fix your car. Sounds great, but is it?

To decide, we think it is important to understand a few things.

1. What does Approved actually mean? All it means is that the repairer has agreed to give the insurer preferential rates and discounts in return for volume of work. We think it is more accurate to call them Network Repairers, because that is what they are.

2. Because of those discounts, the repairer has to fix a lot more cars per week to cover their costs. Efficiency and turnover is more important than time and care.

3. The customer is now the insurance company, not you, because the repairer needs to protect the volume, to stay in business. Whose interests are they working in?

Is it a bad thing to go with your insurers choice? Not necessarily, and it certainly seems convenient. But always remember you have a legal right to choose who repairs your car, and if it was us, we would pick the business that is going to look out for your interests, not your insurers.