Page 20 - Australasian Paint & Panel July-August 2019

20
News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL JULY / AUGUST 2019
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ment so the they can take it to their own repairer. In those circum- stances the insurer really should only be liable for what it would cost them to get it repaired within their own network. So that can lead to disputes around the amount that’s involved," Price says.
The other issue that regularly comes up is the decision over what consti- tutes a total loss. "This can be quite confusing because of the different WOVR legislation in different states. We have a fairly simply approach. We just apply the relevant state legis- lations – you shouldn’t
try to fiddle around with
that. It would be excel-
lent if there could
be some standard na-
tional approach that
could be applied, but un-
fortunately that’s not
the case."
One of the most contentious areas is where quotes are being provided and then during the
repair process, there are significant variations to those quotes.”
"It seems to me that the NSW approach is the most likely approach for removing the rebirthing of vehicles."
From a repairer point of
view AFCA can help with
sues. For instance if you've had a fire and suffer business interruption and there were issues there.
"If, however, it’s a dispute between the repairer and the insurer around re- payment for work carried out on a vehi- cle, that’s not something that we would get involved in. That’s more of a contrac- tual matter, it’s not a dispute over the financial service the insurer is provid- ing to the repairer."
"There might also be a dispute over the insurer agreeing to cover you for certain damage that you might cause to the car during the repair period and that is something that we could look at because it is a dispute between you, the insured repairer and the insurer."
SO HOW DOES THE
RESOLUTION PROCESS WORK?
AFCA has two broad processes, a fast track process and a standard one. The average resolution time is around
60 days across all of the complaints.
Most complaints are re- solved by agreement - 87% of issues are resolved without the need for a written decision. If mat- ters have to go to a deci- sion then they take longer. The vast majority of mat- ters are resolved within 180 days of being lodged.
"Nearly 50% of mat- ters, for the majority of insurers are resolved at
the registration and referral stage which is where we send it back to the financial firm and tell them they have 21 or 45 days to resolve this. Then matters pro- gressively resolve as we handle them through discussion, negotiation and conciliation. We undertake preliminary reviews and tell the parties early what we think is the likely outcome.
"Our process is to encourage the par- ties to talk and to facilitate a resolution wherever possible without the need to go to a formal written decision.
"We would also interact with repair- ers if they were representing the con- sumer with that consumer's permission. Where those disputes arise it’s normally about whether the damage is accident related or not," Price says.
Price himself is a lawyer by trade and was a partner in a law firm for many years. He's been involved in the external dispute resolution scheme since 2004 and lead ombudsman in general insur- ance since 2009. He has a deep under- standing of the motor vehicle insurance and repair landscape.
"I think one of the most important aspects in the motor vehicle insur- ance space is that everything is devel- oping rapidly.
"One of the most contentious areas is where quotes are being provided and then during the repair process, there are significant variations to those quotes. That can be very prob- lematic for a consumer, in particular where the repairs that are being conducted aren’t ones that have been authorised by the insurer. I think that the repair and insurance indus- tries should develop some uniform protocols for how these matters should work fairly so that consumers aren’t disadvantaged.
"If there are delays in the repair pro- cess because of this or other issues be- tween the insurer and the repairer, we can be the consumer’s safety net in these circumstances.
"Insurers have to be very careful in terms of what they promise. If they are advertising that you don’t have a worry when your car is repaired through their network and yet they know from their internal processes that there might be significant delays, for instance in terms of accessing parts, they need to tell peo- ple. They need to be transparent in that process and provide customers with an appropriate hire car or suitable com- pensation and keep them informed if there is going to be an unreasonable de- lay," Price says.
AFCA’s John Price
insurance is-
LODGING AN IDR
If you have a dispute with an insurer arising from a matter in the repair process then you can lodge a dispute at: abrcode.com.au/ dispute-resolution. The website contains everything you need to know about the Code of Conduct and whether it has been breached.