Page 6 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

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PAINT&PANEL SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019
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LANDMARK RULING ON CHOICE OF REPAIRER
HE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL
Complaints Authority (AFCA) recently enforced genuine choice in motor vehicle insurance policies instructing a car insurer to pay
for motorist’s choice of repairer.
“AFCA found, in case 620915, in favour
of the consumer because the consumer had purchased an insurance policy that gave them the right to choose their repair- er, and the insurer was found to not have met its contractual obligations, under the policy, in refusing to allow the consumer to exercise this right,” said VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym.
“Insurance policies usually give the in- surer a discretion to reject the consumer’s chosen repairer where the insurer consid- ers that the chosen repairer’s estimate is unreasonable. We have had a situation in the car insurance industry for many years whereby some insurers reject reasonable repair estimates made by repairers, cho- sen by the consumer, in favour of another
workshop preferred by the insurer.” “What this behaviour encourages is un- derfunded or incomplete repairs; or unfair cash settlements. It was a race to the bot- tom until AFCA stepped in with this his- toric decision. AFCA has restored the poli- cyholder’s choice of repairer rights and a right to have their vehicle repaired to a safe standard. VACC estimates that case 620915 is relevant to 90 percent of all choice of repairer repair complaints that
policyholders have with car insurers. "AFCA’s finding is a game changer for independent panel repair businesses
and the motorists they serve.”
In this case the insurer argued that the
amount quoted by the preferred repairer was excessive and unreasonable and re- fused the policyholder’s claim. But the insurer did not engage a qualified asses- sor to inspect the damaged vehicle.
AFCA considered it would have been reasonable for the insurer to engage a qual- ified assessor to inspect the vehicle to as-
sess the reasonable costs of repair and that a lower quote from another repairer was in- sufficient for this purpose. AFCA went on to find that the insurer had not shown that the preferred repairer’s quote was, in fact, unreasonable and excessive.
AFCA directed the insurer to pay the policyholder the amount quoted by her preferred repairer plus interest.
John Price, AFCA’s lead ombudsman, general insurance said: “This ruling does not alter the insurer’s right to re- fuse a quote from a consumer’s chosen repairer if they consider the quote un- reasonable. An assessor should be able to ascertain this. It is always a question of what is reasonable, fair and consistent with utmost good faith.
“If the insurer is relying on a quote from its repairer network then the quote has to be sufficient to carry out the ap- propriate repair and the network repair- er prepared to complete the repairs for the quoted price.”
COLLIGAN WINS BRONZE
MAXINE COLLIGAN HAS BROUGHT HOME
a bronze medal for Australia as a Skil- laroo in Car Painting. She was also awarded ‘Best in Nation’ for receiving the highest total points out of all her Skillaroo teammates. Colligan, along with 14 other young Aussie apprentices and tradespeople, travelled to Kazan, Russia, to compete in the 45th World- Skills International Championships. Crowds were upwards of 250,000 to watch talented young people from 66 counties compete for gold, silver and
bronze medals and the title of world champion in their skill.
When asked what it means to be repre- senting Australia on the world stage for her skill, Colligan said, “For me, repre- senting my trade at the WorldSkills Inter- national Championships in Kazan means that I get to represent other females in trades and show them that women can doanythingmencando.Iaspiretocon- vince young women out there to give it a go because they will always surprise themselves with their abilities.”