i believe its down to the approved repairers wanting the car into there workshop asap for storage, then the car hire firm which is tied in with the insurance company wanting money out of it, then back handers flying about.

I'm a bodyshop which finds it very hard to get insurance work as we don't have 10 loan cars, 3 spray booths, all the latest equipment but i can guarantee our work is as good as any approved repairer.

Another thing, why is it the insurance company wont pay us the same storage fees as approved repairers even though we've stored the car for the same amount of time as any other garage would have until the claim was settled.

I believe its all a fiddle and we don't know what really goes on.

As already stated, its the customers choice who repairs there car but its made very difficult for them not to use the insurance company's recommended garage.

I've actually seen some of the work carried out by these approved repairers, its not always as it should be, colour matching poor, poorly fitted panels etc but its all excepted for some reason but if we did work like this then it wouldn't and no doubt trading standard would get involved.