Assessors and their responsibility

An assessor is appointed to evaluate the accident or the mishap that has affected their insured property. For the property to be assessed and the claim to be filled, it is necessary that your property has a monetary value.

The role and responsibility of a Panel Beater

A Panel Beater, will be responsible for assessing the damages of a vehicle, estimating the cost of repairs, and repairing vehicles to their original condition. Panel Beaters will also be required to liaise with clients.

What is a Bribe

Dictionary definition

verb

1. dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour by a gift of money or other inducement.

noun

1. a sum of money or other inducement offered or given to bribe someone.

Do bribes exist between Panel Beaters and Assessors

We all want to be be Naive and imagine the world is perfect. Over the last few years It has been hard to ignore the facts. Assessors tend to favour specific repairers. Now this begs the question, Why does a specific panel Beater get preference over another.

I set out to ask questions and understand if it was just due to a specific panel Beater being Better, Faster, more affordable than the competition. This is were everything goes south. In a few case studies of clients that had claims, The first panel Beater would quote a substantial amount i.e R 80 000.00 . The assessor would be appointed and immediately have the vehicle uplifted and moved to his preferred panel Beater.

Observation

The new Panel Beater quotes around the same figure or value. But they only replace Half to three quarters of the parts. So this begs the question, Where is the additional funds going, Is the assessor receiving a bribe or as one assessor explained to me “A Kick Back” now i would imagine that is the exact same as a bribe. The assessor is receiving payment to favor that specific panel Beater.

The expense of bribe

This is easy to explain. It cost the client money. How does it cost a client money, Well in several ways. 1) If you have a percentage based excess, it could cost you more because of escalated repair costs 2) Higher costs to the insurance cause your loss ratio to be higher, In tern this will cause your annual review to increase your premium 3) If certain parts are skipped and not repaired or replaced it could create issues on the durability and overall life expectancy. 4) It could go as far as impacting any vehicle warranties, motor plans or service plan.

Just a reminder that clients may be at fault from time to time, a good example is where a client tries to have additional work done at the expense of the insurer. All clients should be advised to raise their concerns and be pro active with their claim. no insurer is infallible. That said not all Panel Beaters and assessors are corrupt. The same is said of any broker or insurance agent. The responsibility of a broker or insurance agent, Is to look after both their client and the insurer. Any broker that becomes aware of this practice and remains silent, Is in fact costing the insurer financial losses immediately, the same can be said for the client but only over a bit of time.