Covéa Insurance hits out at RSA motor repair ruling

Covéa Insurance has slammed yesterday’s High Court decision that saw RSA win a dispute over how the firm used its car repair arrangements to charge add-on costs to other insurers.

Allianz and Provident were the two insurers that appealed an earlier court judgement, but lost. Provident has been rebranded as Covéa Insurance after a merger with MMA.

Covéa Insurance claims director Adrian Furness said: “We are disappointed with the judgment and remain of the opinion that it does little to help our industry, especially in light of the Office of Fair Trading’s decision to refer the motor insurance market to the Competition Commission.

“There is a real risk that a number of parties will look to adopt similar programmes in order to protect themselves, as they attempt to achieve some sort of status quo. This cannot be a sustainable outcome and will inevitably lead to inflation in simple repair claim costs.  

“Having to explain these practices to motorists paying their insurance premiums and to the Competition Commission is unlikely to portray our industry in a favourable light and we can only hope that the Competition Commission’s review will bring much-needed reforms to the market that will, in turn, result in lower car insurance premiums.”