INSURANCE CLAIMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26229, 13 August 1946, Page 6

INSURANCE CLAIMS

DAMAGED MOTOR VEHICLES HIGH COST OF REPAIRS Claims against companies issuing insurance policies covering motor cars against accident were estimated to have increased by at least 50 per cent, by managers interviewed by a Daily Times reporter yesterday. In addition, companies have found that their repair Dills have shown an increase of 30 to 40 per cent, in the past few years. The increase in the number of claims was attributed by the manager of one company to fast driving on worn tyres, returned servicemen operating motor cars, and the lack of familiarity of persons with driving after the petrol rationing had ceased. Many of the cars oh the roads to-day were in poor mechanical condition, he added, and were short of replacement parts. With the increase in the price of cars in the past few years, persons were insuring 1928 and 1929 models, whereas in normal times they would not bother to do so.

Giving an indication of how the repair bills were mounting at present, he said that the cost of painting a car alone had risen from about £l3 to £2O, and the material used was inferior to that available before the war. The majority of the cars on the road to-day were at least eight to ten years old, and were travelling greater mileages than they did before the war.