Car Insurance: repair guarantees, have your say(Updated)

There have been comments on recent blogs from those unhappy about the quality of repair work undertaken after a claim.

Had a small accident and found that their repairs were awful it went back 5 times to get re-repaired

Too often, faulty repairs lead to disputes with insurers. Some insurers have tried to tackle this by guaranteeing repairs. Of the companies whose policies we reviewed (see here) NZI, Tower, State and Vero provide repair guarantees. The conditions normally associated with a repair guarantee is that the repairs must be done by one of the company's approved repairers, and it only applies for as long as the person who lodged the claim owns the vehicle. That is, the guarantee lapses with a change of ownership. In the case of State the guarantee also lapses if you cancel your State policy. Leading car insurance provider AMI does not have guarantee.  AA Insurance does but has not yet included the details in their policy document. However the policy clearly provides an obligation to reinstate the car to substantially the condition it was in prior to the loss or damage. If the repair is unsatisfactory then any company, regardless of having a guarantee or not, are required to put it right. This is regardless of any time frames. The obligation in the policy to reinstate to substantially the same condition is not conditioned on time. We are keen to hear from anyone who has had car repair issues following a claim. Let us know if the repair guarantee helped in resolving a repair issue or even if a repair problem was resolved by a company not offering a guarantee.