Audatex and CAPS: estimating and insurer messaging in the UK

On an insurance repair, three systems usually sit between you and the insurer. An estimating system prices the repair and sends it for authorisation. Repair methods, from the manufacturer or Thatcham Research, say how each part should be fixed and how long it takes. And a messaging hub such as CAPS passes new jobs and status updates between the work provider and your management system.

The estimating system the insurers lean on is Audatex. In its 2014 inquiry the Competition and Markets Authority found Audatex and Glassmatix were the two most-used systems, and most insurers that require or recommend a system for their approved repairers specified Audatex. Audatex itself said in 2019 that more UK damage estimates were produced on it than on all other systems combined, at about 2.5 million assessments a year. That's its own claim; we found no independent current figure.

Audatex UK is part of Solera. Its estimating platform is AudaEnterpriseGold (AEG), now on version 4.3. Its product page lists:

• Parts and labour pricing, with regional parts prices kept up to date through Audatex's work with the major manufacturers.
• Thatcham integrated methods, plus manufacturers' repair tips.
• cap hpi valuations as standard, to help spot total losses.
• Salvage category codes.

Audatex says its database covers more than 30 million vehicles, 98% of those on UK roads. It publishes no price for AEG, PlanManager, AudaConnect or its insurer tools; every page says to contact it. The one published price we found is for Qapter Guided Image Capture: the vehicle owner gets a text link, takes guided photos in about three minutes with no app, and the VIN is read from a photo. It costs £2.00 per transaction, billed monthly, and is only offered to firms that already have an AEG contract.

Retyping an authorised estimate into your management system is where errors creep in. How well the two talk depends on your supplier:

• AudaConnect is Audatex's encrypted link for sending AEG assessment and parts data to third parties such as management system suppliers and parts firms. You control what is shared, never give out your password, and data only flows once Audatex grants permission. No partner list or price is published; Audatex tells you to ask your own supplier whether it uses AudaConnect.
• Bodynet, a UK bodyshop management system, already linked to AEG and added automatic two-way image exchange in May 2023.
• AutoFlow and Audatex launched a two-way link in April 2026 that keeps parts prices on Audatex estimates in line with the actual parts costs in AutoFlow.
• PlanManager is Audatex's own web-based management system, built to work with AEG, with customer self-booking, courtesy car management and two-way SMS.

In March 2026 Audatex listed two-way integration with bodyshop management systems as coming next, with no date. Until it arrives, ask any supplier exactly which direction data moves, and whether it covers the estimate, the images, the parts or all three.

Once you submit, the insurer has its own Audatex tools:

• RPM (Risk Profile Manager) scores each incoming estimate against rules the insurer writes and sends it to auto-authorise, desk review or full review. Audatex's examples: always pass repairs under £150, always fail carbon-fibre repairs. Rules can differ by make, model, scheme, work provider and region.
• Qapter Intelligent Triage reads the owner's photos after the claim is reported and, in under 10 seconds, flags a probable total loss, lists damaged parts and recommends a tow where safety-critical parts are hit.
• AudaAudit checks assessments automatically, and AudaInvoice handles invoicing and payment between insurers and repairers.

Insurers also employ desktop engineers who assess damage remotely from your estimate and photos. We found no figure for how many UK claims are handled that way. Clear photos and a tidy estimate are what get you through the rules and past the engineer.

The same tools mean a write-off is often called early. Our guide to Cat S and Cat N write-offs covers what happens next.

Thatcham Research is the name most bodyshops know from repair methods and times. escribe is its repair methods portal for insurance engineers, assessors and repairers, with methods, technical information, repair times, parts and ADAS fitment information. It now includes EV Alert, a quick guide for triaging plug-in vehicles. Manufacturers' own methods need the escribe Plus subscription. Prices aren't published.

Thatcham's methods are written in its own repair centre and described as BS 10125 compliant. Through Thatcham Integrated Methods they're built into the major estimating systems, so a method can be linked to the estimate line; AEG lists them by name. The CMA described them as instructions for each make and model, setting out how each part should be repaired.

Since the 2022 edition of BS 10125, you can't write your own in-house methods. Our guide to repair methods and ADAS calibration covers what that means in the workshop.

Audatex isn't the only system. GT Motive brought its GT Estimate product to the UK in October 2016, and BSI mentions both an Audatex and a GT Motive user ID as things a network may ask for when you apply. Glass's, whose Glassmatix was the other big system in 2014, now sends visitors from its bodyshop page to J.D. Power's Autovista Repair; we couldn't confirm what it offers UK repairers today.

You don't always need Audatex. Allianz, for example, names Audatex as its preferred system but also accepts estimates from other systems by email.

Every insurer has its own process, and few publish it. Allianz does, for repairers outside its network. It's a useful picture of what insurers expect:

1. 1

   Submit the estimate

   Break it down into labour, paint, materials, parts and specialist costs, with photos of all the damage and of the number plates, chassis number and mileage. In Audatex, choose the work provider Allianz Commercial, enter the network code ALLIANZ and a valid claim reference, or the estimate never reaches Allianz.
2. 2

   Wait for the engineer

   A correct Audatex submission raises an engineer's inspection automatically. Allianz aims to be in touch within 48 hours once it has everything.
3. 3

   Get the authorisation

   Audatex users are authorised inside Audatex; others get an emailed note. It sets out the customer's VAT status, the excess, how to invoice, authority for any storage or recovery the car came with, and the agreed repair method.
4. 4

   Then start work

   Costs can be agreed without prejudice, but no work should start before the official authorisation arrives.

Supplementaries. Send the extra photos and an updated estimate by the same route as the first. Phone the authorising engineer for anything urgent or a change of repair method, and send invoices for subcontracted work such as dealer or ADAS resets. If the cost changes, you need a revised authority.

Getting paid. The final invoice must match the authorisation or it won't be paid. AudaInvoice is the quickest route for Audatex users; others send an invoice pack with a satisfaction note signed by the customer, payment details, the authorisation, the invoice and supplier invoices.

CAPS stands for the Common Automotive Platform Standard. It's a messaging hub linking insurers, bodyshops, parts suppliers, and rental and recovery firms. Under its end user agreement it carries two kinds of message:

• FNOL, an electronic first notification of loss from a work provider, which can carry the registration, policy and claim numbers.
• Job Update Message, which sends the repair's status back.

The messages travel through your own bodyshop management system: you consent to your system supplier sending the data automatically. CAPS is run by Entegral Holdings Ltd in Egham. Companies House lists Enterprise Rent-A-Car UK Limited as holding 75% or more of its shares, so CAPS is run by a company Enterprise controls. A 22-member National Advisory Council of repairers, insurers, Thatcham, suppliers and the NBRA oversees it.

Insurers named as users in 2022 included Ageas, Direct Line, esure, LV= and Sabre. These are the latest figures we found, from Bodyshop magazine; CAPS's own site gives no current numbers.

Bodyshops register online through the CAPS console. You give your company name as registered at Companies House, the company number, your VAT number, a senior main contact and email, the business address, the type of organisation and the management system you use. Registering counts as accepting the end user agreement, so read it first.

The same agreement gives CAPS a perpetual licence to use, store and combine the data that passes through it, and to share analysis with third parties, even though its home page says it avoids storing customer data on its servers. Worth knowing before you connect.

CAPS is retiring its old SOAP v2 interface on 27 July 2027. It gave 18 months' notice in January 2026, says it won't extend the date, and any connection still on v2 stops that day. The replacement, REST v3, is already live and is where all new features go. CAPS says v3 adds two-way data sharing, better handling of each claim, two-way parts information, fuller estimate and invoice data, and error messages in real time.

You probably won't touch any of this yourself. Messages reach CAPS through your management system, so moving to v3 is your supplier's job. Ask them now:

• Are you connected to CAPS today, and on v2 or v3?
• If v2, when will you move us, and will anything change for us?
• Which messages do you support: new jobs, status updates, estimates, invoices, parts?
• Who do we call if jobs stop arriving?

If you do little insurance work, you may not need either system. Insurers such as Allianz accept emailed estimates from repairers outside their networks, and many private repairs never touch an insurer at all.

If you want network work, expect to be asked for an Audatex user ID, and expect your work providers to send jobs through CAPS. Then the questions are cost (ask Audatex and CAPS for prices in writing), how much retyping you can live with, and whether your management system links to both.