How approved repairer networks work
Insurers send most repairs to bodyshops they've agreed terms with. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found in its 2014 report that every large insurer had a network of independent repairers, and that those agreements set the labour rate and the discounts for parts and paint off the estimating system's price. Most network repairers worked for several insurers; a few worked for one only. The National Association of Bodyshops put insurance work at about 80% of all repair work.
The FCA's 2025 review found insurers repair cars in three ways: in their own bodyshops, outsourced to a repair firm such as a garage network, or at a garage the customer chooses. Outsourcing was the most common route, except at the largest insurers with their own repairers.
Who runs the networks
Most independents get insurer work through a network manager or work provider, which holds the contracts with insurers, fleets and brokers and passes jobs to its member bodyshops.
| Network | What it says about itself |
|---|---|
| Activate Group | 650+ partner repairers in nine regions, managing repairs for leading motor insurers, brokers, fleets and manufacturers |
| National Accident Repair Group (NARG) | 310+ repair centres, working for insurers, claims managers and fleets |
| Vizion Network | Founded in 2009; calls itself the UK's largest repair network. AXA names it as one of its two repair partners |
| Kindertons | An accident management firm using about 200 contracted repairers for non-fault credit repairs |
| Fix Auto UK | A franchise: franchisees join the brand to get access to its central insurer contracts |
Sizes are the networks' own figures. BSI's list of networks a Kitemark holder can apply to also names S&G Response, Auxillis, Enterprise Managed Care, FMG and Lex Autolease.
What insurers promise their customers
Insurers steer customers to their networks with a guarantee, a courtesy car and, often, an extra excess for going elsewhere. Here's what their own pages and policy booklets said when we read them:
| Insurer | Repairs at their network | Using the customer's own garage |
|---|---|---|
| Aviva | Guaranteed for as long as the customer owns the car, even if they change insurer | An extra excess that depends on the policy (£200 on Aviva Signature motor); no courtesy car unless AvivaPlus Premium; Aviva may inspect and authorise |
| Admiral | Guaranteed while the customer owns the car; courtesy car from the repairer on comprehensive cover | Allowed, but no courtesy car, no guarantee, maybe more than one estimate, and an additional excess may apply |
| Direct Line | Guaranteed for five years while the car is theirs; hire car for the whole repair | Hire car for up to 21 days in a row |
| Ageas | Lifetime guarantee while the customer owns the car; manufacturer methods | An additional excess (amount not confirmed) |
| AXA | Guaranteed for as long as the customer owns the car; courtesy car if the policy includes one | £200 extra excess on AXA Car; estimate authorised first; pays only up to its network's price; no courtesy car |
| Allianz | Lifetime labour guarantee (not parts) while the customer owns the car; free collection and return | An additional excess; the repair is likely to be inspected; estimates via Audatex |
| Hastings | Guaranteed for five years; no estimates needed; may use recycled parts | An additional excess shown on the schedule; estimate authorised first |
| esure | Five-year guarantee; courtesy car aimed within 2 working days on comprehensive cover | £200 extra excess; detailed estimate; pays only reasonable and necessary costs; no courtesy car |
From each insurer's web pages and policy booklets, read in October 2026; Hastings's from its 2021 and 2023 booklets. Terms vary by policy. LV= is part of Allianz UK and moves to Allianz Insurance plc from 1 January 2027; we couldn't confirm its own terms.
Two things follow for a network repairer. You supply the courtesy car on most of these schemes, and you stand behind guarantees that can last as long as the customer owns the car.
How to join a network
BSI describes how a bodyshop typically joins a network:
- 1
Send a digital pack
Your BS 10125 certificate, possibly an Audatex or GT Motive user ID, and photos of your reception and work areas. - 2
Pass the desk audit
The network looks for gaps in its map. If it already has three shops in your town, you may go on a waiting list. - 3
Pass the physical audit
A network manager visits your site. - 4
Start as a reserve repairer
Often two or three jobs a week. Fast key-to-key times and few supplementary requests can lead to primary partner status with unlimited volume.
What networks ask for
- BS 10125 or a carmaker approval. BSI says networks typically require BS 10125 as a minimum. Vizion asks for BS 10125 or similar plus manufacturer approvals, and Kindertons for BS 10125 or at least one carmaker approval. In the ABP Club's 2025 survey, 83% of respondents held it. See our guide to BS 10125.
- The insurer's estimating system. In 2014 the CMA found most insurers that specify a system specify Audatex. See our guide to Audatex and CAPS.
- Turnaround. Key-to-key time, from the customer handing over the keys to getting the car back, is the measure networks watch. Insurers' average rose from 11 to 15 days between 2019 and 2023. No network publishes its targets.
- Audits. Activate checks financial stability, Kitemarks, GDPR and governance when you join, then audits every year with spot checks; repairers who fall short go on improvement plans and stop getting work.
- Courtesy cars and guarantees to match what the insurer promises its customers.
The CMA also found in 2014 that insurers' audits of repairers were mainly about controlling costs rather than checking repair quality. Expect your supplementary requests to be watched as closely as your workmanship.
The customer's choice of repairer
The CMA found that most policies let the customer use a repairer of their choice, but the insurer keeps the right to approve the estimate. Customers who aren't at fault can go further: under the law of tort they can arrange the repair themselves and send the bill to the at-fault insurer, which is how accident management and credit hire work reaches bodyshops.
The Financial Ombudsman says an insurer is usually responsible for repairs by its approved repairers. Where the customer chose their own garage, it looks at whether the insurer made clear it wouldn't be responsible. If a customer turns down the insurer's repair, a cash payment at the price the insurer's own repairer quoted is usually fair.
Own-garage repairs cost insurers more: at one large insurer, 7% more than outsourced repairs, like for like. That's why the extra excesses exist, and why a retail customer with an insurance claim may need help understanding what their policy says.
Does approved repairer work pay?
Insurers' average labour rate
£45 an hour
2023, on their own customers' claims (FCA).
Bodyshops' average net rate
£48.23 an hour
2025, all work (ABP Club survey).
What shops call a fair rate
£61.41 an hour
Same survey.
The ABP Club's 2025 survey found 63% of bodyshops charging under £50 an hour net, and low labour rates ranked as the biggest threat to the trade: 28% called them a huge threat. Respondents also complained of discounts taken on paint, materials and parts.
What network work gives you is volume you don't have to find yourself. Whether it pays depends on your own cost per hour sold, the discounts you give on parts and paint, the cost of courtesy cars, and how quickly you're paid. As a made-up illustration, every £1 an hour you give away on 4,000 sold hours a year is £4,000 off your profit.
GuideHow to set your bodyshop labour rateWhat a technician really costs per hour sold, and the gap between retail and insurer rates.GuideJob costing for bodyshopsHow to cost a finished job against its invoice, and what each network's work really made.GuideAccident management companies and credit hireHow non-fault repairs reach bodyshops, how they're paid, and what to check first.
