With parts supply issues and administration delays, vehicle repairs taking longer than expected are not uncommon in Irish bodyshops. But a repairer in the UK must hold some kind of record with minor damage on an Audi A4 taking 325 days before the car was returned to the customer.  

The Audi owner, Jo Alexander, told the Daily Mail that her Audi was hit by a learner driver. The damage was not major and she expected to get her vehicle back in a few days. She was given a replacement vehicle, a Jaguar XF, which she later found was costing her insurer £145 per day. 

With car hire and storage, the total repair bill came to £75,320, at least 4 times the value of the car. This included over £55,000 on car hire and almost £10,000 on storage. 

The actual repair work, completed by Pentagon Paint & Body in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, took only a few days. However, a dispute over liability, plus communication difficulties and lack of follow-up by insurance companies dragged out the whole process to almost a year. 

Jo said she felt, “slightly guilty” about the bill, but pinned the blame firmly on the insurers. The incident, although extreme, perhaps provides a snap shot of why insurance premiums went up 19% last year in the UK.