Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is back in the smash repairers’ firing line. The repairers say IAG’s new charge of an extra $69 to policyholders who want to choose their own smash repairer is “anti-competitive”.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also come to the party, inviting the various interest groups to make submissions. To date the only submissions have come from smash repairers; no consumer bodies have bothered.

An IAG spokesman told Sunrise Exchange News nothing is likely to come from the submissions. The insurer launched its “choice of repairer” scheme last November after customers said they wanted to be able to choose their smash repairer. The scheme applies to all of its personal lines subsidiaries, including NRMA Insurance.

Paul Pemberton, NRMA’s Head of Personal Insurance Manufacturing, says IAG introduced the scheme in response to customers “who have told us they want a lifetime guarantee over the quality of the repairs to their cars regardless of whether repairs are carried out by a preferred repairer”.

“It is also a direct response to the needs of those members of the smash repair industry who have told the ACCC they would like to see this type of product,” he said.

It’s not the first time the insurance industry has come to blows with smash repairers over preferred smash repairers schemes. A current Productivity Commission inquiry into the relationships between smash repairers and insurers is due to report to Federal Cabinet on March 31.

Promina subsidiary AAMI has been at the forefront of the smash repairer debate. It uses a preferred smash repairers scheme and doesn’t charge policyholders an extra premium for choosing their own repairer. But it does require all preferred repairers to tender for business and provide quality guarantees.