Sydney's Occupied Territories:"...accidents are being staged,baseball bats used to add damage to vehicles,assessors threatened or bashed,"

Violence in smash repair rort racket

Mark Morri
The Daily Telegraph
August 27, 2012 12:00AM

INSURANCE workers are being intimidated into inflating quotes, accidents are being staged and baseball bats used to add damage to vehicles in a car repair racket costing the industry millions.

Assessors who refuse to co-operate are being threatened or bashed, and damaged vehicles are being "held hostage" at repair yards.

The situation has become so violent that a private security company is guarding the home of one worker who recently refused to inflate a quote at an inner-city repair shop.

In another case a worker from a different company was beaten by four men at his home in the western suburbs.

Others have reported tow trucks driving past their homes or parking nearby for hours at a time.

The men and the companies involved have asked their names not be identified because of possible reprisals.

A highly-placed insurance industry source said yesterday: "It is extortion. Not only are people getting hurt but it is going to cost customers millions of dollars.

"Inflated quotes is a problem but the much wider and growing concern is 'captured cars'," a senior insurance executive said.

By law, the owner of a smash repair shop that tows a car is restricted to charging only $17.50 a day in storage fees. But if the vehicle is towed by another tow truck the owner can charge what he likes. For that reason owner operators don't really exist any more, especially on paper.

"The criminal tow truck operators and smash repair yards work together to make life for insurance companies a pain," he said. "It has always been that way. Now it is getting dangerous."

The companies want clients' cars taken to an approved shop or their own centre where the job can be done at a fair price.

But often the smash repair shop will refuse access to the car or won't let insurers on the premises to take away vehicles to approved workshops without exorbitant payment.

"Some shops will charge you $300 a day storage, and $100 every time they move it. Then there will be 'administration costs' as well," another executive said. "It's not uncommon for a shop to ask for $5000 to release a car."

I know an ex assessor,over 30 years in the job,who was subjected to this criminal extortion and threats years ago, and yes it was the usual suspects aka. "men of middle eastern appearance" who were responsible the "Harmony Day" and "Cultural Enrichment" .Why hasthis story has taken years to surface in the MSM ? maybe a Labor Green media useful idiot has been stung by these swine.