I was recently hit on the rear nearside wheel of my Ford Mondeo. I notified my insurer, Lloyds TSB, who instructed me to contact Green Flag. The tow truck duly arrived after I had asked for the vehicle to be towed to my regular Ford Agent who has been a concessionaire with them for 100 years. The insurer told me it was difficult - because Just Car Clinic (established 'independently' for eight years and now with 25 branches) must be the preferred engineer.

The Green Flag driver arrived and instantly declared it to be a 'write-off’. I asked him casually which garage he had worked at and he confirmed he had had never worked at a garage. He simply told me that more than 90 per cent of his towed vehicles were write-offs. Just Car Clinic here is a mere 500 yards from the main Ford agent. It took JCC a mere four minutes to tell me it was a write-off. Next morning the assessor rang me to tell me that the cost of repair would have been £5,073.74. I remain amazed at the detail of the assessment on a cursory look. Meanwhile I asked the Ford Agent to go over and look at it. They quoted me a final figure of £4,273.91.

The Mondeo was registered in October 2003 with 86,000 miles. It had been serviced regularly. Of course I realised that the book price was circa £2,500 but I knew that the car is in superb condition and I did not want to lash out for a new car at around £20,000. Just Car Clinic, on realising that I would keep the vehicle and have it repaired through Ford, then declared that they were declaring it scrap and deducted £454 from my insurance payment. They also insisted that the car would have to be inspected by an independent engineer at £78. I paid that too. Though I paid for legal advice in my premium, I received none.

Why was I charged a scrap value of £454? Why was I compelled to use their approved repairer? Why are they going to deduct me two years' no-claims bonus? How can the independent company Just Car Clinic grow by 25 branches in just eight years? I remain more than curious.