No mention of costs associated with 'the system' where a £250 minor panel spray job can become £2500.

My local indy had a bodyshop until last summer - I had work done there not long before that. Then the bodywork man moved on, and Simon decided not to continue with body work, partly because of the rising cost of energy. Paint shops with ovens use quite a bit of it.

It seems that the insurance companies have been having a tough time and making little profit. Article below from FT which tends to report very objectively.

Motor insurers endure worst underwriting conditions in a decade (ft.com)

It may be the garages that are exploiting the system - insurance companies tend to appoint repairers on the basis of rate per hour. The longer a job takes the more the garage earn for the work and car hire.

The pandemic clearly caused supply chain problems. Additionally components frequently damaged - bumpers, front wings etc have become increasingly complex with electronics embedded. For many capital goods manufacturers (cars are an example), more money is made from the sale of spare parts than is made on the initial sale price.

I've a friend who owns a body shop and gets all the gigs from the local BMW, Audi, Porsche dealerships, etc., (it's a nice set-up).

He said getting parts post Brexit is a nightmare and the prices have gone through the roof, (but obviously that's fake news right)?

He had one car in for months whilst waiting for parts, so that has a knock-on effect on costs of courtesy vehicles, storage, etc.

The problem with that argument was that prices (insurance) didn't go up significantly until well after both the original vote (2016) and actually leaving in 2020.

I'd say that whilst there was some impact for a while, the following have had far more of an impact:

1. Pandemic (lockdown) shutdowns for component and car manufacturers and logistics disruption;

2. Same caused by the various world conflicts on oil, gas and the cost of shipping;

3. Delayed impacts of legislation in the past and guessed impacts of future legislation on running costs (replacement parts) - environmental, safety and security;

4. Impact (growing by the day) of both poor car security (keyless entry) and theft by gangs of overseas criminals, especially high-end cars.

Also similar criminal gangs engaging in more 'cash-for-crash' crime, and I'd bet that with the impact of more 'dodgy people' out there, there'll be far more uninsured drivers on the road, and someone has to cover the cost of accidents with them.

5. Many people are buying more expensive and high-end cars (often on credit) than was the case 10-15 years ago, thought not always by choice.

The cost of insurance has risen everywhere in Western nations, not just limited to the UK or that much worse, if at all.