Concerning the body work details, the difference between new and second-hand in good conditions is the price. Actually, both spare parts are original, so the successful repair has no substantial differences. The second-hand spare parts, just like the adaptable ones can be used only if in common agreement with the vehicle owner. It is however preferable to use a good quality second-hand spare part rather than an adaptable one.

The main difference between the two types of spare parts, other than the price according to the price list, is the successful repair and the degree of difficulty in assembling it. Such operation – concerning some types of adaptable spare parts, in particular accessories and sheet metals – proves so difficult that what is saved on the price of purchase is then re-invested on the labour necessary for the disassembling and re-assembling, with the risk of an imperfect outcome. 

It is not completely correct to use the term “original paint”, since even the car manufacturers often use paints made by different manufacturers. In the area that is close to the plaque where the reference number of the car paint can be read, are recommended some paint brands used by the manufacturer. To the reference number corresponds one or more cards painted by the paint manufacturer that take into account the possible variants of the colour. Then to each coloured card corresponds a formula to dose the many colour bases correctly, which will eventually make up the final product. Usually the whole painting cycle is carried out according to the paint brand used; each one of them can reproduce the original paint exactly.

As we noted in the economic parameters of the current convention and in the chart of construction of the labour rate, each craft company bears different costs, which vary according to the quality of services offered, to the size of the workshop and to the number of staff members. Each company can therefore set different rates, but to a lower rate does not necessarily correspond a poor service, just like to a higher rate does not necessarily correspond a dishonest owner. Each craftsman is a freelancer and is free to decide the prices to apply, as long as the price is agreed on with the customer before the beginning of the repair.

Concerning the area of compensation for RC material damages to cars, that is to say, damages resulting from circulation, the management of the accident from the insurance companies is classified in two main types: Direct Compensation procedure and RCA procedure.The direct compensation procedure is activated each time the CAI form (jointly-agreed statement for insurance purposes – mistakenly called CID) is filled in and signed by both parties or not signed; in the case where no more than two vehicles are involved in the accident, or where agricultural vehicles or a vehicle with a foreign plaque are not involved. If all the elements just described are present, the company covering the injured party manages the damage and pays it off with rather fast procedures, with the intention of having the customer compensated with a lump sum by the compensation office. Regardless of the reimbursed sum, the company is actually reimbursed with a fixed sum set according to averages of damage compensation and to technical reserves, with different parameters according to different zones. The RCA procedure is applied to all other cases and involves more time-consuming and intricate procedures, which often include legal actions, trials and lawsuits, and is activated through a claim for damages from the injured party, that is, through an accident report from the injured party. In both procedures, once the administration is set up and once the insurance policy is acknowledged as valid, an insurance fiduciary expert is appointed; he/she makes an estimate of the damages on the vehicles involved in the accident. When the adjuster of the company has the estimate available, he formulates an offer or communicates to the injured party the possible causes of impediments to the compensation. 

Nobody actually knows the immense entity of the potential assets that our small car represents. One needs to think that if instead of purchasing from our car dealer a car whose price on the price list is about 12.000 / 13.000€, we would then decide to buy it “piece by piece”, we would spend about 60.000 / 70.000 € plus about 20% of VAT, which is 6 or 7 times more the car value. The most “amusing” thing is that the original spare parts produced by Italian car factories in Italy are much cheaper abroad. What is more worrying is that while car prices have risen a little more than double over the past 10-15 years, the prices of spare parts – we are talking about simple spare parts that do not use special technologies, in some case have increased more than tenfold 

Bonus-malus is a very common methodology in our country; the RC auto policy rates are based on it. It implies the existence of different risk categories, to which the policy belongs. The higher the category, the higher the rate. When one buys a new car, it belongs to the basic category 14. If one causes an accident within a year, two more categories will be applied to the policy; if no accidents are caused within a year, one category will be deleted from the policy but a slight rise will be applied to it – because of the rises that companies apply yearly which are about 12.5% on average. The side-effects of this methodology are as follows:because of the huge rise of the policy rate in case of accident, many insured flee when causing an accident, thus omitting to leave their details which would then allow the compensation for the damages – the main percentage of material damages never exceed the sum of 1.800,00 €, and many of these damages are paid directly by those who make the damage without involving the insurance company, in order to avoid the application of the two categories, and because of law 990 which implies that the insurance is compulsory. This is not fair towards consumers.In order to avoid the rise of policy rates or to compensate for some expenses, many insured, even when they’re responsible for the accident, seek all kinds of pretexts, often addressing legal authorities, thus increasing the dispute and causing great disbursements in insurance companies which then weigh on policy rates and on consumers, too. Italy is the only country in Europe where in case of accidents both parties involved in the accident can enjoy a 100% compensation. 

Technical reserves are accounts made at the end of the year, which are included in the companies balance sheets. They represent all the accidents occurred in the course of the year which will not be compensated for before closing the balance sheet. The main problem is that the approximate calculation of the damage occurs not necessarily on the estimate carried out by a fiduciary expert, but often according to the description of the damages reported on the CAI form or on the claim for damages. In this way the damages that will actually be compensated with paltry sums may be calculated in a relevant way. 

Italian insurance companies tend to place the responsibility for the constant and conspicuous rise of policies to external factors and in particular to:

• High rates of the body shops covered by the insurance company
• Frauds from the insured
• The high number of accidents
• The high compensation for physical damages

After having established what “technical reserve” means, many suspected, including ISvap, that regardless of it, many companies have actually made profit and not loss for years. Having said that, we had the opportunity to make some considerations among which the most relevant are reported in the following charts:

Chart 1

Country	Average workshop rates of labour
SWITZERLAND	75.00 EUROS
SWEDEN	70.00 EUROS
GERMANY	61.00 EUROS
AUSTRIA	60.00 EUROS
FRANCE	40.00 EUROS
UNITED KINGDOM	35.00 EUROS
ITALY	22.00 EUROS

Chart 2

Year	Rise in labour rate of body shops covered by ANIA	Inflation rate	Average rise of RC AUTO policies
Year 1994	3.0%	3.5%	12.3%
Year 1995	2.5%	5.0%	11.5%
Year 1996	3.0%	5.2%	10.1%
Year 1997	2.0%	2.6%	9.2%
Year 1998	1.8%	2.8%	15.6%
Year 1999	2.0%	2.0%	17.0%
Year 2000	1.5%	2.7%	11.2%
TOTAL	15.8%	23.8%	86.9%

By noticing what we have just explained, we cannot avoid thinking that if companies cared less about their unconditional saving policies and more about a policy orientated towards transparency, correctness, fair compensation and therefore about the protection of the rights of their insured, they would avoid many disputes and many frauds, and would then gain back the popularity which they have lost among Italian citizens, and they would also save huge capitals that are punctually thrown away.Due explanations to readers. Concerning frauds to insurance companies, which are apparently very common in Italy, there are a few considerations to be made. The latest official data show that frauds that have been ascertained and supposed weigh on the total sum of RC AUTO accidents by 2%. Moreover, insurance companies do not account for all those accidents that the companies no longer compensate for, which are those paid for by the insured, as well as for all those accidents of minor or slight entity that are not compensated for – they are very numerous – since the injurer is unknown – he/she flees without leaving any date in order to avoid the rise that would cause the beginning of bonus malus. Frauds of any nature are despicable and unjustifiable facts, but if companies demand propriety – which is fair – they should be giving the good example! The huge disbursements from insurance companies are certainly to be sought in their management of accidents, but they should review and correct, where possible, all those procedures that make the compensation time longer or which do not permit adequate compensation.

By analysing the procedures, we can easily notice that:

• The company expert, classified as a freelance, is actually not so, since he is employed by the same company or companies he offers his expertise to, and he is checked through simple arithmetic averages carried out on the damage estimate. Therefore, in order not to lose work, he is pushed to carry out surveys at a much lower cost of the real damage estimate.

• Moreover, the expert is paid very little for each estimate he carries out, and in order to avoid the slowness of the companies he is compelled to return the surveys in a very short time, and is therefore compelled to carry out a job based on quantity rather than quality. These methods apparently lower the compensation towards the injured parties (which is unfair), but consumers are actually compelled, in order to obtain a fair compensation for the damages, to put themselves in the hands of legal offices, thus activating a dispute which can be very, very expensive. Sometimes companies spend 3000 Euros on lawyers and cause to save 100 Euros.

• The bonus malus creates a dispute. At the time of damage compensation, what happens is that often a non existing contributory negligence is attributed, which creates even greater disputes.