The Malta Insurers’ Association is close to reaching an agreement with stakeholders which will help to raise the standards of motor repairs after accidents.

This is not the first attempt to find a solution: 10 years ago, the Malta Standards Authority had already tried to do so at the behest of the GRTU and the MIA. At the time, the intention was to set up an accreditation system for the repairers, classifying them into five categories depending on the complexity of the work. The intention was to make the system voluntary for the roughly 300 repairers at that time. Training had been provided and progress had been made but MIA president Julian Mamo admitted that what there was today was “a very watered-down version” of what the association wants.

The association has again engaged consultants to consider the interests of all the stakeholders, starting off with the surveyors and insurers, then extending the process to repairers and sprayers.

“We want to reach consensus with repairers, insurers and the insuring public to have repairers that are committed and willing to invest in their infrastructure. In this way standards will be uniformly high, which benefits the end user and the insurers. We do not want botch jobs or shoddy repairs getting back on the roads where they could possibly cause more accidents.

“We have to find a way to make it economically viable for this investment to happen. We are committed to raising the game and improving the quality as we feel this will more efficient in terms of not only timing but also cost.

“The whole thing needs to be sharpened up but we cannot do it on our own. I can confirm that a lot of progress has been made and we hope to have the framework ready in the coming weeks.”

There were just under 14,500 traffic accidents in 2014, with €66.6 million paid in motor insurance premiums and €43.8 million paid out in claims.