So says FMG, which has reported a 140% increase in demand for its in-house third-party claims services over the last 18 months from fleet operators, insurance companies and brokers.

The firm says that companies turning to its service benefit from average savings of well over £1,000 per captured claim. It adds that early intervention is crucial to mitigating costs for the at-fault party and urge drivers to report incidents immediately following an incident if it is safe to do so. This significantly reduces the risk of the third party pursuing or being approached by potentially expensive hire car companies, credit repair services and personal injury businesses.

“We endeavour to contact the third party within the hour, to offer our vehicle repair and replacement services and then closely monitor every process and cost throughout the life of the claim. This removes the financial vulnerability for the at-fault party,” said Mark Chessman, FMG’s managing director for operations.

“We ensure the third party is not out-of-pocket at any stage following an incident which wasn’t their fault. We arrange a quality repair by our independently audited repair network with a sensible replacement vehicle, various one-day repair solutions or cash-in-lieu payments,” added Chessman.

When the third party can’t be captured, claims handling experts protect their customers by ensuring all liability decisions, costs and timescales submitted are fair and reasonable.

FMG also says that driver behaviour telematics technology – including its own system that uses crash notification technology – and in-vehicle camera solutions can often provide irrefutable and impartial evidence to inform liability decisions and support the fight against fraudulent claims.