Northwest-based body repair group Howard Basford says it is still in favour of solus and labour-only repair schemes, despite not going forward with Royal and Sun Alliance’s dedicated repair centre initiative, in which Nationwide Accident Repair Centres and Gemini have agreed solus contracts for a number of their sites.

"I think that the partnership between insurer and bodyshops will continue to see stronger bonds which in some cases may move to dedicated arrangements,” says Neil Kirk, Howard Basford managing director.

"We are not against the concept but the commercial framework needs to be robust and mutually beneficial."

Howard Basford worked with RSA about its new repair cost model in the pilot stage of its scheme earlier this year. Ultimately, RSA decided to award the five-year guaranteed volume solus contracts to Nationwide and Gemini.

The decision to split with Howard Basford is described by RSA as mutual, although it says the exact terms are governed by a confidentiality clause.