The Motor Ombudsman teams with insurance broker Howden

The Motor Ombudsman has entered into a partnership with insurance broker Howden to enhance the suite and value of benefits available to both policyholders and TMO-accredited businesses operating in vehicle service, repair and sales.

Howden will now be able to offer its clients that are not already accredited to The Motor Ombudsman, such as vehicle retailers, independent garages and mobile mechanics, a tailored package when applying for accreditation to The Motor Ombudsman’s established Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI)-approved Motor Industry Codes of Practice.

Similarly, through the collaboration, Motor Ombudsman-accredited businesses will be able to take advantage of a suite of benefits when taking out one of Howden’s Motor Trade Insurance products such as preferential premium rates, and exclusive offers in relation to the level of cover.

Bill Fennell, chief ombudsman and managing director of The Motor Ombudsman, said: “This mutually-beneficial relationship provides our shared target customer base of independent motor trade businesses with access to a market-leading win-win collaboration.”

Fennell added: “We are constantly looking to raise the bar in terms of the value that we offer to our accredited businesses, and this partnership provides the ideal stage for which to do this.

"In addition, this enhanced relationship with Howden delivers an innovative and effective marketing channel to further expand the reach of our renowned accreditation scheme.”

Jem Emirali, associate director at Howden, said: “Our partnership with The Motor Ombudsman reinforces our commitment to continually strengthening our offering to motor trade insurance policyholders, and driving awareness of our market-leading propositions to independent service and repair, and vehicle sales professionals.

“With common values based on raising standards even higher in the motor industry in terms of the services that we supply to businesses, we look forward to working with The Motor Ombudsman, and continuing to build and evolve this exciting collaboration.”

Fennell recently highlighted in an AM interview that he was concerned about the number of contacts it is getting now from consumers that are using smaller service and repair outlets, which aren't engaged with TMO's codes of practice and therefore it cannot help. "That's a big story because, while we accepted 8,900 cases last year, we had another circa 8,500 cases that we could not accept, because on the whole, the garage wasn’t part of TMO," he said.

And The Chartered Trading Standards Institute has revealed in its 2024 manifesto that it will call on the next UK Government to legislate for specific controls on motor retail, because its members - trading standards officers - are worried about the volume of complaints, particularly concerning used cars and vehicle repairs.