── News & IndustryUpdated 3 August 2026

What's happening in the repair trade

What's actually changed — new vehicle tech, insurer and parts news, and anything that affects what a repair costs or how long it takes. Underneath it, the background that doesn't change.

Latest updates
Industry basics
Knowledge base

Latest updates

Newest first. Every item links to its source.

3 August 2026New
Insurance industry delays consumer-protection code changes to October
The Insurance Council of Australia has pushed back lodging its revised General Insurance Code of Practice with ASIC to late October, after receiving 28 submissions and finding deep disagreement between insurers and consumer groups. The revised Code would make key insurer commitments legally enforceable for the first time and introduce automatic acceptance of home and motor claims left undecided after 12 months.
What it means for you: If you've got a claim sitting open, the stronger protections being proposed — including a 12-month automatic-acceptance rule — aren't in force yet. The current Code still applies until the revised one is lodged and approved.
Source: Australasian Paint & Panel(opens in a new tab)
28 July 2026
AAMI's 2026 Crash Index: most claims are ordinary fender-benders, not write-offs
AAMI's annual Crash Index, drawn from more than 394,000 motor insurance claims lodged across Australia in 2025, found nose-to-tail bumps were the most common crash type, with mornings and Fridays the peak times. Nine of the ten worst crash hotspots nationally were in Melbourne; the only Sydney entry was Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford.
What it means for you: Most repair jobs a panel shop sees are exactly this kind of low-speed, everyday bump — not the dramatic write-off-grade smash people picture. If that's what's sitting in your driveway, it's a normal, repairable job.
Source: Nine News (AAMI data)(opens in a new tab)
9 July 2026
Insurers and the aftermarket industry push to widen Right to Repair to cover parts, not just information
The Insurance Council of Australia and the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association have separately told Treasury that Australia's Right to Repair scheme won't lower repair costs unless it's expanded to stop manufacturers restricting which repairer can buy parts, or using software 'parts pairing' to block non-authorised parts from working. State repair bodies have named Tesla as one brand where non-authorised workshops can't order parts directly.
What it means for you: This is about your ability to actually use the repairer you choose. Even where a policy allows choice of repairer, that choice can be undermined if the shop can't get hold of the parts for your car — this is what industry bodies are trying to fix. It's a live policy debate, not settled law, so nothing to state as fact yet.
Source: Insurance Business Australia(opens in a new tab)

The background that doesn't change

How the trade actually works, in plain English — the part of this page that stays put while the news above it rotates.

Repair vs replace: how a panel shop decides

A damaged panel is repaired if the metal can be brought back to shape without stretching or weakening it, and replaced if it can't — that call comes down to the depth of the damage, whether the crease has stretched the steel, and how close the damage sits to a structural join. Repairing keeps the factory panel and its original corrosion protection; replacing is often faster but means new paint on a bigger area.

Panel beating & collision repair

Why paint matching is harder than it sounds

Two cars with the same factory paint code can still be different colours. Paint fades with sun exposure, and manufacturers themselves run slight batch variations. That's why a repairer mixes to the code and then blends into the adjacent panels rather than painting the single damaged panel to its edge — the blend is what makes the repair disappear in daylight.

Paint & respray

Modern cars have sensors in the bumper

Parking sensors, blind-spot radar and forward-facing cameras are mounted behind or beside the panels that get hit first. If those parts are disturbed, the repair isn't finished when the paint dries — the affected systems need to be checked and, where the manufacturer requires it, recalibrated. It's a real part of the timeline on newer vehicles and worth asking about before work starts.

Excess, and when claiming costs you more than paying

On smaller cosmetic damage, the repair can come in at or under the excess — in which case lodging a claim can leave you out of pocket and still affect the premium at renewal. Getting the repair quoted before you lodge tells you which side of that line you're on. What your policy actually covers, including choice of repairer, is a term of the policy itself, so check your PDS.

How an insurance claim works

Storm and hail season changes the wait

Sydney's storm season concentrates a year's worth of hail damage into a few days, and every panel shop in the basin books out at once. Nothing about the repair changes; the queue does. If a car is drivable and the damage is cosmetic, booking early in the season rather than after the next storm front is the difference between days and weeks.

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