How insurance work reaches a shop
When a policyholder claims, the insurer decides where the car is repaired, usually from its own panel of approved motor body repairers. The Competition Commission describes insurers using electronic systems that weigh how close a repairer is to the customer and whether it holds manufacturer or insurer approval. A shop that isn't on the panel generally doesn't see the work.
Panels are big and they are contracts. Each approved shop signs a service level agreement (SLA) that sets the rates, the turnaround and the paperwork the insurer expects. In 2024 the Commission asked seven insurers covering about 80% of the motor market for their panel data: between them they had onboarded 350 repairers owned or run by historically disadvantaged people since July 2021.
Revised guidelines in force
27 March 2025
The Commission's automotive aftermarket guidelines, first in force on 1 July 2021.
Longest panel appointment
5 years
Insurers should not appoint a repairer for longer, or keep renewing to shut others out.
Repairers onboarded
350
Owned or run by historically disadvantaged people, across seven insurers, July 2021 to March 2024.
Three approvals, three different things
Shop owners often use “approved” loosely. There are three different approvals, each decided by someone else and each opening different work:
| Approval | Who decides | What it opens |
|---|---|---|
| SAMBRA accreditation | SAMBRA, the body repair association of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI), after an inspection | Membership, a grading insurers recognise, training and SAMBRA's consumer complaints process |
| Insurer approval | Each insurer, against its own published criteria, then an SLA | Claims that insurer allocates, out of warranty |
| Manufacturer (OEM) approval | Each vehicle manufacturer, against its own standards | Insured repairs on that brand's cars while they are under warranty |
SAMBRA says its accreditation does not on its own give a shop manufacturer approval; Mazda is the exception it names.
Most independent shops start with insurer approval for out-of-warranty work. Manufacturer approval usually needs a much bigger investment in equipment and training, and the Commission notes that insurers' standards are less strict than manufacturers'.
What insurers ask for
Several insurers publish their minimum requirements for motor body repairers. They differ in the details, but the core is the same. Across the documents we read, insurers ask for:
- MIBCO registration and good standing, with every employee registered. Our MIBCO wage checker shows the minimums your wage bill has to meet.
- Qualified tradesmen: at least one qualified panel beater and one qualified spray painter on staff.
- Company paperwork: CIPC registration, a SARS tax compliance status in good standing, a B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit and a recent bank confirmation letter.
- Cover: public liability and motor traders' cover for customers' cars, plus fire and theft. Santam also lists SASRIA cover.
- A real paint shop: a working spray booth and paint mixing room. Santam rules out makeshift booths.
- Repair equipment: pulling and measuring equipment, roofed work bays and good light.
- Estimating: an active Audatex account and photo-backed quotes. Santam asks for a registered Vehicle Damage Quantifier (VDQ) for every estimator.
- Compliance: occupational health and safety, zoning for the premises, and manufacturer certificates if you want in-warranty work.
Where they differ is in the extras and in how you apply:
| Insurer | Version read | How you apply | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santam | 2022 | Email its motor procurement team and register on its supplier portal, then a site evaluation | Latest Audatex statement, a VDQ certificate per estimator, a zoning certificate, photos uploaded with quotes. A terminated supplier waits three years before reapplying. |
| OUTsurance | May 2024 | Complete its self-assessment; only full compliance is considered, and you may be audited within three months of starting | At least a three-year warranty on workmanship and paint, a full-time estimator, quality controller and receptionist, 300 to 500 lux per bay, a load-shedding plan and a card machine. |
| MiWay | 2021 | Apply with the documents it lists | An active Audatex user with its latest statement, and manufacturer certificates for in-warranty work. |
| Telesure brands (Dialdirect, Auto & General and others) | Undated | Email procurement, complete a self-assessment grading tool, then an onsite grading | A lifetime guarantee on repairs in its agreement, no active judgments, and apprentices as well as qualified tradesmen. |
| Discovery Insure | 2021 | Application form, then a procurement assessment | Shops are assessed against the minimum criteria and against gaps in its existing panel: compliance, performance, location, facilities and transformation. |
Insurers update these documents, so ask for the current version before you apply. Links to each one are in the sources at the end of this guide.
SAMBRA membership and grading
The South African Motor Body Repairers' Association (SAMBRA) is the body repair association of the RMI. Membership is voluntary, but its grading is the industry's common yardstick, and SAMBRA says all major insurers recognise its standards. Its online directory listed just over 500 structural and 113 non-structural repairers in October 2026.
SAMBRA grades accredited members as a Non-Structural Repairer (NSR), for bolt-on panels and paintless dent removal, or a Structural Repairer (SR), for structural and non-structural repairs on passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. You may still see older grade names in insurers' documents.
Before anything is scored, its 2019 checklist asks for a MIBCO letter of good standing and number, tax compliance, a workmen's compensation (COIDA) number, and a qualified panel beater and spray painter, or proof that they've applied for a trade test. It then inspects the whole shop, from reception to the paint shop and the office. Structural grading adds equipment such as a chassis bench, a measuring system and a 9 000-amp spot welder.
GuideSAMBRA grading explainedWhat the checklist inspects area by area, what structural grading adds, how to apply and how to get ready for the visit.The Competition Commission's rules
The Competition Commission's Guidelines for Competition in the South African Automotive Aftermarket first took effect on 1 July 2021. A revised version has applied since 27 March 2025. They are guidelines rather than an Act, but they set out how the Commission expects insurers and manufacturers to treat independent repairers, and they're still in force. There is no “Right to Repair Act” in South Africa; these guidelines are what people usually mean.
What they ask of insurers
- Publish their accreditation standards, and formally disclose their reasons, in full, when they reject a repairer.
- Approve any repairer that meets their standards for out-of-warranty work, with the number per area decided case by case and room for new entrants owned by historically disadvantaged people.
- Spread work fairly, for example by rotating it across the panel, and publish the list of approved repairers.
- Give customers more choice of repairer.
- Appoint repairers for no longer than five years, without repeat renewals that unreasonably shut others out.
What they don't change
Insured repairs on a car still under its manufacturer's warranty, done under a claim, go to a manufacturer-approved repairer chosen by the insurer. An owner paying for a repair themselves can use any repairer at any time. Complaints go to the Motor Industry Ombudsman (MIOSA) or the National Consumer Commission.
Get your application ready
An application is only as strong as its paperwork, and the site visit checks it against the shop. Put this pack together before you contact anyone:
| Document | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Company registration documents | CIPC |
| Tax compliance status (TCS) PIN and VAT registration | SARS eFiling |
| MIBCO letter of good standing and registration number | MIBCO |
| Workmen's compensation registration number and letter of good standing | Compensation Fund (COIDA) |
| B-BBEE certificate, or sworn affidavit for small businesses | A SANAS-accredited verification agency, or a commissioner of oaths |
| Bank confirmation letter, less than three months old | Your bank |
| Insurance schedules: public liability, motor traders, fire and theft | Your broker |
| Trade certificates for your panel beater and spray painter | Your staff |
| Estimator's VDQ certificate and your Audatex statement | VDQ Governing Body and Audatex |
| Zoning certificate, booth certificate and service records | Your municipality and booth supplier |
| Photos of the premises, booth, mixing room and equipment | You |
Insurers also look at how you run a job. Have a written check-in process, photos on every quote and a clear warranty policy ready to show.
Free toolVehicle check-in and check-out sheetsA printable check-in sheet with your logo: existing damage on a car outline, fuel level, what came with the car and signatures.Staying on the panel
Approval is the start. Insurers measure their repairers on cost, turnaround, quality and customer satisfaction, and appointments now run for fixed terms. Santam told repairers in 2025 that it was moving from open-ended agreements to fixed-term contracts, in line with the Commission's guidelines.
- Send hidden damage for approval before you repair it. Work done without authorisation is hard to get paid for.
- Keep your costing tight. Insurers check parts and paint against the assessment, and markups are under pressure.
- Collect the excess before the car leaves, and invoice the insurer and the customer separately.
- Track every job against the date you promised. Turnaround is one of the numbers insurers track.
- Keep your MIBCO, tax and insurance documents current: insurers check them, and they expire.
