I think claims are being inflated due to lack of regulation and enforcement. Not sure it is legit, but it appears to currently be the done thing. Have a look at a Guardian article about it.

I think claims are being inflated due to lack of regulation and enforcement. Not sure it is legit, but it appears to currently be a done thing through murkiness of subcontracting. Some quotes from a Guardian article about it:

We have seen examples of how accident claims management companies are routinely charging £5,000 to provide replacement cars to victims of accidents. We have been told about repairs that it seems should have cost £1,500 to fix but have actually resulted in £15,000 insurance payouts.

Minor repairs are inflated because the work is being paid by an insurer, one insider claims.

.. letters suggest that this over-paying and excessive charging has become the norm across an industry that appears to have lost control of claims.

Arguably worst of all, from an environmental perspective, perfectly good cars are being unnecessarily written off on the say-so of insurers that have not examined the car.