Why Should Insurance Companies Decide the Price?

This concerns painting, glass replacement, and repairs to bodywork/frame and related components.

Over time, these so-called “yellow lists,” as they were called, became a major problem for many workshops that had previously calculated their own prices. At that time, Norges Bilbransjeforbund (the Norwegian Automobile Industry Association) truly took hold of the issue and focused 100% on getting these yellow price lists where they belonged — far away on the scrap heap. In other words, it became a standoff between the insurance companies and Norges Bilbransjeforbund.

In those days, there was an annual automotive refinishing seminar (very different from those held today). It took place at a reputable large hotel, where valuable and necessary information was provided to car painters by specialists within the trade. Paint importers were also regular participants and believed that the way these seminars were conducted had a significant impact on health, independent pricing, and professional execution of the craft.

Unfortunately, at that time, no one took responsibility for the environmental and health conditions that automotive painters were exposed to. It is hard to say, but many painters in that era died before the age of 60. This was due to the hardeners in paint containing isocyanates. They still do today, but in a different, less volatile form — though still hazardous to health.

It costs a great deal of money to build or upgrade a workshop, but the insurance industry did not appear to concern itself with this reality.

Isocyanates could well be called the asbestos of our time. Automotive painters primarily use polyurethane paints. These are durable and provide a high-gloss finish. After applying primer and paint in a spray and drying booth, the product cures when moisture in the air reacts with the isocyanate groups. Isocyanates are not only found in automotive paint; they are also present in adhesives, insulation, and other coatings.

Even inhaling small amounts of isocyanates can cause serious health damage. Symptoms include breathing difficulties, nasal congestion or discharge, coughing irritation, nosebleeds, headaches, and reduced lung function. Short-term exposure can often lead to permanent damage to the respiratory system. There are different types of isocyanates, but all must be regarded as equally dangerous.

It was in fact Norges Bilbransjeforbund that, during the 1980s, carried out a major cleanup of working conditions across many automotive trades in Norway. To reach an acceptable and approved working standard in automotive refinishing at that time, substantial investments — often in the millions — were required.

Let us put it this way:

Automotive refinishing workshops and painters had to start from scratch. It was also NBF (Franch Hagerup) that distributed Norway’s first textbook in this trade and was responsible for establishing the country’s first automotive refinishing school, equipped with the correct facilities of the time. New spray and drying booths, new mixing rooms, and other essential equipment all required capital investment.

Unfortunately, it did not seem that insurance companies at the time — and in the years that followed — considered these investments serious enough to understand that refinishing workshops needed to calculate their own prices, just like any other business selling goods and services to customers.

But no. It was the insurance companies that were to set the price, not the owner of the workshop performing the work. This was serious.

The insurance industry engaged in certain tactics that deserve little respect. Many companies moved vehicles far beyond Norway’s borders — often to Sweden or Finland. NBF found this unacceptable and contacted vehicle owners to inform them that their car was on its way to Finland for refinishing. Insurance companies did everything they could, regardless of cost, simply to force through their own pricing — prices that were far below what was reasonable for a refinishing job.

This led to significant backlash when many car owners refused to allow the insurance company to move their vehicle to workshops other than the one they themselves had chosen.

In principle, it is not the insurance company that should determine the workshop’s price.

The tragic and costly outcome is that the insurance companies eventually got their way, and today it is considered almost natural for workshop employees to believe that the insurance company is supposed to set the price (nonsense).

The automotive industry — and especially NBF today — can thank itself for allowing this to happen.

Unfortunately, this is not unique to Norway. It is the same across Europe.

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The Next Phase of This Price Domination

Next came collision repair.

Here, the resistance was weaker, and in the years after 1980 NBF was largely absent. Today, no one can charge their own independent workshop rates for collision repair. Insurance determines the price.

Why does the industry not resist? Has anyone actually calculated the true cost of performing insurance-controlled repairs?

And what happened next? Then came pricing controls for automotive glass companies. All workshops in this field had to be approved by the insurance companies. Why not by NBF or the Labour Inspection Authority? That is where expertise should reside — not within insurance companies whose primary concern is profit in their own favor.

What could be next? Shall we predict that insurance companies will begin interfering in the tyre industry — determining prices for mounting, balancing, and tyre storage?

It may sound extreme, but history clearly shows that the automotive industry has been stripped of its right to set its own prices — and NBF has so far failed to follow in the footsteps of former NBF leaders such as Eirik Høien and Knut Bøckmann Slettebø.

The latter once stated that the shortest road to bankruptcy court is to accept prices unilaterally determined by insurance companies.

It has not gone quite that far — but it is reasonable to remind the industry of this unhealthy history. It is never too late to return pricing authority to where it belongs: with the workshops performing the work.

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More From the Insurance Industry

When insurance companies had asserted their dominance over workshops repairing or replacing windshields, we have a previous letter from If clearly stating that automotive glass workshops were no longer permitted to repair or replace windows, even though many had done so for decades.

IF explicitly stated that it is IF who decides where windshield repairs and replacements shall take place.

NBF maintained that if insurance companies exercise active and arbitrary control of repairs without legitimate reason, this is unlawful. However, NBF also acknowledged that, in general, directing repairs may be justified based on the need to ensure professional standards and quality, and that repairs are performed according to the vehicle manufacturer’s specifications.

On the glass side, things have stabilized. The two largest players — Riis Group and Hurtigruta Carglass — as far as we know, have no complaints about the insurance industry’s pricing policies. Nevertheless, we maintain our position: the workshop performing the work should determine the price. Anything else resembles centralized control of the market.

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What Might Come Next

Small, highly skilled dent and refinishing specialists — those who repair minor body damage that larger collision centers would replace with expensive new parts — may be the next target.

Here, insurance companies could see another opportunity to increase profits and potentially undermine yet another segment of the industry. These specialists often help vehicle owners obtain repairs at a fraction of the cost charged by larger and well-known collision and paint centers — where hourly rates can exceed NOK 2,000.

For the record, we should commend NBF’s lawyers. There has been legal expertise present over the years.

What we want is an NBF that steps forward and fights insurance companies so that the right to set independent prices is restored to the workshops of the Norwegian automotive industry.

We know that NBF is capable of this — even if much of the knowledge from earlier times may have faded.

This is why independent actors in the automotive industry must retain control over their own pricing models — something independent retailers like Dekksperten actively build their business around.