Summary

The repair and claim settlement procedures used by several civil and defense agencies when Government vehicles are damaged in accidents were studied, and audit work was carried out at three military installations.

Department of Defense (DOD) procedures for handling repair of damaged vehicles and processing related claims appeared adequate to protect the Government's interest, but several practices required administrative attention. Some in-house repair estimates were unrealistic and did not give management a basis for evaluating repair work and costs. Vehicle repair costs might have been increased by restricting repair work to major dealers. Improvements were needed in claims-processing procedures at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Loss of vehicle use had not been included as a recoverable cost when establishing claims against third parties.