Summary

At the request of Sen. Sam Nunn, a study was made of the repair costs and claim settlement procedures used by several civil and defense agencies for Government vehicles involved in accidents. The General Services Administration (GSA) Regions IV and V policies and procedures for handling repairs to damaged vehicles appear adequate to protect the Government's interest. However, several practices relative to appraisal and repair estimates, postrepair inspection, claims processing, and assessments of temporary loss of vehicle use or total loss of vehicle need attention.

There is a need for more detailed analysis of vendor repair estimates which often differ from appraiser's estimates. Some repair shops were given advance copies of GSA repair estimates which may act to increase costs. An in-house capability for estimating collision damages and repair costs would allow the agency to better evaluate reasonableness of prices and quality of repair work. Postrepair inspection is needed as is more dispatch in processing accident claims against third parties. Loss of vehicle use has not been included as a recoverable cost when establishing claims against third parties. Instructions are needed to clarify the value of total loss vehicles when recovering damages from third parties.