The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an investigation into private motor insurance in the UK which will focus on the provision of third party vehicle repairs and credit hire replacement vehicles to claimants.

The results of the investigation will be published on January 7, 2012.

Sonya Branch of the OFT told the BBC: "Our concerns relate to the provision of third party vehicle repairs and credit hire replacement vehicles to claimants, where we suspect companies may be competing to extract money from each other rather than keeping premiums as low as possible and providing car owners with value for money.

"By carrying out a market study, we aim to clarify whether a market investigation reference to the Competition Commission is appropriate."