Repairers, insurers, system houses and trade association representatives have set up an estimating forum in a bid to raise standards and create an accreditation benchmark.

The first meeting of the forum, prompted by estimating supplier Glassmatix, brought together around 45 trade representatives.

Peter Roberts, Thatcham chief executive who attended the meeting, said: “The issues concentrated on the number of errors made and the skill levels of estimators rather than the integrity of different systems. Quality is a concern.”

Philip Brailey, Allianz Cornhill chief engineer, believed the forum should focus on two issues: the technical ability of estimators and the IT element of the estimating systems. He said accreditation was necessary to improve relationships between insurers and repairers.