Nationwide Accident Repair Services has bought Aquilo Motor Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Aquilo plc, for £1.275m. The sum comprises £750,000 in cash and £750,000 of net assets, adjusted for creditors and a rent free period.

Based in Northwich, Cheshire, Aquilo Motor Services Ltd provides comprehensive motor claims management services to insurers, insurance brokers and affinity groups. Services are provided from a contact centre and include full claims management, engineering services, emergency and roadside assistance as well as vehicle repair services and total loss management. For the six months ended June 30, 2006, Aquilo Motor Services Ltd reported unaudited turnover of approximately £6.1 million.

Michael Wilmshurst, Nationwide chief executive, said: “We believe that this is an important and strategic acquisition extending our expertise in ‘first notification of loss’ handling. It enables us to offer our insurance, fleet, broker and claims management customers a complete support service in the automotive repair market. We now have the capability to handle initial calls, deploy work to customer-designated repair networks, handle and manage claims and offer full vehicle repair services across the UK. Our customers can choose to use all or just part of the service that we offer in a manner that suits their business objectives..

“Additional benefits of this acquisition include the ability to offer our customers management information throughout the complete claims process. It is our intention to retain the facilities at Northwich and we look forward to developing the business further.”

Nationwide has a network of 69 accident repair centres located across England, Scotland and Wales employing over 2,100 people. The group’s customer base includes insurance companies such as Royal & Sun Alliance, Norwich Union, Equity Red Star and Zurich and fleet operators such as DHL.