I was recently involved in a minor accident and a private settlement claim was made against me.

The other car owner sent his vehicle to the authorised repair workshop.

The quotation was an astonishing $17,000.

The car owner was kind enough to get another quotation from a private workshop. This quotation was less than a third of the authorised workshop's.

I am piqued by the huge difference in the prices quoted by an authorised workshop and a private workshop.

Yes, auto repair workshops may mark up the prices of parts to make a profit to stay in business, but a mark-up of more than three times is mind-boggling, especially for a minor accident which left my car with only some scratches.

Making use of a minor accident to quote an exorbitant repair price does not inspire trust in the auto repair industry.

This is a key reason behind the high car insurance premiums that vehicle owners in Singapore pay, even though most of them may not be involved in an accident throughout their lives.

I hope all authorised car dealers make it their responsibility to assess the repair costs of their authorised workshops.

I believe that if we can bring down the auto repair costs to reasonable levels, vehicle owners can pay lower car insurance premiums.

Foo Sing Kheng