Insurance jobs are the lifeblood of most mid-sized Kenyan garages. They also generate the most disputes, the slowest payments, and the most paperwork.

The garages that handle insurance jobs profitably all do the same four things well.

1. Capture the right identifiers at intake

The moment a vehicle arrives for an insurance job, capture the insurer name, policy number, claim number, assessor name and contact, the authorised repair limit, and the customer’s own contact details.

Even when the insurer pays, the customer chases progress. Having their number on the job card saves a lot of back-and-forth.

Any missing identifier will slow down the eventual payout. Get them all on day one.

2. Do not touch the vehicle until you have written authorisation

This is the single rule that separates profitable insurance jobs from nightmares. A verbal go-ahead from an assessor is not authorisation.

You need a signed authorisation letter with the approved scope of work, the approved amounts for parts and labour, and confirmation that the claim is valid and not under investigation.

Without those in hand, you are gambling your workshop time on the insurer’s eventual decision.

3. Handle supplements cleanly

Frequently, once the technician opens up the vehicle, more damage is discovered than the assessor saw. This is where garages lose money.

The right process:

Stop work the moment a supplement is needed
Photograph the additional damage
Submit a supplement quotation to the assessor in writing
Wait for written approval before continuing

Garages that continue work and hope the insurer will pay retroactively usually eat the cost. Gariclaim lets you raise supplement quotations directly against the job card, keep the full approval trail, and invoice only what was authorised.

4. Invoice fast, invoice accurately

The insurer will pay within 30 to 60 days if the invoice is clean. It will be rejected and returned if the invoice references an amount higher than the approved limit, parts listed do not match the assessment report, or the claim or policy number is missing or wrong.

Every rejected invoice adds two weeks to your payment cycle. Getting the invoice right the first time is worth more than chasing the second time.

Tracking the pipeline

Keep a running view of every insurance job split by status: awaiting authorisation, awaiting parts, in progress, awaiting supplement approval, QC, awaiting release, invoiced and awaiting payment.

At any given moment you should know how much is owed to you by each insurer. If an insurer is consistently slow, that is a business conversation to have.

What Gariclaim does

Gariclaim records insurer, assessor, policy and claim numbers against every job card. It tracks supplements separately from the original authorisation, prevents invoicing above approved limits, and gives you a per-insurer outstanding balance report so you know exactly who owes what.

Start a free trial and stop chasing insurance payments.

Managing Insurance Claims in a Kenyan Garage