UK electric vehicle accident claims (BEV and PHEV)

Thatcham EV-Ready repair certification - EV-1 to EV-4 technician tiers

Thatcham Research - the UK motor insurance industry's automotive research and repair-standard-setting body - operates an EV-Ready accreditation scheme that certifies a bodyshop's competence to repair electric and hybrid vehicles. The scheme overlays on top of the underlying Thatcham repairer accreditation and the BS 10125:2022 / PAS 125 vehicle body repair standard. EV-Ready accreditation requires the bodyshop to hold the right equipment (HV insulation testers, HV personal protective equipment, dedicated HV-system tools), a documented HV isolation and re-energisation process, and appropriately tiered technicians on staff for the work being undertaken.

Technician competence is graded through tiers - the industry shorthand is EV-1 through EV-4. EV-1 is awareness level, sufficient for non-HV cosmetic work on an electric vehicle. EV-2 covers HV-isolation competence - the technician can safely isolate the HV system to allow non-HV work to proceed. EV-3 covers HV-component handling - disconnecting and reconnecting HV components without working on the pack itself. EV-4 covers full HV-system repair authorisation, including work on the HV battery pack and its loom. Only an EV-Ready-certified bodyshop with the appropriate technician tier can lawfully and safely undertake HV-system repair on a UK electric vehicle. Routing repair to a non-EV-Ready shop for HV work is a recognised quality and safety failure and is the single largest preventable risk on a UK EV claim.

ABI Salvage Code 2017 and the May 2025 EV / hybrid refresh

The Association of British Insurers Salvage Code of Practice 2017 sets the four-category salvage classification framework used across the UK motor insurance industry. Category A - destroy: the vehicle is broken for materials only and no parts are reused. Category B - body shell unusable, parts may be recycled but the shell is destroyed. Category S - structurally damaged but repairable. Category N - not structurally damaged but otherwise repairable. The engineer's report drives the categorisation and the third-party insurer accepts the engineer's assessment on the standard non-fault claim file.

The May 2025 ABI Salvage Code refresh is the first formal industry update of the 2017 framework to address EV-specific risk. It adds explicit handling for high-voltage battery systems - when an HV pack must be isolated, how it is handled in storage, the documentation that must accompany the pack and the disposal route through an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) under the WEEE Regulations 2013 and the Batteries and Accumulators (Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008. The categorisation guidance is also updated: a Cat A EV will normally have the HV battery destroyed under the same regulations, a Cat B EV will normally have the HV battery separated and recycled, and Cat S and Cat N EVs must be EV-Ready repaired and the HV system inspected before the vehicle returns to use. The refresh is the practical anchor for every UK EV salvage decision from its effective date onwards. Our deeper guide to a car write-off claim walks through the Cat A / B / S / N decision tree and the retail-valuation push-back on insurer trade-comparable offers; where a Cat S or Cat N EV returns to use and the open-market value is permanently impaired by the salvage flag, the post-repair diminished value claim is the recovery route for the residual loss.

Like-for-like replacement vehicle - EV-to-EV under Bee v Jenson

The like-for-like principle in UK credit hire is established by Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 - the Court of Appeal authority applied through the lens of the claimant's reasonable need. A claimant's reasonable comparator vehicle is the vehicle they would, in fact, reasonably have used if their own vehicle had not been off the road. For an EV owner, that comparator is another EV. The EV owner has a home charger or workplace charging; they may be on a salary-sacrifice scheme that is integrated with their EV charging cost; their cost profile is fundamentally electric, not fossil-fuel.

The like-for-like analysis on an EV claim therefore requires three checks. First, BEV-to-BEV: a battery electric replacement, not a PHEV or ICE substitute. Second, range comparability: a long-range Tesla Model 3 Long Range, Polestar 2 Long Range or BMW i4 eDrive40 owner needs a replacement of comparable usable range, not an entry-level short-range BEV. Third, rapid-charge compatibility: a CCS-Combo rapid-charge-capable BEV owner needs a replacement that can use the same UK rapid charging network at comparable speeds - putting a 50kW-only BEV in front of a 250kW-capable claimant materially constrains their normal use pattern. CityGrip's credit-hire placement on every non-fault EV file is calibrated against these three checks and the rationale is recorded in writing on the file in the event of a recoverability challenge from the at-fault insurer. Where credit hire is unavailable - for instance because the claimant could not satisfy the impecuniosity test in Lagden v O'Connor - a loss of use claim may still recover general damages for the period off the road.

Related UK collision, vehicle and claim hubs

This electric vehicle claims page sits under the UK collision-types hub and alongside the vehicle-class page at /vehicles/electric. The vehicle-class page covers the EV owner overview - the vehicle types, the operational considerations, the charging picture. This page covers the claim mechanics - what happens after a collision and how the workflow runs.

• Collision types hub

  The parent hub linking to UK collision scenario sub-pages - at-scene, environment, weather, vehicle and third-party cohorts.

• Car accident claims (UK)

  Top-level UK car accident claim hub covering the entire non-fault driver workflow.

• Non-fault car accident claims

  End-to-end non-fault claim coordination - recovery, storage, engineer, credit hire, repair and onward solicitor referral.

• Electric vehicle class overview

  Companion vehicle-class page - the EV owner overview, distinct from the claim-side workflow on this page.

• Engineer inspection

  Independent engineer inspection - the EV-overlay HV-pack and ADAS checks sit inside the wider engineer-inspection workflow.

• Winter driving accident claims

  Lateral scenario - UK winter driving collisions, with EV-specific range and regenerative-braking considerations in low temperatures.

• Fog driving accident claims

  Lateral scenario - reduced-visibility collisions, where modern EV ADAS active-safety systems behave differently from older vehicles.

• Pothole damage claims

  Lateral scenario - UK pothole strikes, where EV underbody HV-pack risk adds an EV-specific overlay to the standard pothole claim.

Six-step UK EV post-collision flow

1. Step 1

   Assume the high-voltage system is live and move clear

   Treat any UK BEV or PHEV as having a live high-voltage system after a collision until a fire and rescue service or HV-trained recovery operator confirms otherwise. Do not touch the orange HV cabling, the battery casing on the underfloor, or any exposed busbar. Move every occupant out of the vehicle if it is safe to do so and at least ten metres back. Watch for any smoke, hissing, popping or thermal venting from the battery - these are early signs of thermal runaway and require immediate withdrawal. Call 999. UK fire and rescue services dispatch HV-trained crews to electric-vehicle incidents and will perform the manufacturer's service disconnect (MSD) or HVIL break before the vehicle is moved.

2. Step 2

   Comply with section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and report to the police

   Once everyone is safe, exchange names, addresses, vehicle registration marks and insurer details with every other driver involved. Where injury is present, where details cannot be exchanged at the scene, or where any animal listed in section 170(8) is hurt, the collision must be reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours. Most UK forces operate online collision-reporting portals; on a serious EV incident involving fire, smoke or HV-pack concern, the police and fire and rescue services will usually attend and allocate an incident reference at the time. The police accident report is a routine evidence pull on the third-party EV claim file.

3. Step 3

   Photograph damage, charging-cable status and the scene before recovery moves the vehicle

   Take wide-angle and close-up photographs of every damage panel, the underbody if it can be seen safely, the front and rear bumper (HV cooling intakes and the CCS Combo charge port are recurring damage points), and the position of the vehicle on the carriageway. If the vehicle was struck while plugged in to a home charger, photograph the charger, the cable and the connector before the vehicle is recovered. Extract and back up the dashcam clip covering the 60 seconds before and 30 seconds after impact within 24 hours - most cameras in continuous-recording mode loop their oldest footage on a 12 to 48 hour cycle. Pull the manufacturer event data (Tesla, Polestar, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi) through the UK GDPR data-subject access route before the rolling retention window expires.

4. Step 4

   Instruct EV-certified recovery to an EV-Ready storage facility

   Open the accident-management file at the earliest opportunity and instruct an EV-certified recovery operator. The recovery vehicle should be flat-bed configured (BEV driven-wheel rotation while under tow can back-drive the motor and induce HV current); the operator should have HV-aware training, fire-suppression appropriate to lithium-ion and a clear-zone storage facility for the 24 to 48 hour BEV-waiting-period standoff that many UK yards observe for vehicles with significant chassis intrusion. The storage facility should itself be EV-Ready, with HV-pack isolation procedures documented and the file noted for the engineer's HV-pack inspection.

5. Step 5

   Instruct an independent engineer to inspect the HV pack and the ADAS suite

   Instruct an independent engineer to inspect the vehicle before the at-fault insurer's engineer sets a reserve. On an EV the engineer's inspection is broader than on an ICE vehicle: HV-pack status (visual, HVIL integrity, BMS fault-code pull and cell-voltage logs), ADAS calibration state, charging port and on-board charger condition, and the conventional structural and cosmetic damage assessment. The engineer determines the ABI Salvage Code categorisation (Cat A, B, S or N) under the 2017 Code as refreshed in May 2025 for EV-specific risk. Where the categorisation is Cat S or Cat N, the engineer's repair specification includes the EV-Ready repairer requirement and the ADAS recalibration items.

6. Step 6

   Route repair to an EV-Ready bodyshop and place EV-to-EV like-for-like credit hire

   Repair work is routed to a Thatcham EV-Ready certified bodyshop with appropriately tiered technicians for any HV-system work; cosmetic and low-voltage repairs can run at a non-EV-Ready shop but anything touching the HV system requires the EV-Ready overlay on top of BS 10125:2022 and PAS 125. ADAS recalibration is specified in writing - static, dynamic or both as the manufacturer requires. Replacement vehicle is placed as EV-to-EV like-for-like under Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 applied via the reasonable-need lens - a BEV claimant gets a BEV hire of comparable range and rapid-charge compatibility. The property-damage claim runs to the at-fault insurer under section 151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988; the personal-injury element is routed to the OIC portal or an SRA-regulated solicitor based on severity.