Have you heard of this - betterment charges?

I was in a car accident end of last week. Not huge but the repair is going to cost some.  I have been busy making a police report and I spent the first half of today getting all the documents ready. 

In the midst of finding out what needs to be done, I found out about this thing called betterment charges. When the workshop owner mentioned it, I had to ask him to repeat the word a few times and I was not even sure I got it right. And I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me.

I googled the word "betterment" hoping I heard him right and that was when I found out about it. 

It's a charge that insurers imposed on car repairs as a result of accidents when your car is more than 5 years old. It means that since you have had your car for so long, any work done on it will give you a better car and so you will have to pay for the "betterment" of it. Even if when you are claiming against the other party's insurance, you have to pay 20% of the costs of repair yourself.  

Like this one blogger said it, this is all bologne! And I agree. I did not purposely to get into an accident. It's an accident! And when someone else's car hit onto mine, it has to be fixed,  betterment or not. That is exactly why I bought insurance in the first place. 

This is ridiculous. 

pearlie