"John Whitmore delves into his postbag to find widespread dissatisfaction with the motor insurance and repair industry but great praise for mobile services that offer convenience and much lower cost.

Mobile repairers attract near-universal praise for their quality, convenience, service and price. Customers are frequently delighted and recommend them to friends. Their prices work out at approximately half the price of the small repairers. Some are franchises or similar, of which the best known are Trimline Systems (Autopaint 4U) and CPS (Cosmetic Paint Systems); there are a number of others, their names often beginning with the word Dent.

These repairers are essentially cosmetic and do not tackle more serious mechanical damage. They use the latest technology for paint matching; many were once touch-up people at the inspection stage of new car production, whose results had to be perfect. Some can repair torn plastic bumpers, some can restore damaged alloy wheels, some only do dents. Most charge about £45 per panel for dent repairs and will complete most jobs in a couple of hours. The following reader comments were typical:

"By entering a number found under my bonnet into his on-board computer, a machine would dispense the exact match of paint to my car. Returning 90 minutes later, the marks were completely untraceable."

"With almost religious reverence, he massaged, cajoled, teased and persuaded not only the dent to disappear but rendered the minor scratch almot invisible. The cost was less than £50."