Why repairing your car in France is becoming increasingly expensive
The cost has soared by more than 25% since 2020, with electric vehicles most dear, a new report has shown
The increased complexity and cost of electric cars is sparking a sharp rise in repair costs
Iryna Inshyna/Shutterstock
The price of car repair in France is soaring due to rising spare part costs and the increasing complexity of cars, the association Sécurité et réparation automobiles (SRA) has warned.
The SRA, formerly known as GTA, is a professional association that provides automobile insurers in France with a database containing existing information on vehicles in France, as well as associated statistics and studies to promote road safety and control reparation costs.
In its annual claims and collisions report (for the year 2024), the Sécurité et réparation automobiles (SRA) association said that the cost of vehicle repairs after a breakdown or crash has increased by 25.7% on average since 2020.
The cost increased by 6.2% in 2024 compared to 2023.
In this latest report, the SRA said that it “fears the worst in the future for repair costs”, as vehicles are becoming increasingly technological and computer-controlled, making repairs more complex and expensive.
Read more: Why the cost of car repairs is rising in France
Read also: Where in France is it cheapest to repair a car?
Electric vs combustion costs
Electric and hybrid cars are the most expensive to repair, the report said.
More specifically, the figures show that in 2024:
Costs to repair hybrid cars are the highest, costing 15.7% more than average for all fuel types
Fully-electric cars were next-most expensive to repair, at 14.3% more than the average
Vehicles running on petrol cost around 5.2% less than the national average (all energy types combined) to repair
Diesel car repair costs are at just 0.3% higher than the national average
In 2024, electrified vehicles accounted for 12% of total collision claims, compared with 8% in 2023, the SRA added.
Read also: Rising car repair costs in France: Electric vs combustion vehicles
Diesel most likely to be ‘economically irreparable’
Similarly, the report found that the number of vehicles considered to be economically irreparable (véhicules économiquement irréparables, VEI) has also risen, accounting for 10.8% of the total claims in 2024, up from 9.3% of the total in 2023.
A car is considered VEI if it would not be economically sensible to repair them (e.g. it would cost more to repair than the car itself is worth, or the car is considered a ‘write-off’).
The cost of VEIs continues to increase, the report found, with 37.2% worth more than €6,000, and 12.8% worth more than €12,000.
All types of vehicles, regardless of energy type, are seeing an increase in VEIs, the report found.
Electric vehicles are less likely to be considered VEI, but this is largely as they tend to be newer than their combustion counterparts.
Diesel vehicles are the most likely to be considered economically irreparable, with 1.5 times more risk than petrol vehicles. Diesel vehicles are 4.3 times more likely to be VEI than electric.
