A locally-based management company has also revealed that the number of motor insurance disputes referred to the Financial Ombudsman increased by 25% in 2007 - and that's on top of a 31% hike in 2006.

According to Crash Services, some of the main examples of inadequate support from insurers include:

* A failure to inform policy holders of their entitlement to claim for any appreciation in their vehicle's value.

* Insurers direct clients to approved repairers, despite assuring the Office of Fair Trading that they will not block the customers' right to choose a repairer.

* Insurers may divert clients from their entitlement to a like-for-like replacement vehicle. In some cases, for example, large family vehicles may not be available from the approved repairers courtesy car fleet.

For some of these reasons, Crash managing director Michael McKeown believes that more and more motorists are now turning to accident management companies such as his.

He also claims that in Northern Ireland alone his company has helped 10,000 motorists recoup over £30m in losses.

"According to DRD Transport Statistics, there are over 900,000 registered vehicles in Northern Ireland," said Mr McKeown.

"Accident frequency is around 11%, which means that approximately 99,000 vehicles are involved in accidents each year.

"Statistically speaking, 25% are not at fault and 40% will be split liability. These road accident victims - around 65,000 per year - are the most vulnerable in terms of not getting their full insurance entitlement."

One Northern Ireland motorist who argues for the merits of using accident management companies is Belfast mother-of-two Lisa Whiteside.

Mrs Whiteside, a phlebotomist, was almost eight months pregnant when she was involved in an accident on St Patrick's Day last year.

Her vehicle was badly damaged, but although she was the innocent party, the other driver's insurance company could not provide her with a suitable temporary vehicle.

"My own car was a write off, so the insurers took the courtesy car off me" she said.

"It was late on a Friday afternoon. I had two children in the car - a 10-year-old and a toddler- but they took the child seat out of the car and said there was nothing they could do. That's when I phoned Crash."

"Because I was pregnant, I was more stressed, but they sorted everything out. I got a replacement vehicle and the full value for my car."

Mrs Whiteside added: "Since that happened to me, I honestly think that people should think about using an accident management company, at least for peace of mind."