Auxillis has rebranded as Northgate Insurance Services (NIS), a change intended to sharpen its position as one of the UK's leading insurance mobility and claims support providers.
The rebrand brings the business fully under the Northgate name, giving it a clearer, more unified proposition for customers, partners and the wider insurance industry. The company says its service, expertise and customer support will remain consistent with the standards built up over more than three decades as Auxillis.
The change reflects how the business has evolved. Once known primarily for credit hire, it now positions itself as a broader mobility and claims support partner, offering integrated solutions across the insurance, broker and automotive sectors.
NIS already sits within Northgate Mobility, the division ZIGUP plc set up in January 2026 to bring corporate vehicle hire, fleet management, specialist vehicle expertise, claims management and insurance replacement vehicles under one structure. Under the same reorganisation, Blakedale became Northgate Highways and FridgeXpress became Northgate Temperature Controlled, with the changes phased in over 12 to 15 months.
The closer alignment gives NIS customers and partners access to a wider vehicle replacement fleet, now around 60,000 vehicles across 63 locations, along with mobility support aimed at getting replacement vehicles to customers faster and reducing delivery miles.
The rebrand also comes as demand for electric vehicles continues to grow. NIS currently runs an EV fleet of around 1,000 vehicles and plans to keep expanding its electric mobility offering, giving customers wider access to light commercial and specialist vehicles alongside a growing pool of electric cars.
Over the next 12 months, the business has said it will focus on accelerating digital adoption, improving operational efficiency and adopting new technology to improve outcomes for customers and partners. Some of that will come through ZIGUP plc's recently announced collaboration with Microsoft, aimed at speeding up the group's digital transformation through artificial intelligence. The rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot across the group is expected to improve productivity and free up staff to focus on higher-value customer interactions.
"Rebranding Auxillis as Northgate Insurance Services within Northgate Mobility is a natural next step that better aligns our capabilities, strengthens our partnerships and enables us to continue delivering exceptional service," said Mel Bebbington (pictured), managing director of Northgate Insurance.
The rebrand comes at a sensitive time for the UK credit hire sector, which insurers have long viewed as a major driver of claims cost inflation.
The FCA's July 2025 motor insurance claims analysis found that average credit hire costs have risen sharply, with non-GTA claims up 62% between 2019 and 2023. The ABI has said the cost of providing replacement cars, including credit hire, formed a significant part of the £9.9 billion paid out in motor claims in 2023, according to WeCovr's summary of ABI data.
However, reform of the sector is already under way. The ABI and the Credit Hire Organisation are renegotiating the General Terms of Agreement, the framework governing replacement vehicle rates, following recommendations in the Motor Insurance Taskforce's December 2025 final report. That builds on earlier changes, including a mandatory arbitration process for unresolved disputes and an annual independent review of hire rates using market data, agreed after an 18-month collaboration between credit hire companies, insurers and the ABI.
The cost pressure on insurers is not easing. EY forecast in December 2025 that the UK motor market would record a net combined ratio of 111% in 2026, meaning insurers would pay out £1.11 for every £1 of premium written, with credit hire cited alongside repair cost inflation as a key driver.
Against that backdrop, large accident management and mobility groups bringing credit hire, fleet and repair capabilities together under one structure, as ZIGUP has done with Northgate Mobility, reflects a broader industry effort to control costs and improve turnaround times across the claims supply chain.
