I was in a front in collision a few years ago when a woman ran a red light in front of me. My experience may have been different because the accident was not my fault, but I was very satisfied with the insurance company.

Her insurance was State Farm, and undoubtedly insurance companies are not equal.

I insisted I take the vehicle to my dealership for the repairs and they had no objection. The rental car I did have a snag on. I insisted I get a comparable vehicle (mine was to be in the shop for a few months) and they agreed and gave me an SUV. At the end, they did try to only pay for the 'compact' but after flat refusing to pay based on their comparable vehicle clause they dropped the charges.

I did do some research online at the time and as I recall, insurance companies cannot force you to go to any repair shop unless you've agreed to the restriction in your policy (ie, you're dealing with your insurance not someone else) and I think the comparable size vehicle rental option is common. The number of alloted miles they give you is also very negotiable.

If you are in an accident that is not your fault you have a lot of room to demand top quality service. My body shop was great, and I actually got it 2 weeks late because after they finished the inspector went over it and saw a few things for them to redo.

4. I had a repair they said would take a couple weeks...in May. In December they were finally finished. Never took the car there again, but had to finish the original repairs there since the insurance company had already paid them.

I can not imagine that a vehicle sat in a shop for that lond and you did nothing to get it out? Depending on the labor hours and total cost of the repair, after 6 weeks tops, you should have taken your complaint to the insurance company, asked to see your vehicle and got it out of that shop right away. Was it under investigation or something that actually held up the repair? Was it drivable? All these questions come into play when you have an issue with down time. Sometimes you can't always blame the repairer.

The rental car numbers threw me off, I thought it was really cheap to rent a car, but apparently I am wrong!

I blame my lack of knowledge on the fact I have never rented a car before as I am not even of age to do so at about 21, lol.

Why do they make it so you have to be 23 anyways? Doesn't make sense!

Re : Flexo's honda repair,

maybe you should read your insurance policy and see what they would do for you in an accident, You get what you pay for !

If your not 100 % satisfied then take it back to the shop and have it done correctly. next time do your home work and find a shop on your own. Ask around, or check the better business bureau.

To your dismay the insurance company only owes you basic transportation for a rental, You should be happy you had a car to drive, i laugh at people who drive pieces of crap and expect to receive a new luxury car in trade, lucky they don't rent old used cars.

Chris you raised a good point for all to take note of. You felt you had more choices because of not being the "at fault" party, ie. not going through your own insurance company. Having been in the collision repair business for over 30 years I have seen people have more problems with there own insurance company than the other party's. Why do we feel that we must accept less from the people we pay to insure us. Often times we trap ourselves when we shop for lower rates, don't we all, and signup with a new carrier only to find that cut rates often mean cut services such as inferior parts to those that were on the car at the time of the accident, rental car surprises, etc. The insurance company generally has to pay to restore your car to pre-accident condition, a misnomer in itself because before your car was in the accident it was "accident-free" and even after the repairs, it was now a repaired vehicle. However, if your had OEM(original equipment manufactured) parts on it before the accident, shouldn't it also have them after the accident. If this is explained to you that this is how your insurance company is "keeping your costs down", translate "keeping their profits up", at your expense, then ask yourself this: How often has my premium gone down over the years with my carrier, even without any claims? Is the enormous profit taking by my insurance company done at the expense of my safety? Ask your claims adjuster if the aftermarket sheet metal has been crash tested as the OEM parts were? If they say yes, ask them to produce the results of the test. They can't do that because they are not crash tested, even parts designated as CAPA approved and DOT approved only have been tested for corrosion and possibly weld strength, not how they stand up in a collision.

And also remember that some of the reason your rates go up, isn't because of the repair or parts but what about the people that sue your company for no or minor injuries thinking they can get a free ride for a while? Insurance companies try to keep the cost low for the repair for many reasons, you need to look at the big picture.

I recently sent this to the author of "7 things..."



I just came across your “7 things auto-body shops won’t tell you” and as a 2nd generation shop owner and industry writer, I find some of what you say right on target and other things, well, not so much.

I work hard to be an advocate for our industry and so am compelled to give you a few of my thoughts. I hope you find them informative and perhaps you will change some of your beliefs about receiving auto body repair.

Your item #2:

It is true that insurers make “agreements” with shops for pre-negotiated labor rates and set fees for certain operations. However, the insurers then attempt to make these contracted rates “stick” with all shops, from ABC to XYZ. The vast majority of shops are under the thumb of insurers when it comes to reimbursement with or without an “agreement”. However, you are not going to see an honest shop cutting corners by repairing parts they get paid to replace and inferring that this is a common tempted practice makes the entire industry appear questionable, when we are not. Most of us are independent business owners and our reputation with our customer is on the line everyday and everyday shop and after shop is doing the right thing by the customer.

The best place for people to get a referral to a repair shop is from family and friends with similar tastes and expectations when purchasing a service. Another good source is with the independent mechanic they may have a relationship with. The online services such as the one you mention are not hard to get listed on and only require you to pay the fee. I recommend that people check further than those types of listings by going to the BBB website or their state justice department and confirm the business has an honorable reputation. They should also look for certification in welding by I-CAR, and in competence by ASE. I-CAR provides a professional designation if certain levels of training are maintain so a consumer can look for this too, it’s the I-CAR Gold Glass Professional. If a shop doesn’t have an I-CAR certified welder (or equivalent – I don’t know what the equivalent is) and ask to see the documentation, the consumer should move on. ASE certifies competence through testing different aspects of the repair process, such as estimating, collision repair and painting.

Your item #3:

While everything here is as we experience it, there’s a touch more going on. Often in 3rd party claims – when it’s not your fault – it is becoming nearly impossible to get OEM parts for our customer. Insurers are just telling shops and customers that if they don’t like their settlement then go through their own carrier. By doing this the customer is then restricted by their own policy, in turn their insurer goes other the 3rd party insurer to collect and they still don’t have to pay for OEM parts. In addition, usually the only way we can get an insurer to pay for OEM parts is to provide proof that the aftermarket parts do not fit or are of inferior in terms of how they look – like in headlamp reflectors – when compared to the OEM. The way this is accomplished is by actually ordering the specified aftermarket parts, and when they are inferior – which isn’t always the case, but it is more often than not – calling the insurer for OEM parts approval. This in and of itself can easily add a week to the process depending on the insurers requirements for approval, some have to physically inspect the parts on location.

Your item #4:

Mechanics are synonymous with mechanical repair such as engine servicing which is not auto body repair. In auto body repair we have repair technicians; however, it is the estimator or customer service representative that normally communicates with the customer. The items that hamper an accurate delivery date more frequently than not, is not the shop over-scheduling, it is the waiting the shop must do for an insurer to approve things they either did not see or intentionally left off an estimate they prepared and in turn, handed to the customer to take to the body shop. The body shop, if not one of “contracted” providers you warn against earlier, is required, if they want to receive payment, to get approvals for every line item of labor, parts or materials PRIOR to moving ahead to correctly repair the vehicle. This is time-consuming and riddled with delays inflicted upon shops by insurers trying to get out of paying what they should.

Your item #6:

This is true for some of the top-end models in some of the higher-end lines. Not all models of all higher-end lines. Additionally, very few shops will actually have access to the certification process as it may be limited by market by the manufacturer to some extent. The investment, for example, to be Audi certified to repair Audi’s top-end models may exceed $100,000 and require a dedicated area for only that make of vehicle. Obviously, not every shop is in this kind of a repair market and are very qualified through other training and resources to repair nearly every other vehicle. If a consumer does their homework when looking for a shop, if a repairer is not qualified to work on their vehicle, they will tell them so. As an industry we want properly repaired vehicles, happy customers and we don’t want to expose ourselves to something we don’t know how to do. And don’t expect insurers to be willing to pay a higher price for a better repair. There are back yard shops in every community, they get paid the same rates by insurers as those of us who maintain a store front, donate to our communities, train and certify our employees and provide our employees with a benefits package.

I am also a freelance writer in the industry.

Thank you for your time,

Car Cam
Second generation body shop owner