Rear ended - what to expect?

[Bob99b5]

This is 100% bullshit.

I know many shops near me on insurance lists that do shit work, and ones that are NOT on lists that do great work. I'm more inclined to believe they get on lists just because they cut discounts to ins. companies that send them work.

Now that I think more on it, MOST the shops I know that are shit were recommended by insurance companies.

So what you're saying is that an insurance company would keep sending their customers to shops that do crappy work? Then get bad reviews, and have to pay again to have the work re-done somewhere else and deal with the administrative burden of reversing the charges and payments to the original shop? And once they went through that - what, three/four/five times, pick any number - they'd keep sending their customers there?

I don't think you fully understand how the industry works. Take any of the big-name insurers - the one that starts with P for example that spends $600 million a year on advertising. They track everything on a repairs performed by shops on their list - cycle time, cost, quality, customer satisfaction, and responsive - and send work to shops based on their scores. If a shop can't keep up, they don't remain on the list.

The bottom line is what I said - there are good and bad shops out there, and you should always get referrals and look at the shop yourself. Just because a shop is on an insurance company list doesn't mean they pay kickbacks to the company, or that they do bad work. In most cases, it's exactly the opposite because it takes a lot of quality to remain on their lists. And if a shop can't meet the metrics they're dropped, and rather than say they can't meet the companies' quality metrics they play the "we're independent" card.

Sponsored

 

[PJR202]

Use the insurance companies shop, if you don't like the first one ask for another. They may not all be winners but most do great work. They are held to very high standards. They get paid to do good work, if they do bad work they piss off customers, when that happens management gets pissed and over reacts.

Boy did I learn this lesson the hard way.

Long story short, I had major hail damage and went with a shop that wasn't on my insurance company's list. Found out about a year later they had fixed at least the hood and roof but charged the insurance company for new panels. So there I am with the bondo sinking and have half the car once again with dents in it. Took it back to the shop in good faith and they showed me the paperwork claiming new panels and told me I'd been in another storm..lol. Like a massive (based on the damage) hail storm mysteriously hits and no one notices or has damage other than me? Come on...

Took it to a dealership shop just to have someone verify my suspicions. I got good info and a few pieces of evidence that clearly backed me up. I called my insurance company, explained the situation and sent a letter with pictures to support it. They send an estimate guy out. We went over the car together and I explained everything as we went. He seemed in agreement.

The insurance company calls and basically says "we'll put their name on a list of non-recommended shops, but since they weren't one of our preferred shops there's nothing we can do. Your deductible (for the second time) will be $1,000."