This article was written by ezinearticles.com...we wanted OUR customers to be aware!

Promoting preferred body shops is standard procedure for many insurance companies. If you are insured by one of the insurance companies that has preferred body shops, you are already the prime target for this trap.

Insurance companies negotiate with body shops. They will offer the body shop a large amount of claims work. The body shop must agree to do the work for lower negotiated labor and parts pricing. Body shops look at the deal and see that even though their profit margin might be lower per car, they will get more business.

The body shop will usually have to agree to use cheap aftermarket parts, which are of inferior quality to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts. OEM auto parts have to pass strict inspection with the US Department of Transportation to be installed on a new vehicle. Aftermarket parts do not undergo such inspections. They might fit your car, but are arguably of lower quality than OEM parts.

It's a great deal for the body shop, as they get more business. It's a great deal for the insurance company, as they lower claims costs. (YOU and YOUR car are who lose out in this situation.)

The insurance company will tell you that if you agree to have your car repaired in their preferred body shop, they'll guarantee the repairs, and make the repairs happen quicker.

But just because your car LOOKS good after the repairs doesn't mean that all of the identical repairs were done to return your car to its pre-loss condition. In many cases, the body shop cuts corners with the encouragement of the insurance company.

So, who is in the trap?

The policyholder who has an automobile claim after a wreck is in the trap! Your car may be LESS SAFE after repairs using aftermarket parts, and certainly will sustain a drop in value after the repairs.

Here's the Escape Strategy

There is NOTHING in most car insurance policies that forces you to accept the preferred body shop of your insurance company. Check your policy to be sure.

After the wreck, insist that the wrecker tow your car to a body shop of YOUR own choice. If you do not know a reliable body shop, insist that they tow the car to the closest dealer of your car's make. For example, if your car is a Toyota, have them tow it to a Toyota dealer.

Have your chosen body shop write an estimate, using only original manufacturer's parts.

The insurance company's adjuster or auto appraiser can come to the body shop of your choice to write his estimate. Make sure he gives you a copy of his estimate.

Once you have seen both estimates, insist that the estimate using original manufacturer's parts be used. By doing this, you can be certain that your vehicle will be repaired to "like kind and quality" to its pre-loss condition.

In addition these shops typically can not save you on your deductible which is something we try to do for all our customers.

 

its good to have a body shop who is looking out for metro after hearing so many horror stories about local shops.

 

Yeah, just went through this with my wife's '07 Accord a couple months ago. We have the "lizard" for our insurance and ended up going to the preferred shop. They used either refurb OEM or 3rd party parts for the repair (only 2 of the 10 parts needed were NEW OEM). Luckily the damage wasn't bad so no driveability issues were in play and the 3rd party front bumper fits perfectly. But that doesn't change the fact that I took a 100% Honda in there and left with a 96% Honda because they saw fit to use Habib's parts for some of it. Based on my experience it's actually not a bad thing for a minor claim but if you have some serious damage make sure you do your due diligence.

 

yea i really just want people to be aware of what scam they are trying to pull now, they make it seem like the preferred shops are great and the best way to go and blah blah blah and a lot of the times they are the worst thing in the world..

 

yea ive gone through other people's insurance companies when i had my integra. one priced new oem parts for my front end for accident #1 and one priced a used rear bumper and tail light from a junk yard for accident #2, but at least it was oem. couldnt argue because i was pocketing the money and buying used parts and doing the work on my own.

 

when I was at Honda, ands dealing with BS claims, the insurance would write the estimate with used parts from xxx graveyard xxxx ph #,
the parts would be like a used front or rear subrame, control arm blahblah...
and if the insured wanted NEW ( as did I in the customers eyes, for I dont like used parts.. esp in big parts ) they would have to pay for it...

if the insurance would pay 6000, and with new parts & labor, was 7300, the insured would be out the extra 1300.

insurance companies suck.

 

we pay our premiums in full. we dont pay them 75% in cash and 25% in used clothing.

 

UCC rocks.. Thanks for the info.

Saving up to have you guys do a full paint over on my car.

 

we fight these battles daily for are customers, it used to be not so bad but its gotten really bad lately...we had a 08 335i convertable at the shop that had some major damage and the insurance wanted us to repair some panels that in no way should be repaired...needless to say we eventually got OEM bmw parts for it all...

 

Great analogy