Dick Strom

It’s time for the latest installment of Barons In The Buff, a collage of candid quotes from the mind-trust of insurance personnel, those who once walked in their shoes, and from those of us who know them all too well. We trust you will find these quotes educational and entertaining, and encourage you to send any notable quotes you’ve received to my e-mail listed above. No fabricated or embellished quips, please: the truth is always “stranger than fiction.”

Now sit back, read, and enjoy. It’s your turn to laugh and consider. Let’s hear from the emperors without their clothes on.

Seen and Heard in Strom’s Shop
But Modern Collision Rebuild (Strom’s shop) uses only the same quality parts that were used when your vehicle was manufactured… —Insurer rep’s statement to owner of damaged vehicle in explaining why the owner should accept use of imitation parts. The vehicle owner replied to the rep, “That’s exactly why I’m having them repair it!”

My estimate is like that Clint Eastwood movie, ‘A Few Dollars More.’—Comment of local insurer estimator to our office staff. My wife’s quick reply to him was, “But, the repairs on this vehicle will require ‘A Fist Full Of Dollars’ ”

Well, we don’t pay in dollars! —An insurer “supplement hotline” robot who was complaining about our billing in dollars frustrated when we told him we always bill in dollars, and that won’t change. Our shop appraiser wondered out loud, “So, what do they pay in… Pesos? Chickens? Goats?”

Somewhere along the line you’re going to have to take responsibility for the work you’ve done on this vehicle!... We can’t just keep throwing money at this! —Independent insurance estimator’s comment concerning additional supplemental items needed which, if he had included them on his “estimate,” we would never have needed to supplement. This is why we strictly repair vehicles from our own shop-generated estimates. If he had written a full and accurate estimate there would have been no need for supplements.)

All that customer would have to do is take their vehicle in, get it fixed and send the bill to the insurance company. The insurance company must pay the bill in full due to the fact they waived their right to inspect the vehicle before repairs commenced. —Comment of an insurance rep caught in his own trap: the insurer he represents had waived their right to inspect a vehicle before we repaired it.

All that stuff on your supplement is a bunch of fluff and crap. —Independent insurance estimator’s comment relating to our realistic supplement on another of his seriously short-sighted estimates. Challenging his “fluff and crap” statement against our itemized billing, he couldn’t describe to us which part of out billing was the “fluff” and which was the “crap.”

Who the “HELL” is she to be stopping work? —Outburst of an independent insurer estimator when informed that our customer (the vehicle owner) wanted us to stop work on her vehicle until she had obtained proof that her insurer would be covering all costs; she was adamant that there be no out of pocket expenses to her.