Some old state and local laws are a kick to read. Though they must have resulted from good intentions, it is hard to comprehend the reason for a California law still on the books that makes it "a misdemeanor to shoot at any kind of game from a moving vehicle, unless the target is a whale." Another states, "no vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour." 

By Nevada law, it is still "illegal to drive a camel on the highway." And Washington state law makes it "…mandatory for a motorist with criminal intentions to stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town." The obvious purpose of some of these laws was to insulate the general public from the real and/or imagined menace of the smelly, smoke-belching, backfiring autos.

Strom disclaimer

Strom

Please do keep in mind that nothing I have written here, or ever have written, is intended in any way to be construed as legal advice since I don't profess to practice or interpret the law, or any application of it. What I write is my personal opinion, oftentimes backed by that of others. But that being stated, it is worth noting that some within the collision industry have come to realize that creating new legislation - making new laws aimed at regulating insurer infringement on us - too often erodes, rather than enhances, our right to engage in free enterprise.

New collision industry legislation is not necessarily a bad thing. But too many in the industry have come to view the creating of new legislation as a panacea for insurer abuses against repairers through disregard of existing laws and state codes. The arduous, time-consuming process of getting new industry legislation passed seems less frustrating than attempting to have existing legislation enforced, or amended. But continuously re-drawing new lines in the sand is seldom the solution; all too often new shop-friendly legislation soon becomes a launch-pad from which insurers can better control the collision industry.

Often, a hastily or poorly written piece of legislation becomes another "tool in the devil's workshop," so to speak, or at very least a room that insurers can later decorate to serve their own purposes. Legally holding insurers' feet to the fire to obey the myriad of existing states' laws could revolutionize and revitalize the collision industry, and assist greatly to "make whole" our true customers.

New legislation is hard work

New legislation involves lost time from your shop and family, and costs hard-earned money traveling to your state capitol to give testimony. Then, assuming on the rare chance that your legislation is actually brought before committee (in my state less than 10% of proposed legislation actually comes up for consideration), and further assuming that you are able to sway enough legislators' sympathies away from the interests of insurers who have heavily financed their re-election campaigns, your legislation may have a slim chance of being effective, at least until insurer-influences later have it amended to work against your original intent.

It's not a fun or inexpensive process. Collision industry-influenced legislation, which may appear bulletproof on paper, in later sessions is not uncommonly found to be worthless, or close to it, as insurer control tightens or even changes the whole concept for why the law was enacted. Insurer-influenced additions or deletions of words, before or after the law has passed, can change the law into one that can come back to bite you - hard.

Surmising that without laws there is chaos, too many falsely believe we need more laws to ensure a more orderly society. Among those laws passed to protect us from ourselves, gun laws arguably enacted in an honest effort to protect the general public from accidents, rampages, and general lawlessness have, in the opinion of a growing number, only increased the odds that criminals will meet less resistance.

Fighting fire with fire?

Recently a well-armed, disgruntled, ex-mall employee in Tacoma, Washington, took out his rage on everyone unfortunate enough to be in his way. One man, in attempting to subdue the would-be killer, was seriously wounded while trying to get his concealed weapon out of its holster. What you likely didn't hear on national news was that the realization that there were others in the mall that day that were armed and would also be gunning for this deranged man, was what brought him to surrender. At least one other man with a concealed weapon, and well trained in its use, stood his ground in a position to take the deranged gunman out had he stepped into range. It was the realization that he was going to meet armed resistance if he continued on his rampage that helped convince him to give up. Some of the most armed areas of the world are surprisingly the safest in which to live. Laws have their limitations, and their downside.

Laws need enforcement

On the other hand, what purpose do laws serve if they aren't enforced? Laws that are backed up by law enforcement, stiff fines, and penalties, do oftentimes help to deter future violations. A current action of a very large insurer and the one other insurers often look up to, under scrutiny recently disclosed that over 30,000 cars that the insurer had declared to be total-loss somehow never got reported as such, and consequently were resold, rebuilt, and received clean titles.

This all came to light when a lawsuit was filed against them in which a court demanded that this insurer turn over its documentation with regard to total-loss vehicles. The insurer shortly thereafter walked into the office of the Attorney General of Iowa, acting as if they had discovered a bookkeeping error. Praised for their willingness to correct this "error," this insurer was rewarded, basically, by being allowed to state the reimbursement amount they would be assessed, and pony-up that amount. Their "oops, we made a mistake that our bookkeepers just discovered, and we need to correct" approach seems to have appeased the attorneys general of each state affected, many of whom have former and/or present ties with the insurance industry.