It's time for the seventh installment ofBarons 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 who know them best. 

Strom

We trust you will find these quotes educational and entertaining, and en-courage you to send any notable quotes you've received to my address listed at the end of this article. No fabricated or embellished quips, please. Now sit back, read and enjoy - it's your turn to laugh - and consider.

Character of insurer representatives

"If you work exactly off my estimate, we won't be responsible for the poor quality of your work." (actual statement from our "favorite" insurance adjuster)

"Just reinstall it in the car and maybe it'll last another 6 months before it goes out. Then I can say its not accident-related and deny it." (adjuster's comment concerning a shattered A/C fan motor assembly badly needing replacement; he acted somewhat as if he was joking when he made this statement, but did not include the part in his estimate)

"You mean you are going to hold this vehicle hostage until you get our check?" (insurer on a $13K repair)

"We won't pay the shop the disputed dollar amount, but we will reimburse you (the customer) the full disputed amount if you pay the shop that portion." (insurer rep who knew by law the shop was due payment, yet refused to admit it to shop, and pay up)

"At the end of the day, we [NRMA -- the Insurance Australia Group] are the customer. It's our business that we're passing for [collision repairers] to do for us, and we're essentially saying we want those repairers who are interested in [our] work to bid for [our] work. I don't see that as an unfair process…" (Michael Hawker, CEO of NRMA stating his company's position on repairs, reported in 9/25/05 CRASH Network)

"I don't think (the insurer) will pay for the license plate frame because it is A/M." This adjuster then said they would be paying for an A/M bumper for the vehicle. When questioned about this he explained that his company had no problem with his using parts that devalued the vehicle, rather than added to its value. We were talking about a $5.00 A/M license plate frame! (an independent adjuster's reasoning to a shop appraiser)

"You're not the only one waiting for a supplement check…we have a lot of other people that haven't been paid yet either." (adjuster's comment upon our calling to collect an overdue supplement; like this is supposed to make us feel better)

"I know that it needs to be done, but we just don't pay for that." (claims manager's conclusion after our trying to reason with him to pay for tinting to a blendable match.) He then stated he pays for this operation only 20% of the time. When we asked him if he was suggesting we only tint the paint for two cars out of ten, he replied that was all he would pay. When we asked what he would suggest we do if the next ten vehicles that came in were all brand new silver metallic cars, his response was that he still would only pay to tint two of them. When we asked about his arbitrary denial of tinting, his response was, "that's not arbitrary."

"Car company (OEM) parts are NOT crash tested. There are no federal rules governing aftermarket parts whether made by a car company or a non-car company. CAPA manufacturers build parts with the same physical, mechanical and chemical properties as car company parts. Experienced engineers test CAPA parts to assure their similarity to car company parts in all of these areas." (CAPA spew. One has to wonder what the NHTSA regularly tests, if not OEM parts on factory-built vehicles. Also, if CAPA parts are built with the same properties as OEM, why do they weigh different, contain different weld locations, rust more rapidly, etc?)

"Since CAPA's incorporation in 1987, over 18 million CAPA certified parts have been sold. There have been only two complaints about corrosion in that time." (more CAPA spew)

"There are 'not-included' P-page operations listed in CCC that are needed for a complete repair, but the 'industry standard' on these is that they are free." (statement made by a claims manager to us in the presence of a group of local insurance agents that sell that company's insurance; this raised some serious eyebrows among the agents)