I awoke in a cold sweat as from past nightmares, relieved that this particular nightmare didn’t have a direct bearing on my life. It certainly did affect the lives of others. I forced myself to remember every detail so the dream would not fade away. 

    In this bad dream, while passing doorway after doorway of a hospital-like facility, I saw familiar names posted on door placards, such as Fox Collision Centers and M2, whose self-absorbed reasoning dictated they take the low road against their own industry.
    Other rooms were occupied by local DRP collision shops who remained on the I.V. because of fear, greed, stupidity, or ignorance. What prompts anyone to participate in predatory pricing schemes and price suppression tactics that a RICO prosecutor would delight in unraveling?
    The common thread among these shops is that they each were being kept as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, their family and friends watching in teary-eyed silence as the unfortunates breathed their last breath. Much like a smoker who in spite of the risk unrealistically hopes that his bad habit will not eventually kill him, this Hospice for DRPs is, likewise, completely avoidable.
    Every shop owner with whom I’ve ever discussed Direct Repair has rationalized it as “a business decision” or “a way to grow my business.” Yet all along, each one understands that, in reality, DRPs are a means of suppressing trade, killing competition, taking jobs from others during shrinking markets, and participating in illegal steering plans as the recipient of work they normally would not have had unless they invested in personally selling vehicle owners on their shop’s abilities.
    In the process, through suppression of trade, these shop owners have aided and abetted the insurance industry in cutting all potential for shops’ fair profit; removed even a glimmer of chance for a return on investment; and suppressed a whole generation of employees who are avoiding the autobody  industry because of its lack of profit and a future.

Waiting to die
Around the corner was the waiting area at the Hospice. Sitting there in big leather chairs were those insurers who have promoted Direct Repair. No tears welled up in their eyes. Rather, they were there seeking indemnity for the re-repair costs of the vehicles abandoned by their own DRPs.
    All the usual suspects were there: State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Progressive, Safeco, reciting clichés aimed at temporarily indulging their dying-DRPs:
    •We underestimated the ability of non-DRP shops to survive.
    •Our plan was that they would have died long before now, leaving selected DRPs all the work and under our complete control.
    •Our plan was to hold independents hostage to the same concessions we extract from DRPs, and aggressively steer work away from them.
    •We thought the sheer numbers would have killed them.
    •Many non-DRP shops can thrive by dealing directly with the vehicle owner.
    •Why don’t you hurry up and die! You’re occupying valuable bed space, and your insurance won’t cover past today!
    As my memory of this nightmare faded away, I thought: “If these fools only knew!” What will it take for DRP shops to realize that insurers have no feelings for them beyond the profit they provide.