The collision repair industry has reached a point where enough is enough. Shops have been watching their bottom lines drop to a point that is becoming dangerous. The insurers are so accustomed to getting something for free that when there is a legitimate charge, they make us feel as if we are the ones that are being unreasonable by asking them to pay it. 

We are so used to hearing “sorry, we don’t pay for that,” that we accept this as a legitimate reason to give something away. Excuse me! On what basis are they saying that they won’t pay for something? On the basis that So and So’s never charges for it. Guess what – they are not at So and So’s.
    Recently I had an issue where a certain insurer (you know who you are) contacted my shop weeks after a repair was complete and said that they had located a tow company that would have towed a certain vehicle (that had already been completed) for $300 less and wanted me to reimburse them for the tow. They really stepped over a line here. Our shop does not mark up our tows and I paid the money out. Does this sound like extortion? Now they wanted me to pay them for the privilege of working on their insured’s vehicle.

     This is a large DRP and they told me to get the money back from the tow company. Essentially extort money out of the tow company. In a nutshell, they want me to use the same unethical business practices that they use—either I give the insurer back $300 or they quit using me; trickling down, the other tow company gives me back $300 or I quit using them.
    There is something drastically wrong here. The insurance companies are getting so arrogant that they think that they are the only ones entitled to make any money. Now they have decided that the tow companies are being paid too much.
    We could all get along fine if one thing, an easy fix for both sides, would change. Just listen to that little voice in your head that tells you it’s wrong to steal, and, guess what, it’s wrong to steal even if it’s your job.

Questionable ethics
As much as I would like to sugar coat this, I can’t. Deceiving the consumer and cheating them is becoming common practice for many insurers. Insurers are breaking the law every day when they ignore what they promise their policy holders.
    Insurers continue to use their well thought out word dialogues, statements like “We have had problems with that shop in the past” or “We cannot guarantee your repairs if you use them” or “You may choose any shop you want but we can expedite repair if you use one of our recommended shops.” Here’s my favorite: “They don’t meet our standards.”
    •Problem shop: If the truth were told, the “problem” shop, according to the insurer, was the shop that wanted to repair the vehicle in a way that cost the insurance company more money—even though it was the manufacturers’ recommended procedure.
    •Guarantee: We won’t guarantee the work if you use them. This is always a deal killer because what they don’t tell their claimants is that a warranty from a substandard facility is only a sure guarantee that you will receive more substandard work.
     •Expedite the Process: Insurers may purposely delay sending an adjuster out to stall the repairs so their words ring true. As a result, the customer ends up wishing that he would have listened to them and used the recommended shop.
    •Standards: When insurers say that a shop does not meet their standards, my response is: what standards? Even though a particular shop “does not meet standards,” the reality is that many of these shops exceed the “mythical” standards. Unfortunately, the consumer usually assumes the opposite, which is that the insurer’s standards are on the higher level.