Today’s “industry standard” is rapidly becoming the industry substandard. This new substandard is becoming the norm and the so-called “measuring stick” that all other repairs are judged by.

So what happens when the above standard repair is required? Will the insurer be forced to total the vehicle or will the quality repair be revived only when needed. Either the vehicle is repaired correctly or it isn’t.

Will we be telling our techs which cars to hack out and which ones need to be repaired the correct way? Techs have long since formed bad habits and most have long forgotten what it felt like to take pride in their work. 

As insurers hammer on cost and time lines, quality rarely enters the picture. A happy customer with a good CSI report still doesn’t mean that the unsuspecting consumer received a quality repair. Many customers leave shops happy, never knowing that they had received a substandard repair –  far less than they are entitled to when paying insurance premiums.

By deceiving the public with massive advertising campaigns and donating to the right political organizations (such as the DOI), insurers are able to sway public opinion. They do this just to make more money, but responsibility to the consumer, along with fair and equitable business practices, must not be abandoned.  Let’s quit passing the buck and step up and tell the truth about collision repair.

Regardless of how often you tell me that black is white, black is still black. If aftermarket parts are truly “like kind and quality,” why would anyone have a problem using them? And if your friendly insurance company were really your partner, they would be concerned about your bottom line.

Truth is truth. The insurance company is not our partner, and aftermarket parts will never be the same as OEM. There, I finally said what everyone already knows. Does the insurance company speak the truth? Either they do or they don’t. Decide for yourself. It can’t be both ways.