Upon State Farm’s October 10th, 2011 written denial to provide consideration for a plethora of recommended and necessary repair procedures and materials, Ray Gunder owner of the 44 year old Gunder’s Auto Center instructed his legal counsel, Attorney Brent Geohagan, to prepare the necessary steps to file a lawsuit against the nationwide insurer at the request of and authorization by his customer.

The lawsuit was prepared and filed on October 25th along with a Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) which was accepted by the courts on December 16th, 2011. State Farm’s legal counsel responded in a letter to Gunder’s Attorney dated January 19th, 2012 stating, in part, “at all times State Farm acted in good faith and fairly and honestly toward its insured, with due regard for its insured’s interest.”

Furthermore the correspondence states, in part,  “State Farm has decided to exercise its rights under Florida law to avoid unnecessary litigation. Accordingly, enclosed is a check made payable to you and Raymond Gunder in the amount of $1090.70—which is the amount demanded in the CRN, plus statutory interest. This amount is paid to ensure that any alleged violations are cured in accordance with the statute of Florida law and to preclude unnecessary litigation. Again, State Farm’s payment should not be construed as an admission of any wrongdoing or liability on the part of State  Farm who denies any liability, as well as the standing of Mr. Gunder to pursue any claims, but exercise of its right under Florida law to avoid protracted, vexatious litigation.”

On receiving the news from his attorney, Ray Gunder said, “I am elated that State Farm has chosen to step up and pay what was due our customer and that State Farm elected to settle rather than proceed with a long drawn-out and costly litigation. The word “vexation” means harassing; and/or annoying as if the settlement was settled merely as a nuisance claim. I’ve never once found where an insurer has ever overpaid a claim and they didn’t in this matter either.  They knew what they owed and why and that they would lose if it went in front of jury. They also knew, they would surely incur additional and significant legal costs and interest just as they have in the past. I don’t care what they say their motivation was as long as they pay us so we can pay our team-members for every drop of sweat they drop in the repair of our customer’s vehicles.”

“It will be interesting to see how the other three active lawsuits we have filed against State Farm on behalf of our customers turn out,” continued Gunder. “There are an additional 25 more in line behind those which are ripe to be filed for similar issues. We’ll just keep pounding that rock!”

Eddie Quintela, the shop owner from Delray Beach, FL, who wanted to know why GEICO was charging his customers a 10% deductible on their domestic OEM parts and other labor operations, regardless of fault, and in addition to regular deductible and/or applicable betterments, has been vindicated. Quintela was finally able to get GEICO to remove the deductible off one of his customer’s estimates.

Quintela, who owns Collision Concepts Inc., asked why GEICO was apparently assessing this fee in Palm Beach county but not in nearby Polk county; and why an insured driving a foreign made vehicle was not deducted 10% for OEM parts, but one driving a vehicle made in the United States was made to pay 10% extra for their parts. Other labor operations were defined as wet sand and buff and all clips and bolts. GEICO claimed it was customary in his market, while Quintela disagreed with proof from surveying other shops in the area. Collision Concepts is not a DRP for the insurer.

“Just want to say thank you to Geico for paying what is fair and reasonable to repair our mutual customer’s vehicle,” said Quintela, “It is a good start to what I hope is a new and improved relationship between Geico and all collision repair facilities.”

To view the full text of the email exchanges between Quintela and GEICO please see Autobody News January 2012 Edition or www.autobodynews.com, search ‘Quintela’.

ABRA Auto Body & Glass is forging ahead with its growth plans by announcing the opening of a full service collision center in Warner Robins, Georgia.

The newest state-of-the-art facility is located at 581 Carl Vinson Parkway in Warner Robins which is 90 miles southeast of Atlanta. The opening increases the total number of ABRA repair centers to 115 in 12 states.

Tim Adelmann, ABRA’s Executive Vice President of Business Development said, “This is an exciting time at ABRA. Our long-term growth plans are taking shape and we’re looking forward to serving the Warner Robins community. We built this repair center to make it convenient for vehicle owners and insurance partners to find a cutting-edge repair center in their neighborhood.”

The repair center is equipped with all the latest industry technology to maintain high standards and assure top quality repairs. Staff technicians have extensive experience and receive rigorous ongoing industry training.

Duane Rouse, ABRA’s Chief Executive Officer said, “Our increased presence in the Georgia market is part of the strategy to accelerate our national growth in 2012.”

The GCIA held their first meeting of 2012 on January 19 at the MAADA Headquarters in Atlanta.

The meeting’s speaker was Dave Gruskos, President of Reliable Automotive Equipment, a New Jersey company that provides repair equipment along with training. Reliable Automotive Equipment’s intention is to support new technology and provide their customers with the correct resources to repair vehicles consistent with manufacturers approved methods and procedures.

Recently, Dave presented at a well-received course during the 2011 SCRS Repairer Driven Education at SEMA. Dave discussed the new repair procedure when working with Aluminum and high strength steel to the 50 or so attendees at the GCIA meeting.

One thing discussed during the GCIA meeting was that heat is the enemy to high strength steel. Some manufacturer’s do not want techs welding at all on these vehicles and have developed ways to rivet and apply adhesives to perform the repair. Dave also talked about self-piercing rivets and flow-form rivets that have to be punched out, not drilled. Then adhesives are used in conjunction with the rivets to create a solid repair.

The equipment and training investment needed to perform these repairs is well over $100,000, not to mention the expensive rivets and adhesives. Dave also reminded everyone to follow the OE recommended repair procedures when working with these vehicles and use OEM parts. Many times the warranties are voided if salvage or A/M parts are used.

Attendees were captivated by the part of Dave’s presentation concerning air bag reaction time. Air bag reaction timing is measured in milliseconds and the timing is critical to occupant safety. Dave had a couple of videos showing the effects of a slowed reaction in air bag timing. The results were shocking; the air bag actually deployed late, the occupant’s head (actually a melon) hit the steering wheel and then the air bag deployed. The melon absolutely exploded. If this would have been a real person, there would have been serious injuries or even death.

For more information about Dave and Reliable Automotive Equipment please visit www.raeservice.com.

In other news, the GCIA will be performing their 6th Annual GCIA Labor Rate survey beginning on March 5. CSi Complete will again perform the survey. This year the group will survey the rate for repairing high strength steels. Since there are different repair procedures and equipment that must be used, the group wants to know what shops are charging for this type of repair. Please visit gacollisionindustry.wordpress.com.