A shop that’s a client of mine recently had one of their employees reach out to me. She’d been in an accident in which the other person was at fault, so she was a claimant, trying to work with the other party’s insurance company.
She sent me a recording of her conversation with the insurer’s representative, who told her, based on the photos she submitted, they thought her vehicle was a total loss, and she “needed” to give them permission to tow the vehicle from the shop to an offsite location.
She told the insurer she wanted someone to come out to look at the vehicle first to make sure it’s a total loss, because if it wasn’t, she didn’t want it going to another location where something might happen to it, and then perhaps having it towed back to the shop if it wasn’t actually a total loss. Even if it is a total, she said, she didn’t want them taking the vehicle without telling her what her settlement amount would be.
When I listened to the recording of this conversation, it was just appalling — though perhaps not surprising — to me. The insurer’s representative basically told her they weren’t going to look at her car nor give her a value or an estimate on it until it was moved. If you leave it at the shop, he told her, they’re not going to pay for any more storage and she would be responsible for that. She said that wasn’t true.
“You’re not allowing us to follow our process, and that’s problematic,” he told her. “We’re not going to pay for any storage beyond today. We’re not wrong here because this is what we do. You’re not an insurance company or an insurance company professional so I get your hesitation. But I’m telling you what we’re going to do here.”
This guy was so arrogant. It was just: Here’s the way it is, and if you don’t like it, go through your own insurer.
Listen, I’m not anti-insurer. There’s good insurers and bad insurers, just as there are good shops and bad shops. But this kind of madness has to stop. What’s happened to consumer rights, to doing the right thing for the consumer?
I have shops telling me every day how they’ll upload an estimate, and the insurance company — eventually — just sends it back with changes, sometimes cutting it in half, and there’s no conversation about it.
We always hear about how cycle times are increasing. Well, I’ve got to defend the collision repairers on this one. Yeah, there are some things shops could do to be better stewards of the whole process. But carriers need to look in the mirror. They’re causing a lot of the delays. They’re slow to respond. And when they do, sending back an estimate cut in half, with no discussion, just leads to additional supplements and delays.
I call it hiding behind a computer screen. That old saying about insurers using the process to “defend, deny and delay” is more prevalent today than ever before. I’ve even talked to former insurance executives, now retired — and even some people who currently work for an insurer — who have told me, “Mike, we agree. We understand.”
The madness has to stop.
I don't know the full answer. I don't know the solution. But I’m in shops regularly, so I see and hear what’s happening. I think the carriers are making it harder, not easier, for shops to do business with them. This isn’t about a shop wanting an OEM part and the insurer wanting to only pay for non-OEM. This isn’t about a shop wanting five hours to fix something and the insurer wanting to pay for two. In the old days, when there was a discussion to be had, those things could be worked through.
And I’m not talking here about things like OEM safety inspections, measuring a steering column, friction points like that. I’m talking about basic “Estimating 101” items.
But now there’s such an arrogance and a lack of face-to-face conversations. Some of it is appraisers with a lack of training. They’re asking for photos of every little thing. If I’m doing 20 cars a week, and my technicians need to stop to take a photo every time they seam seal something in order for the shop to be reimbursed, isn’t that negatively impacting cycle time? How is that helping the customer experience?
If insurers truly care about cycle time, bring some collision repairers into a room and ask them what insurers are doing that keep shops from being more productive and making the most of their time.
Insurers are regularly asking shops to release a vehicle before they have been paid. “Wait, you’re asking me to release the car and trust you’ll send me a check for $10,000, but yet you don’t want to trust me that I hooked up battery support before scanning a vehicle without stopping to take a photo of it?”
Maybe this is just me venting. I’m not sure anything will change. But I know there’s a lot of shops nodding their heads as they reading this, and giving me an “Amen.”
Surely, we can come together, putting consumers first, and figure out a way to improve this.
Mike Anderson