Body shops in Massachusetts, California, and Tennessee are turning to legal documents designed to help them get paid for good work. The shops are using materials from Coverall Law in Wareham, Mass., under its Forever Forms program to clarify and cement work relationships with collision repair clients. A Massachusetts shop on its own taps state documentation for agreements it signs with vehicle owners. Shops in Illinois focus their no-nonsense approach on relationship-building with their customers.
While not quite "coast-to-coast" — four states leave gaps — new moves suggest concerted efforts as combined as possible by shops in different markets toward a common goal: what shop operators commonly call "quality and safe" repairs. Coverall founder and managing attorney Sean Preston plans to get Forever Forms to Florida next, where state association president and db Orlando Collision owner Drew Bryant speaks out on OEM and insurance issues.
At its core, owners making OEM their sole focus, from the Illinois owners above, to Florida and Colorado and Texas and Idaho, to multi-state MSO QCG — which also just entered Florida — are doing yeoman's work.
Forever and ever (forms)
Now they'll have the paperwork, too.
Preston has spent nearly three years developing Forever Forms, in what he describes as a three-pronged approach:
The first draws on real-world examples to identify best practices — what Preston calls "a wish list of forms" for high-integrity shops. "They are the professionals," he said.
The second is continuous improvement. Forms are state-specific and reviewed annually. "What are the changes in the law? Here's an emerging issue," Preston said.
The third is testing and collating results, tapping exponential cumulative results from thousands of repair examples at body shops nationwide.
There are restrictions in practice of course — attorneys are licensed state-by-state, what is and isn't formal and actual legal advice, who will represent the shop if it comes to a court — but an essential idea is providing what shops need in formal documents when starting a repair relationship to ensure payment at the end of it.
"It's paperwork shops can use. This is what the customer signs, updated for life, with unrestricted access to me and my team [and] a [searchable] members-only platform," Preston said.
Materials are copyrighted, customized to shops licensing their use. Coverall does only collision repair law.
He has 50 to 60 shops paying annually about what one average repair costs; pricing's in process for 2026. The program rolls out as Preston works with attorneys and auto body associations in other markets. "I want to be in 30 states in five years," he said.
Your materials may vary
Preston is "completely devoted to collision repair and their customers," said Evangelos "Lucky" Papageorg, executive director of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, Massachusetts, the state auto body association.
He said he understands body shops "have found them extremely beneficial, making sure customers are aware of their obligations. Those who have them are happy with them … documentation is making everyone aware."
Some Massachusetts shops have taken a similar approach independently. Steve Proia, who runs two body shops in the state, has used a documentation package that began to take shape about five years ago, "when we were getting pushback from the insurance companies."
His history here also includes past help from Rodrigues Law Group, with which Preston briefly worked early on, as well. Proia said his customers sign a packet of materials using Docusign.
"Customers sign it every time, but we've only used it with insurance companies a couple times," Proia said, generally on storage rates. Once insurers realized he'd fight, and had the paperwork to prove it, there's less tension.
"When we first started it was a battle, every single car, fight-fight-fight," he said. "It's very smooth these days. We do what we say we're going to do and we have the documentation."
Thoughtful integrity
This is what California wants, said Oscar Moreno, president of Integrity Auto Collision Center in Fairfield.
The NorCal owner emailed Autobody News that after years on the front lines of managing claims, he saw a critical need for strong, clear contract materials. "I sought someone specializing in contract law," Moreno wrote. Shops "need to protect their interests and be paid for services rendered to keep their doors open." Moreno said shops need regularly updated documents in a state active in collision repair legislation and regulation.
Illinois lawyer Patrick McGuire has talked with Preston several times in the latter half of this year as Preston has developed forms to address common situations shops face. McGuire said the question is how to make it work broadly: "How can it be done at scale? You're not going to outspend [insurers], you're not going to out-bully them. The only hope is to out-think them. There are answers out there."
Preston noted shops face the same issues in payment battles that vehicle owners experience when they get in the collision itself: it happens rarely, and the amounts are usually relatively small. No one gets good at it and lawyers aren't interested. You want to do right but it rarely comes up, as global insurers wield national clout.
One result of this new quasi-coordinated effort is shops knowing they're not alone.
Coverall Law and Forever Forms seek shops that "take pride in what they do," Preston said. He's visited many in some state sojourns. "We have a conversation; we have to know about your shop. You can't sign-up online."
He's been known to call other shops and the state association to check reputations.
"My team aims to empower shop owners to win, and all we ask is that they align with our values of quality, integrity, and the mission of moving this industry forward," Preston said. "These forms are the foundation for everything we're trying to change in this industry."
Paul Hughes