Are you in charge of your car repairs or is your insurance company?
I just have to get this off my chest. The auto body business is getting run over by your insurance company and needs your help. The auto body professional has very little say anymore about either the quality of the parts installed or the quality of the work performed on your vehicle after an accident. By removing us (the car owners) from the equation they have become a virtual monopoly. They have literally set the labor prices in that industry. If not cooperated with they are capable of putting good businesses out of business. They will tell you that they do it in the interest of keeping your insurance prices down. They have managed to make it mandatory that cars be insured and they set those prices and now they also set the repair prices and standards. Perhaps that is acceptable to some but to me it just stinks. You can help yourself and your preferred quality body shop by finding out the difference between the proper parts and methods of restoring your car to pre-accident condition and safety standards and what the insurance company is willing to pay for. Just because they have big fancy facilities and are preferred insurance shops doesn’t mean they are on your side. The insurance companies prefer shops that are willing to do things as cheaply as possible and in fact they may even have controlling interest in some shops. Ask questions and deal directly with your body shop. “Lifetime Warranties” won’t protect you if substandard bumper parts are used and you are in another accident or start getting rust issues because proper corrosion prevention wasn’t adhered to in order to stay within the insurance companies’ price fixing. Perhaps I am all wet but if anyone has better info please feel free to fill me in.Thanks again for letting me take the wheel…..
Robert