After an accident, you may make a car insurance claim and believe it is clear what is wrong with your car and what repairs are required. However, it turns out that auto insurance companies and repair shops frequently differ on repairs, and you should pay attention to such arguments.
Insurance companies frequently reject a body shop’s estimate of how much a repair will cost, according to industry officials. In other circumstances, the insurer will provide the initial estimate, and the repair shop may disagree.
“In either case, we work with shops to come up with an agreed-upon price to repair the vehicle,” says Thomas Hambrick, associate vice president of media and public affairs at Hartford Insurance. Hartford has applied for a patent on an automated system for evaluating such estimations.
Michael Barry, vice president of media relations for the Insurance Information Institute, says that people can differ on a variety of factors, but that “in most cases, these are resolved after an amicable negotiation.”
It’s not in an insurance company’s interest to put an unsafe car back on the road, Barry says.
Points of contention over car insurance claims
What issues do insurance companies and repair shops differ on? Insurance and auto repair professionals have identified the five most common sticking spots.
- Whether a part can be fixed or needs to be replaced. For example, a garage’s estimate may call for the replacement of a body panel, but an insurer may prefer that the body shop attempt to fix it first, according to Dan Risley, president of the Automotive Service Association, a group of shop owners.
- Which type of replacement part to use. An insurance may refuse to pay for a part from the original manufacturer, claiming that a used part or a less expensive “aftermarket” version is sufficient. Some high-end insurance packages cover the use of original manufacturer parts.
- How long repairs should take. A repair shop may estimate that a dent in a door will take six hours to repair, while an insurance company may believe the job can be completed in four hours, according to Risley. Each additional hour increases labor costs. And each additional day increases the insurer’s fee for a rental car, if the policy pays for it.
- The labor rate. A garage may charge a higher per-hour rate than an insurance is willing to pay.
- Whether there are errors in the estimate. An estimate may call for the replacement of a non-damaged element or exclude something that requires repair.
Where you fit in
Barry adds that disagreements are usually settled very fast. “It generally goes pretty smoothly, because the auto insurers and the auto body repair shops are going to be seeing one another again frequently,” according to him.
However, such scenarios are much less common for the rest of us, and we may have our own ideas about how to maintain our autos. Your impact will be determined by your insurance policy and state rules. For example, the contract could specify what types of parts can be used.
According to the Insurance Information Institute, the majority of states require repair shop estimates to identify where non-original components would be used, and nine states need customer approval for the use of aftermarket crash repair parts, at least in some circumstances.
So find out what your chosen auto shop believes has to be done, inquire if there is any disagreement with the insurance company, and express your wishes.
“I think the consumer has a vested interest in seeing that the process runs smoothly and that the car is returned to a state of good repair,” Barry shares. “It’s a process that a consumer should watch closely.”
