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After an accident, you might think it would be obvious what’s wrong with your car and what repairs are necessary. But it turns out auto insurance companies and repair shops routinely disagree over repairs, and you should pay attention to such disputes.
In many cases, insurance companies do not accept a body shop's estimate of what a repair will cost, industry officials said. In other cases, the insurer will generate the original estimate, and a repair shop might disagree.
“In either case, we work with shops to come to an agreed-upon price to repair the vehicle,” says Thomas Hambrick, assistant vice president of media and public relations at insurance company The Hartford. The Hartford has applied for a patent on an automated system to review such estimates.
Michael Barry, vice president of media relations for the industry group Insurance Information Institute, notes people can disagree on several variables, adding, “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
What do insurance companies and repair shops disagree about? Here are the five most common sticking points, according to insurance and auto repair officials.
• Whether a part can be fixed or needs to be replaced. For instance, a garage’s estimate might call for replacing a body panel, but an insurer might want the body shop to try repairing it first, says Dan Risley, president of the shop owners group Automotive Service Association.
• What kind of replacement part to use. Sometimes an insurer will not pay for a part from the original manufacturer, insisting a used part or cheaper “aftermarket” version is good enough. Some high-end insurance policies guarantee use of original manufacturer parts.
• How long repairs should take. A repair shop might estimate a dent in a door will take six hours to fix, but an insurance company will think the work should be done in four, Risley says. Each extra hour is more labor cost. And each extra day adds to the insurer’s bill for a rental car, if the policy pays for it.
• The labor rate. A garage might have a per-hour cost that’s more than an insurer is willing to pay.
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• Whether there are errors in the estimate. An estimate might call for replacement of a part that isn’t damaged or omit something that does need repair.
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Disagreements tend to be resolved fairly quickly, Barry says. “It generally goes pretty smoothly, because the auto insurers and the auto body repair shops are going to be seeing one another again frequently,” he notes.
But such situations are considerably more rare for the rest of us, who might also have opinions about how our cars should be fixed. Your influence will depend on your insurance policy and state regulations. For instance, the contract might spell out what kind of parts can be used.
Most states require repair shop estimates to identify where non-original parts would be used, and nine states require customer consent for use of aftermarket crash-repair parts, at least in certain cases, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
So find out what your preferred auto shop thinks needs to be done, ask if there’s any disagreement from the insurance company and make your wishes known.
“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 says. “It’s a process that a consumer should watch closely.”
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Aubrey Cohen is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: acohen@nerdwallet.com.
NerdWallet is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
First let me say the African american manager I assume never greeted m..read moreFirst let me say the African american manager I assume never greeted me. We had new tires and two alignments done and less then 6 months later the tire was half bald which obviously indicates the alignment was not done properly. As soon as my husband begin to question and ask about next steps we were immediately told to read our contract and we were basically 'dumb' for thinking that should be pointed out. The manager said come back later and I'll do the rotation although you didn't read the contract over and over in an extremely patronizing manner. I have an 08 ml350 in good condition so if the work had been done right we would not need new tires less then 6 months later. More then that this gentleman is basically 'yelling' at my husband as if he is not intelligent. My husband is an accountant of high intellect I then informed him not to contract me because we own a business and are aware of how contracts works. At the end of the day we do what is right for the customer not in a manner that demeans or patronized them. He begin to yell louder mock me say ' I'm not dealing with you I assume because he did not want to be corrected by a women. This man was extremely unprofessional condescending. Funny thing is when the caucasian women went to get her car he placed her keys in her hands warmly and said have a beautiful holiday. But I did not even get a how are you today. Being in management for 17 years I have never personally experienced reverse racism. Guess there is a first time for everything. Please stay away from this place. If you can't please read your contract and you will be better served if your non black. Good luck and choose wisely.