Now I have been looking far and wide for the silver lining in the repair industry ,and low and behold I came across this for tax spending : The District Attorney’s offices around the state of California will now get grants of about $23 million to tackle the auto insurance fraud. Maria Ramirez has a tough job fighting auto insurance fraud in the most populous county in the state. Her division had been going through a lot of hurdles due to the rise in crime and the scaled-down government budgets. Hence, this announcement brought in a lot of cheer.
Now I cannot see how the tax payers should be footing the bill for this , I do however see that the insurance industry should .In a case of insurance fraud ( or so deemed ) the insurance has SIU that should and has authority to go after and even prosecute for fraud if found , so why does it get funded by tax payers again ??

Is A+ insurance really that ??

A + insurance carriers does not really mean how they handle you the customer , it is
based on financial standings to have enough money to settle a claim you submit .
Insurance comes in so many packages , cheap is just that . The largest disappointment
of claim handling is the fact that you don't get it your way . Years of paying don't give
you clout at a repair shop ,that's the agent who loves you paying the policy year after
year , and a shop ONLY follows what the insurance carrier says , not what the customer says.
The truth of the matter is know your policy ,ask the agent ,and know it before it is that day .
The # 1 customer complaint is use of aftermarket parts , can you believe it .
Please don't think this is crazy , they may look good to some , and pass the insurance spending decision
but that is because they are spending the money you already gave them , and in most cases
more than your yearly premium . The money saved is really easy .
100 cars a week in repair - insurance saves 100 dollars per car in after market parts usage -
**** 10,000 dollars to them , think about it they do .

A step back

Through the last month I did not get a post out , and I wanted to get back in the swing .
We left off with hidden information in the work on your car . California is expensive and
adding to that cost with no explanation is what has me here in the first place. My background is
extensive in the Auto Body repair industry , and after almost 30 years I have to vent out . I
have seen so many changes , and with the latest wave of "stick it to consumers " I had to start
writing this blog .
When you sit down for insurance , please make sure you sit down ! and read it  !
Please take the time to understand your policy , you can spend the money and not know what you have at all , unless you have had something to make you bring out a question . Now if you shop price then go ahead and take what you paid for , but if you have a budget and you are looking for product and feature you need to compare , " they are not all the same " .  I want to hit on this for a minute , "full coverage " is not full coverage of what ever you want , and most definately is not going to cover rental car after a accident , it is a ride along product , you can have it if you pay additional ,and you need to know that .

Something you may see ,or you may not .

What would you look for on your newly repaired car , would you know ?
First and foremost everyone looks at how much was the repair , well look for some other signs of price catchers , for instance Aftermarket Part , LKQ Part , Competative Price Part , and then ask what was it, and make sure it looks like what you want , not to say these parts are going to stand out , but some times they do
and you don't see it till some time in the future , then you get upset and it get's nuts to go back and resolve the " you did'nt tell me " or "it's not like it used to be " status .
Another area of growing concern is , do you know your rights , yea your rights , to use a part from Honda on your car , or does your Insurance say ( right next to your signature ) that your repairs are to use cost effective measures , to be compliant to their negototiations , to save money , or that you will get parts they like from wherever to make them happy .

And this is what it comes to .

It is 2011 is'nt it ?  Well I have seen many things for a cost effective repair to be done and this one takes the cake . Would you want your car to have a Used Frame Rail put in it  ? Well it's 2011 and it being done my friend , and it could be YOU next !! I cannot go into detail for everything to be exposed , but damn if it kills me to see this done . The real extent in plain english is that your car gets damaged , a estimate id written for body repairs , and just after the repairs start the managing insurance carrier or its assigned management from within a shop decides to change things , now this is normal , really it is happening all day long , but is it in your best interest , well that is the problem , a service writer would not want to tell you everything that has changed , why , because you would be upset , and then the insurance carrier that pressures the repair facility to this kind of work would say it was the shops decision , and low and behold the shop is the Bad Guy ,when all along the shop is being pressured to cut corners !!

Can you tell the difference ??

Today is a day for history , not only did a insurance company dictate regulation to a customer , it did it to the person thats the claimant ( second party to damage ) and got away with it . Have you ever really looked at a Auto Body estimate to see what parts are being used ? A insurance carrier pushes so hard on the repair facility for discounts and key performance indicators ,customer service , and then has now put the burden of advisement for parts usage on the shop service writer , and is getting away with it . Watch the estimate  and see what parts are being used and you might be surprised , its not the same as what the car was made with !

In the 21st Century ,Can you believe it !

I wanted to share with people a trend in Auto Repairs people may not know about , "clipping " or "sectioning" , now this was the old term for taking a used car from a wrecking yard and cutting your wrecked car and putting the two together ! Wow you might say , well yes , and it's back ! This process is being used today in Auto Body Repair from leading insurance companies as a way to save money ,and unless you know what your estimate or repair order says , you could get this on your next collision repair . Now I have to say , a bolt on fender or door is one thing , thats been smart since saving money was invented , but to take two wrecked cars and make them one , not what is in the best interest , and there are lots to say about this !!