The idea of a deductable is to put some responsibility of damage back on the consumer. The higher responsibility level chosen, the lower the premium will be charged. Repair shops hiding the deductible’s should be penalized for further pushing this economy in the wrong direction. If a repairer wants to get more business, they should do excellent work and maintain a great reputation in the communities they work in.
This may not be considered rebating, but it should not be allowed. Allowing this is only going to continue to inflate insured’s premiums, all insured’s, not just thoes who have losses.
Shops squeel like stuck pigs when their estimates are questioned. No shop is going to give back between $100 – $1000 on a collision deductible without first burying it in inflated repair costs. What incentive would they have to legitimately refund deductibles at a time when profit margins have shrunken dramatically? It doesn’t make sense. Depending on the scope of loss, shops routinely tell their customers they’ll “try and get their deductible covered”. In essence, they’re saying “I’ll inflate my estimate by the amount of your deductible so you won’t have to pay.”
It ain’t as easy as it sounds to hide $500-$1,000 in a shop estimate that a trained eye will review. They can write the moon, but that doesn’t mean that the claims dept has to pay for it.
If shops are hiding the deductibles in unjustified labor times and rates, redundant operations, shop materials, labor supplements and so on, and get caught routinely, they’ll knock it off soon enough as they watch their profits walk out the door in the claimants’ pockets.
Yes but as soon as every shop gets wind of that, there rates increase another say $5 an hour. Now every claim has an increased hourly rate, and unless you have some agreement with that repairer on charges you are going to pay that rate. Which means that everything will trickle down to the consumer through higher rates. We claims adjusters are still tied by fair claims practices. Repairers should be tied to the same laws. Very poor public policy once again….
it’s not fraud! how many of those claims do you see where the glass folks will waive the ded to replace your windshield? i have seen that here. they truly want your business. if the same is for the repair shop and costs are not increased, why not allow it? some companies might need the work to get more income. afterall, claim related work is guaranteed paid work. whereas, if i just took it in for work, i might not be able to pay for the job right away. as a business owner, i might take this as an added bonus — knowing i am getting paid for parts and labor. but let me make this clear, only fair if i don’t increase my costs because i did agree to waive collecting the ded or reducing it. i might have not only got the insurance industry looking at creating business, but what about the consumer? if he had a minor repair, he might remember me and come back for repair and pay out of his own pocket.
Look at what happened to the Chicago AS admin caught with his hand in the cookie jar. And the LA Auto Club admin same deal. Insurance folks don’t have a problem stealing as long as they/we are the benefactors.
How can a shop possibly take dollars out of the job and still produce safe, complete, aesthetically indetectable repairs? Simple.
They cannot. Neither by the way can insurers for whom most who read here all work.
Most competent repairers are and have been “balance” billing the vehicle owner for years. The owners pay properly and then they change insurance companies – only to find the same treatment.
All this in years of absolute record profits for insurers. We should be ashamed of the insurance industry. Given the profits generated by the boxing gloves claims handling practices insurance employees should probably be getting paid more.
Helping people avoid their financial responsibility only fosters the mentality of getting something for nothing. They want lower rates so they take larger deductibles. Then, they don’t want to have to pay them so the shops conjure up this bogus scheme to get more people in the door. Those “rebated” deductible don’t just fall off trees. They’re hard dollars no shop has the margin to cover. The only plausible way to do it is to inflate the estimate. People just don’t get it. They think they’re getting something for nothing. In the end (literally and figuratively) they’re paying for this through higher premiums.
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The idea of a deductable is to put some responsibility of damage back on the consumer. The higher responsibility level chosen, the lower the premium will be charged. Repair shops hiding the deductible’s should be penalized for further pushing this economy in the wrong direction. If a repairer wants to get more business, they should do excellent work and maintain a great reputation in the communities they work in.
If the Adjusters do their job properly and repair costs are fair to Insurers who cares how repairers attract business if its legal and consumer wins.
This may not be considered rebating, but it should not be allowed. Allowing this is only going to continue to inflate insured’s premiums, all insured’s, not just thoes who have losses.
It won’t affect premiums so long as the rebate is not a line item on the repair estimate. If it is, the adjuster should just whack it.
Shops squeel like stuck pigs when their estimates are questioned. No shop is going to give back between $100 – $1000 on a collision deductible without first burying it in inflated repair costs. What incentive would they have to legitimately refund deductibles at a time when profit margins have shrunken dramatically? It doesn’t make sense. Depending on the scope of loss, shops routinely tell their customers they’ll “try and get their deductible covered”. In essence, they’re saying “I’ll inflate my estimate by the amount of your deductible so you won’t have to pay.”
It ain’t as easy as it sounds to hide $500-$1,000 in a shop estimate that a trained eye will review. They can write the moon, but that doesn’t mean that the claims dept has to pay for it.
If shops are hiding the deductibles in unjustified labor times and rates, redundant operations, shop materials, labor supplements and so on, and get caught routinely, they’ll knock it off soon enough as they watch their profits walk out the door in the claimants’ pockets.
Yes but as soon as every shop gets wind of that, there rates increase another say $5 an hour. Now every claim has an increased hourly rate, and unless you have some agreement with that repairer on charges you are going to pay that rate. Which means that everything will trickle down to the consumer through higher rates. We claims adjusters are still tied by fair claims practices. Repairers should be tied to the same laws. Very poor public policy once again….
it’s not fraud! how many of those claims do you see where the glass folks will waive the ded to replace your windshield? i have seen that here. they truly want your business. if the same is for the repair shop and costs are not increased, why not allow it? some companies might need the work to get more income. afterall, claim related work is guaranteed paid work. whereas, if i just took it in for work, i might not be able to pay for the job right away. as a business owner, i might take this as an added bonus — knowing i am getting paid for parts and labor. but let me make this clear, only fair if i don’t increase my costs because i did agree to waive collecting the ded or reducing it. i might have not only got the insurance industry looking at creating business, but what about the consumer? if he had a minor repair, he might remember me and come back for repair and pay out of his own pocket.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Look at what happened to the Chicago AS admin caught with his hand in the cookie jar. And the LA Auto Club admin same deal. Insurance folks don’t have a problem stealing as long as they/we are the benefactors.
How can a shop possibly take dollars out of the job and still produce safe, complete, aesthetically indetectable repairs? Simple.
They cannot. Neither by the way can insurers for whom most who read here all work.
Most competent repairers are and have been “balance” billing the vehicle owner for years. The owners pay properly and then they change insurance companies – only to find the same treatment.
All this in years of absolute record profits for insurers. We should be ashamed of the insurance industry. Given the profits generated by the boxing gloves claims handling practices insurance employees should probably be getting paid more.
Helping people avoid their financial responsibility only fosters the mentality of getting something for nothing. They want lower rates so they take larger deductibles. Then, they don’t want to have to pay them so the shops conjure up this bogus scheme to get more people in the door. Those “rebated” deductible don’t just fall off trees. They’re hard dollars no shop has the margin to cover. The only plausible way to do it is to inflate the estimate. People just don’t get it. They think they’re getting something for nothing. In the end (literally and figuratively) they’re paying for this through higher premiums.