Car Accident Insurance – What You Need to Know

Car Accident Insurance – What You Need to Know

If you inhabit or have ever frequented a large city you are well aware that the auto traffic may be horrendous, certainly during peak hours of the day. A car accident in Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Fort Worth, Seattle, or any major city can result at any time. It’s no secret that a car accident can range from trivial to tremendously serious, perhaps even causing deaths. Obviously damage to the motor vehicles involved is by far less serious than injury or fatality, however great that damage may be.

Now if you’re involved in a motor vehicle accident you’ll in due course (and most likely sooner) be making a telephone call to your insurance representative. But it may well come as a shock to you to find out that the advice you receive from your agent may not be trustworthy, and we’re going to examine the reason why.

To begin with, let’s define “Direct Repair Program.”.

A direct repair program is a contractual agreement between a car insurance company and a repair shop. In this example, the body shop has agreed to provide car repairs for the insurance company’s claimants. The insurance company is in return, required to suggest that shop to their customers in need of car repairs.

The auto body shop is required to base all repair estimates on the use of parts built by a company other than the original car maker (that is, aftermarket parts). Furthermore, the contract stipulates that responsibility for repair rests with the shop, and if any lawsuits are brought due to substandard car repairs, the repair service must indemnify the insurance company.

Now here is precisely why this agreement is bothersome: the automobile parts the body shop is required to utilize under this contract, while less expensive, are at the same time of lesser quality versus parts that initially came with the car.

The aftermarket parts are not only substandard, but using them to affect car repairs can lead to a hazardous vehicle.

But if using such parts can prove so serious, what’s the reason a insurance provider will steer you to a body shop that uses them? In a word, PROFITS – since it means the vehicle repairs will cost less, and that the insurer pays out lesser claims. Hence your insurance provider is going to be saving money to be able to increase their earnings, at the expense of compromising the value of your vehicle, and possibly your safety and that of your family members!

So because second-rate parts were used in order to save your insurance company some money, the outcome may well be another (and possibly more serious) accident as a result.

Whenever you’re involved in a car accident, turn in a claim, but your agent desires you to visit a body shop of HIS choice in lieu of one of yours, listen for the following:

“It’s going to run you even more to go there ” – “We won’t warranty the vehicle repairs if you go there” – “Don’t head over to that body shop because we can not get you a rental car if you go there ” – “They won’t go along with our appraiser” – “We’ve had a hard time with that repair shop” – “We keep a list of preferred shops and that shop isn’t on it” – “If you go to a non-preferred shop your repair will be delayed waiting for our adjuster to inspect the vehicle” – “We can pay our preferred shops directly, and save you time”

All of these statements are either misleading or are straight up falsehoods. Don’t be misled by them!

Never permit your insurance company’s desired resolution of a car accident to result in another (and perchance much more serious) car accident. Know your rights, and choose a repair service that places good quality work and safe repair practices above insurance company referrals!

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