When you’ve been in a car accident, one of the first things you’ll do is make a call to your insurance company. After giving an account of the details, your insurance company will often offer a list of approved auto body and repair shops in your area and lead you to believe you need to have your work done at one of these shops. You have just experienced car insurance steering.
Car insurance steering is a tactic used by insurance companies to steer you towards a repair shop of their choice otherwise known as Direct Repair Programs (or DRP’s). It’s often delivered in a way to convince the claimant that it’s in their best interest to use a DRP. Some examples include:
While car insurance companies lead you to believe that it’s in your best interest to use the repair shop of their choice, the reality is that they have entered into an agreement with these body shops to do repairs at a discounted rate. This agreement is mutually beneficial to the repair shop and the insurance company, at your expense.
The most common way repair shops are able to offer a discounted rate to insurance companies is by using aftermarket parts. Aftermarket parts are produced by a third party manufacturer (most often from China), fit poorly, are made from inferior materials, and repairs a vehicle to a lesser degree. If your insurance company is only willing to pay for aftermarket parts in repairing your vehicle, North Idaho Collision and Repair Center offers our Comp Program where we will cover the difference to use OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts.
It’s always your choice to decide where you get your car repaired, and it’s illegal for your insurance company to tell you otherwise. At North Idaho Collision and Repair, we handle all the paperwork, use only OEM parts to repair your vehicle to its pre-accident condition, repair your vehicle as soon as possible, and guarantee our work. We genuinely care about you at a personal level, and we are your advocate for quality repairs.
