Auto Insurance, Collision Repair and you.
The facts insurers don’t want you to know.
Warren, MI, December 23, 2012: Airing the Dirty Laundry of the industry from direct repair shops, Insurance appraisers, Insurance adjusters, the insurance commissioner, Aftermarket (AM) made in China parts, diminished value and the things you should know when processing an auto insurance collision claim prior to contacting your insurance company. Secret dates that will affect your claim or disallow it completely.
Keena’s Qualifications:
· 30 years as a collision technician (licensed): I know the proper repair procedures to repair your car back to factory specifications
· 25 years as a business owner in the collision trades
· Licensed insurance adjuster: Keena’s knows what your insurance company can and can’t do and how to remedy adverse situations and he will investigate your policy provisions and get you 100% of what you are legally entitled to. Free consultation for other insurance related policy provisions other than collision.
· Licensed vehicle dealer: After your actual cash value of the damage is calculated Keena’s will offer you a “buy out” without repairing you damaged vehicle.
The truths and untruths of collision repair regarding The Insured, The consumer, The Insurance Company and the repair shop and each of their roles they play in the repair process. And also your governments roll or lack of influence in this industry You need to remember one thing as we discuss this industry that is the insurance companies have two main goals, One is to take as much of your money as possible and two to keep as much of your money as possible, everything else is just part a part of doing just that. Keena’s also wants to point out that he is not here to bash the insurance. industry and DRP shops, He wants to give people the information needed to be able to make an educated decision when processing a collision claim with their insurance company.
What Keena’s Inc offers to the consumer
Dave Keena is a licensed insurance adjuster, Licensed repair facility and licensed vehicle dealer and he offers free insurance policy and claims processing to all repair customers, you need to know the facts about your individual situation prior to contacting your insurance company concerning your rights of repair shop choice, deductibles, 3rd party claims. Broad vs. standard collision coverage and course of action to take when your appraiser or adjuster doesn’t seem to want to cooperate in a proper repair due to repair costs. Keena can help get you factory OEM parts when your insurance company only wants to install Chinese made parts. Also with their “cash and dash “program, Keena’s will buy you out of your damaged vehicle. Get all facts about fixing your damaged vehicle 855- FACT FIX
Need to know information:
1. Insurance company Direct repair, Preferred, Authorized repair shop: These repair shops are shops that have contracts with the insurance companies to repair your car with parts, procedures and labor rates dictated completely by the insurance company. This fast food approach to collision repair first benefits the insurance company by way of discounted repairs that save the insurance company millions annually; secondly it benefits the repair shop because they get the insurance company to solicit jobs for them but they have to do 4 times the work for twice the profit. There is no real benefits to the consumer. Actually it’s a detriment to a quality repair as a DRP does exactly as the insurer tells them to do and tells you nothing concerning the repair unless you ask. When you make the first call to your insurer they will ask you where you want to have your car repaired and then some will use false statement about DRP shop warranties that are actually government mandates to keep the insurance companies in line. False statement about out of pocket expenses if you go to a non DRP repair shop and that you will be on your own if you go to a non DRP repair shop. These are all false or misleading statements to steer you to their DRP shop where they save millions annually on repair procedures and installation of non OEM parts without your approval, steering is illegal. The State and Federal insurance laws state you can take your car to any repair shop you choose and you have the same recourse against a non DRP repair shop as you would if you went to a DRP shop.
2.
Choosing a repair shop:
To choose a qualified repair shop you need to do a bit of due diligence, ask
friends and family for referrals, ask the shop if their insured and licensed and
if they have the proper repair equipment needed such as a frame rack, down draft
bake spray booth and they use a quality brand materials to repair your vehicle
back to pre loss condition. Check with the State Bureau of Automotive
Regulations (BAR) to see if there are any previous or ongoing complaints or
investigations concerning that repair shop. Find out how long they have been in
business, 10 plus years with no BAR complaints are good choices. If you can get
this information and it all looks good any of these shops should be able get the
job done properly with no issues and without insurer influence in the repair
process. If you have issues call your insurance company and ask for help, they
are obligated to help and also call and file a complaint at the State Bureau of
automotive regulations.
3. Insurance company: An insurance company does not have to inform you verbally that their using aftermarket made in China parts on your car, the law says that they only have to list it in the repair estimate and that requires you to find it and ask questions. Most people don’t know or want to be bothered with repair procedures and parts quality as they don’t know or shouldn’t need to know this information, a quality NON- DRP shop will point this out as they have no commitment to the insurance company, DRP repair shops won’t as it is against the best interest of the insurer. Do you know that if you don’t ask for coverage’s you are entitled to, the insurer won’t provide it too you. For example if you get into an accident and your car is tied up for a week and you have rental car coverage and you don’t ask for it the insurance company most likely will not provide it for you or inform you of the provision and this includes all provisions in your policy, if you’re not an insurance policy legal whiz you may need help and that’s what Keena’s provides to you for free. Your insurance company will authorize only the use of aftermarket made in China parts to install on certain sections of your vehicle. They will tell you that they are warranted for the life of your vehicle but the fact is most people sell or turn in their vehicles in within 3 to 5 years after purchase or lease so the warranted AM parts are now dumped into our community without warranties and there is no way to track the performance or quality of these parts and it releases the insurer from any future liability financially or otherwise. The insurers are just playing the odds and winning at the consumers’ expense. These parts are now the responsibility of unaware purchasers of used vehicles.
The insurance companies have used the excuse that insurance rates will skyrocket if they use OEM parts to repair vehicles, let’s do the math. With Keena’s 30 plus years industry experience he knows for a fact that you could add 25%average to the parts and labor costs to all repairs on average and the customer will get OEM parts and the shop and technician will get a decent wage to do the repairs. Approximately 10% of collision policies report and file claims each year so take that 25% raise in repair costs and spread it over all collision claims policy holders it only raises the rates by 2.5%. Most consumers would pay the 2.5% to guarantee a quality repair with quality OEM parts. But here is the real deal, you are already paying for quality repairs and parts and the insurers are using the system of DRP and AM parts to inflate their annual profits, it’s about more profit per policy holder and not the cost of insurance rates going up as they claim for the reason to use these AM parts. If insurers only used OEM parts they could not cut parts costs and their profits would be lower. All insurers have to report to the insurance commissioner’s office their rates and how they come up with those rates and they can’t deviate from those rates in advertising or otherwise unless they file another rate report to the commissioner’s office. So the only way to increase profits per policy holder is not pay claims or reduce the cost of claims and that’s where DRP programs and AM parts come into effect.
4.
Diminished value
(DV):
Is the value of two exact vehicles with the same mileage and condition,
one has been in an accident and one hasn’t. DV is the sale price difference
between the two vehicles that one would pay for the repaired damaged vehicle and
the vehicle that has not been damaged; the damaged vehicle usually will sell for
10 to 20% less depending on the amount of damage incurred. Keenas can repair or
purchase your damaged vehicle if you choose so you don’t have to deal with DV in
the future sale of your vehicle or you just want a different vehicle.
5.
Insurance law:
Is complicated and in today’s
society the auto insurance consumer really does not have any affordable
representation per say unless you wanted to hire an attorney at $250.00 plus per
hour to represent you or hire a public adjuster at 10% of the claim. Keena’s
does that service for free with a licensed public adjuster, you don’t need to
ask questions but you can if you like, Keena will explain everything you need to
know prior to filing your claim with your insurance company and the consultation
is absolutely free to all repair customers. He could explain your options here
but it would take multiple pages, please call for information. When you think
your insurance company is not following the rules and you feel you’re not
getting what you bargained for with your insurer, you can file a complaint with
the State Insurance Commissioner’s Office. We at Keena’s can help you with the
proper forms and procedures and information needed to submit to the
commissioner’s office.
6.
Insurance commissioner:
The insurance commissioner’s office was put in place to protect the
general public from unscrupulous insurance companies and enforce insurance law.
But the thing about the office is that it is an appointed position by the
governor. This position is usually filled by a high ranking CEO directly
handpicked from the insurance industry. Do you think special interest and
campaign contributions have a lot to do with this choice? This is like having
the fox watch the henhouse. We believe this position should be a voted position
and cannot be an individual who is bias by industry affiliations. This would
make it a fair playing field for all persons who have to deal with the insurance
industry. Insurers make it hard for consumers to contest AM parts and repair
procedures by holding the cars repair hostage, it’s illegal but it takes too
long to process small legal claims like this, nobody takes the time to do it,
they need their cars back ASAP. The
insurers are ripping off consumers on claims bit by bit to the tune of BILLIONS
annually and our commissioner and legislature do nothing about it. It will only
change when consumers say enough is enough and put their foot down and force the
elected / appointed officials to do what’s in the best interest of the people.
Thank You and I hope we can help.
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