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continued from pg. 6 to suggest that the customer obtain a copy of the contract the insurer’s “partner shop” has signed. It’s all there in black and white. If the insurer refuses to share the information, it will be another reason for the vehicle owner to be suspect of the reason they are being steered in a particular direction.

Once you have evaluated your true cost of doing business and posted your labor rates accordingly and are writing your blueprints/repair plans at those rates, it is time to take the labor rate survey at laborratehero.com. It is important that you update your survey regularly, even if you have not increased rates in any of the categories so the survey results will be freshly dated. The survey is critical as this is just one of the very many important tools the “Alliance” is utilizing when speaking with our legislators. The survey information, along with BillableGenie data being accumulated by National AutoBody Research are, as the Mastercard advertisement says, “Priceless.” Part of your summertime project should include learning how to use this information, as countless shops are doing, to get paid properly for procedures and rates they are able to prove insurance companies have and continue to pay. Nothing seems to enrage vehicle owners more than when it is pointed out to them in black and white that their insurance company seems to be discriminating against them by paying some claimants but not them for the same procedures and rate reimbursement. Some insurers will say that it is on a case-by-case basis, but make them prove to your customer WHY this isn’t one of those cases. At the very least, it will prove that it is not you who is being unfair and unreasonable. This justifies the need for a copay from the vehicle owner. It is based on the insurer not indemnifying the vehicle owner completely based on the policy sold and purchased. Some may consider this an absolute breach of contract and potentially an unfair claims handling practice subject to the 93A and 176D triple damages penalties.

If you have attended either part one or part two of the Alliance’s “Breaking Free in ’23” events, the “lull” may be a great time to revisit the videos and documents provided via thumb drive to digest the abundance of information provided. The information and support provided have helped many shops set the tone for their future and their individual repair and billing practices. Part one helped explain some of the transitional growing pains experienced when “flicking the switch” and realizing that in order to thrive by providing quality repairs performed by well-equipped and trained technicians, a collision repair shop can no longer subsidize the process by absorbing “short pays” by the insurance company. As the experts in the repair process and the shoulders on which the ultimate liability continued on pg. 42

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continued from pg. 40 falls should something minor or catastrophic occur after the repair, shops are realizing someone must pay; if not the insurance company, then it must be the vehicle owner. It is then the vehicle owner’s responsibility to pursue the issue with their insurer.

Kudos to those shops who have not listened to “it will never work,” “I cannot charge vehicle owners in my area more than what the insurer is willing to pay” or “I won’t have any vehicles in my shop to repair.” These shops that are well informed are finding it easier to draw quality technicians from a pool of talent that is getting shallower by the day. They are finding they DO NOT have to work at such a frenetic and disorganized pace, frustrating and burning out their technicians, while at the same time potentially sacrificing repair quality and thus bringing even more liability to their doorstep.

For members of the “ALLIANCE,” please refer to the June issue of the Damage Report newsletter for additional ideas on how to best use the next few months to implement “Breaking Free in ’23.” If you are not a member and are ready to “flick the switch,” there is a membership application on page 7 or online at aaspma.org

It will only take a couple of minutes out of your summer to fill it out. You will then be a part of the “ALLIANCE,” which has NO plans to take the summer off when it comes to “protecting consumers and the collision repair industry.”