EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Stop the Erroneous COVID Excuses by CHARLES BRYANT We get it; the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major problems, not only in New Jersey but across the US and other countries. We get it; however, there is a big difference between the pandemic causing problems and people using the pandemic as an excuse for problems they themselves have created. At the present time, a tremendous amount of cars are sitting in New Jersey collision shops due to the lack of parts immediately available. We understand that. We also understand that the lack of qualified technicians available to repair the sophisticated automobiles on the roads today contributes to the delays. The pandemic has probably touched everybody in one way or another as far as being able to perform their jobs as they normally would if the pandemic had never taken place. What we don’t understand – or condone – is what’s going on with the insurance industry which they blame on the pandemic. Consumers’ automobiles are sitting in collision shops across the state, waiting on insurance companies to inspect the damage and work out an agreement with the shop to commence the repairs on these vehicles. Insurance companies have a strict rule that no repairs should be commenced until the insurer has inspected the vehicle and worked out an agreement with a collision shop on the repair costs. The regulations governing fair claim settlement practices acknowledges the insurers’ right to inspect the vehicle damaged in a collision prior to the work commencing; however, the regulations also make it clear that if the insurer intends to inspect the vehicle they must do so within seven working days from the date that the claim is reported to the insurer and then commence negotiations and make a good-faith offer of settlement. The regulation goes on to state that the negotiations must be conducted in good faith with the goal of promptly arriving at an agreed price to repair the damaged vehicle
and the insurer is required to provide a copy of their estimate promptly upon completing the inspection. With that said, insurers are using the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic for their delays in performing the inspection. They insist that the collision shops do their job and perform the inspection for them, which includes preparing an estimate, taking photos (not only of the damage, but of the entire vehicle including license plates, the interior, all four corners of the vehicle and more, depending on the insurer) and then sending the photos along with the estimate over to the insurer and then waiting for the insurer to reach out to negotiate an agreement. Unfortunately, in most cases, instead of the insurer contacting the shop to go over the shop’s estimate and negotiated agreement, the shops receive an estimate prepared by the insurance company based on the photos and estimate that the shop provided; however, time and time again, the shops receive estimates from insurance companies for a fraction of what the shop’s estimate was written for based on the physical inspection of the automobile. This causes major delays because the shop now has to attempt to contact the insurer and try to work out the differences so the repairs can get started. Most of the time, even when the shop reaches out to the insurance company to go over the estimate, the shop will get another adjusted estimate but usually for an amount that remains far less than what it actually takes to repair the automobile. When this issue is addressed with the insurer, the standard answer is, “That’s all we can justify based on the photos that you provided.” From there, it usually takes going through this process over and over again until the insurer finally agrees to pay close to what it actually takes to repair the vehicle. This process is one of the major reasons that the repair process is severely stalled. The reality is that it is impossible to prepare an estimate on a vehicle that has suffered major damage
NO EXCUSES
16 | New Jersey Automotive | January 2022
