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Insurer-collision centre communication receives failing grade: Bodyshop survey


December 17, 2010   by Canadian Underwriter


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Insurers need to improve communication with collision repair shops, according to Bodyshop Magazine’s annual audit of the insurance industry.
Bodyshop surveyed 135 owners, presidents or managers of repair shops in Canada about their opinions of the 28 insurers – private and public – with the largest shares of auto business.
Shop owners graded the insurers on characteristics that included:

  • knowledge and integrity of field staff (adjusters, appraisers and claims desk staff);
  • payment practices; and
  • clear, consistent communication with repairers.

“The survey stats, along with its expanded written responses, show that some of the age-old issues are a lingering concern,” wrote JD Ney, Bodyshop’s editor.
“Trouble with door-rates, appraiser overrides and direct repair program (DRP) arguments are still prevalent; but more important than anything, collision repair professionals are citing a perceived lack of dialogue as their chief concern.
“While most of the companies in our survey – and by definintion, the insurance industry as a whole – receive solid, if not universally exemplary marks in a majority of categories, most of the lower marks seem concentrated in the areas that deal with direct communication with individual shops.”
For example, one comment included letting repair centres know, prior to the release of the vehicle for pickup, that a deductible had been waived. Otherwise, a collision centre is left trying to collect a deductible that had actually been waived.


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