Additional Items to be aware of when getting an Estimate!

After the last post was published I thought of a couple more things to be aware of when getting an estimate to repair your vehicle.

You’ve probably heard it before, where you have been told to get several estimates.  I will say again, you can take your vehicle to the shop of your choosing.  Now, I’m not saying the low estimate would be missing something or the higher estimate will give you a better repair. If the insurance company is paying for the repair, which estimate do you think the insurance company would choose?  If  you do get a couple of estimates though, make sure you compare estimates equally, especially if this will be a customer pay repair.

Some shops will even write low estimates just to “get the keys” and get the owners commitment to do the job.  Once they have started on the car, the shop will call and claim they have found additional damages.  I understand we can’t see through cars and will find parts damaged that were not seen initially.  A “supplement” to the insurance company is then submitted to have the parts and labor covered. Many times this process lengthens the time the vehicle is in the shop.  Avoid this ploy by choosing a highly regarded body shop in the first place.

Tim Welch

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