Hello, my mom recently got in a reck and we sent it to a gmc body shop. The original price was around 3k but then after more inspection the changed the price to around 8k. The insurance accepted the claim and they started working on it. However, that’s not the main problem, the body shop keeps delaying the due date and is blaming it on the insurance, saying that the insurance sent the wrong parts to them. Which is why they had to re order the parts for the car. My mom then contacted the insurance company and asked about the parts. However, the insurance said they never order the parts and the auto body shop does it. Right now we really don’t know who to believe and don’t know what we should do.
Help with auto body shop scam?
byu/Ok-Current7908 inInsurance
Posted by Ok-Current7908
5 Comments
Insurance company doesn’t order parts. It’s possible the wrong parts were on the insurance estimate, however the shop would be giant morons if they ordered those wrong parts. Shop is the one lying here
The insurance company is correct, ordering parts is something the shop does.
Is this a dealer? In my experience dealers like to deflect blame a lot. They aren’t responsible for anything. Ever.
I’m an insurance appraiser and have also worked in a body shop as an estimator between insurance gigs.
The insurer doesn’t order the parts. The body shop does.
When ordering from a dealer the parts department at the dealership is normally sent some sort of parts list stripped from the estimate, so the dealer has the vehicle VIN and will only send parts that work with that vehicle, usually regardless of what parts the insurance adjuster or even the body shop estimator ask for. Wrong parts on the original estimate are pretty common due to there being so many different version of each part to pick from, so the dealer tries to subvert that up-front.
It’s possible that the insurer wrote up the estimate with some *used* parts. Normally the shop has their own vendors who will price-match most stuff and they just buy from those guys, but occasionally there will be some super-cheap used parts halfway across the country that the shop can’t source locally. So then the shop orders those parts and sometimes they arrive damaged, or they are the wrong version, and they need to be sent back and the shop needs to call the insurer to get the estimate corrected. At that point some insurers will say “fine, just get it from the dealer” and some will just go to the next place down the list for used parts, and the process starts again.
It’s not the insurer sending them the parts though. It’s the duty of the shop to verify that what they’re ordering is correct.
The side fact that the estimate went from $3k to $8k isn’t all that unusual, especially with trucks. I’ve been writing truck front-ends lately that have 50 or more parts that need replacing just in the bumper section.
Your shop is lying. Insurance doesn’t order parts. They simply pay for them.
Just like a pharmacist would verify what the doctor prescribes is right for the patient, a body shop should verify the VIN when ordering parts specified on the insurance’s estimate.