Can Your Insurance Company Tell You Where To Make Repairs?
If you have had an accident, and you need work done to your car, you are going to need to find a body shop. When it comes to getting your repair work done, there are two schools of thought. The first says that it is cheaper all around to go to a shop that your insurance company recommends. The other is that you should go to wherever you feel most comfortable.
Cheaper Is Sometimes Better
When it comes to making the decision, you should ask yourself whether it is more important to save money, or to get a good repair job. If you don’t care about your car as much, it could be better
to go where the insurance company tells you to go, or if you don’t know where to go in the first place.
Insurance companies save money if you use a body shop in their network. They usually don’t have to pay for towing the car or storing the car in the shop. That savings can be passed on to you. If you’re lucky…
Your Rights As A Consumer
However, if you have a preferred body shop in mind, or you have a relationship with a mechanic, you have every right to go wherever you want to go. In some cases you might end up paying more for it in the long run, but that doesn’t matter if the accident isn’t your fault.
What you might find is that the other insurance company will try to lowball you when it comes time to pay if you don’t use a shop that they prefer. Don’t fall for this tactic, they have to pay if you are not at fault.
Do What Feels Right
Your car is your property and you have every right to do what you want with it. The insurance company might complain about it being too costly, or try to guilt you into making a choice you aren’t sure is the right one.
At the end of the day, you want the job done right for the least amount of money. However, getting the job done right is what will ultimately save you money in the long run.
A shoddy mechanic who doesn’t fix the engine properly will just mean another trip to your mechanic, and at your expense. Don’t be fooled or pressured by a company with an agenda, do what you want to do and on your terms.
