The following points were crafted by industry stakeholders and offered publicly as a foundation for debate and discussion. The points are related to business practices within and between insurers and repairs. In most cases, these points address areas of concern and conflict between trading parties. By listing these points, we are providing a forum to review the issues and give stakeholders the opportunity to express their opinions related to the topic. Discussing these points does not constitute an acceptance of nor support for any of the trade practices under any name.
1. All direct repair programs should be based on transparent standards and criteria that are objective, and these requirements should pass public scrutiny.
2. Insurers should remove shop selection and all decision-making power away from single individuals and place those decisions with a board of independent individuals that cannot have a close enough relationship with a shop to gain any inurnment or gratuity. Insurers could also rotate area staff so that no single person has long-term authority over any one shop.
3. Program guidelines or agreement items should be published and audited so that field staff cannot arbitrarily modifying them creating areas for misuse and/or regional policy interpretation.
4. If there are ongoing referrals from an insurer to a repairer and/or an increase in volume of referrals, it should be strictly based on performance. The shops that best serve the consumers earn the most business.
5. While an insurance company may recommend any shop that meets their published criteria and standards as outlined and in conformity to the points above, they may not make comment about any other business that is not on their list as a means to encourage a consumer to select their referral choice or dissuade them from using a repairer of choice.
6. Insurers should rightfully acknowledge that all shop-produced data is the property of the shop and that no data can be gathered without the specific authorization of the shop. Insurer should disclose every data item to be collected along with the intended use of that data. Further, sharing this data should be strictly voluntary and not a requirement, point of agreement, or criterion of participation in a referral program.
7. Insurers and repairers should cooperate in the independent creation and universal acceptance of repair standards, and mutually agreeable repair practices that will serve as the foundation of all estimating and repairs.
8. At no time will an insurance company recommend, encourage or pressure any repair business into following repair practices or using parts, paint or material that are not in compliance with repair standards in accordance with OEM specifications and or that may in any way lessen the value of the repaired vehicle or threaten the safety of the vehicle. All requested repairs will be in accordance to the repair standards as established in paragraph 7.
9. Insurers should be restricted from requiring that a shop buy any product or service from a particular vendor as an agreement item or criterion to participate in their DRP or receiving a referral of any sort.
10. Insurers and shop associations should work together to reform ALL state laws to ensure they prohibit payoffs and other “pay to play” programs, with enforcement and criminal penalties clearly defined. There should be immunity and protection from reprisal for whistle-blowers.
11. The transfer of ownership of a body shop should not automatically disqualify that shop from continued DRP participation. Continued participation when a shop is sold should be contingent upon a review and approval of the new ownership transfer and based on an objective application process commensurate to the criteria used for any and all shop participation as outlined in item #1.
12. Every insurance company should have a published, easy to find phone number so that shops and/or other individuals can call to report abuses, anonymously if necessary.
13. If there is any price discounting between insurers and repairs, it should always be based upon fair trade practices and legal parameters such as volume. If a discount is given, it should be based upon an objective measurable and auditable business agreement.
14. All insurers should have an independent review board made up of consumer and industry professionals that can openly provide feedback. A majority of this board of advisers should be neutral, devoid of any conflict of interest and with nothing to gain or lose from the answers and feedback they give.
15. Remove processes that Impede efficiency – Many repairers are working to remove waste in the system.
16. The elimination of the “indemnification requirement” to the insurance partner. The obligation for a proper repair should be equally shared between both partners in the program. It will put everyone on notice and on the same side of the table when the liability of repair is equally distributed between both parties.
17. All insurance policy agreements should contain a mechanism for dispute resolution between the insurance company and the policyholder prior to any DRP contract agreement. This of course is to protect the interest of the consumer and would be in the form of the Policyholder’s Right to Appraisal.