It’s Time to Do Something
4/1/2008
I agree that it’s time someone does something about what’s happening to our industry.
One of the things I’ve done is kicked several Progressive agents out of
my shop. They’ve tried to blackball me by pulling work from my shop and
telling my repeat customers that we’re not able to fix their car. They
send all their work to the mega shop down the road, but I’m still here
after 23 years in the body shop business (the last 13 as an owner)
because I fight tooth and nail every day to keep my shop. Part of what
helps keep me going is that I have a good customer base on the fleet
end of it.
We strive to give the customer the best service we can. Notice I said
“customer,” and that’s who matters. Once these shops remember that and
quit kissing so much insurance butt then we’ll all be better off.
Insurers don’t care about the shop or the customer, just their bottom
line. They give the adjuster a bonus for using crap parts and shaving
as much time as he can from the ticket. They’re all crooks robbing all
of us blind – and doing it with the government’s help. They also pay
off politicians to make laws to help them.
There’s something wrong when a lawn mower shop gets $80 per hour and a
body shop can only get $42 per hour to cut someone’s car in half, weld
it back together, call it safe and send him and his family back out on
the road. It’s time to stand up and do something, but that won’t
happen soon enough because there’s too much greed. Maybe enough mega
shops will go out of business and all this nonsense will stop. The
cheaper these insurance monsters get with the shops, the more dangerous
it gets.
Tracey Strain, owner
Accurate Auto & Fleet Inc.
Tallahassee, Fla.