Jeff Butler, president of Haury’s Lake City Collision in Seattle, Wash., prides himself on quality repairs. That’s a big reason why he recently informed a local new station about the danger certain body shops are putting consumers in by performing shoddy repairs.
KING 5 News did a special investigative report aided by Butler pointing out the mistakes made in a BMW and a Toyota that he re-repaired.
“On the BMW, the new frame rail was improperly sectioned – it was a butt joint weld with a wirefeed welder. This is not allowed,” said Butler. “In the Toyota front-end frame, the shop cut a hole in the side of the frame, beat the buckle out, filled it in with filler and painted over it so it sort of looked okay. While this car might not fall apart driving down the road tomorrow, it could kill the occupant in a future collision.”
In an interview with the station, Butler blamed the hack jobs on cost pressures.
“[Insurers] are tying the hands of the body shop. That’s how [the body shops] get their work through insurance referrals, but it puts the insurer as the customer and not the person with the keys. It’s a conflict.”
According to Haury, one vehicle owner sued State Farm in small claims court due to the insurer’s refusal to pay the full cost of repairs and won.
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