It has been seven months since Kentucky shop owner Rusty Barrett sent a collective gasp across the collision repair industry by dropping his State Farm DRP after a disagreement over a supplement, and he claims that despite most repairers’ predictions that he would die a sudden death, business is going great.
“It saddens me to say it, but I know a lot of people will be disappointed to know that dropping my State Farm DRP worked out quite well for myself,” said Barrett, who owns Pure Reflection Paint & Collision, Inc., in Shelbyville. “I lot of people sent e-mails saying I cut my own throat. I will admit that it may not have been the best timing or the most well thought-out decision, but for my family, employees and business, things have changed for the best. I have more time to spend at night with my kids doing homework with them. My employees have enjoyed praise from the other insurance company for getting their work done ahead of schedule, and they have a better relationship with the different adjuster. Everyone wants to know if my business is still making money, and the answer is yes.”
Barrett says that after the original article about him dropping State Farm ran on May 7, 2009 on www.bodyshopbusiness.com, several insurance companies contacted him and asked, “Where do we stand now? We have the work to send you if you can now put us all on an equal playing field.”
Barrett still gets a lot of State Farm work, but he says State Farm customers are "angry they have to wait to get the process rolling and repairs okayed in a good, timely matter.”
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