The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers (AASP-NJ) announced that the NORTHEAST 2022 Automotive Services Show, to be held March 18-20 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center (MEC) in Secaucus, N.J., will be offering an educational session on “Mastering the Appraisal Clause.”
“Mastering the Appraisal Clause” will take place on Saturday, March 19 at 11:30 a.m. and will feature a panel of professionals who will discuss how the appraisal clause, or right to appraisal, allows policyholders to demand an appraisal of loss when there is a disagreement on the amount of loss. The consumer’s policy dictates the responsibility of their carrier; yet, collision repair facilities are often placed in the position of writing off losses due to low repair costs or sacrificing the quality of repairs.
Moderated by veteran auto body journalist Joel Gausten, this panel will feature Charles Bryant (AASP/NJ), Robert McDorman (Auto Claim Specialists), Barrett Smith (Auto Damage Experts, Inc.) and John Walczuk (ZB Negotiations).
Attendees will learn how the appraisal clause can be utilized as a resource to improve customer satisfaction and retention while also resolving loss disputes in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner.
“With the problems collision shops are currently experiencing while attempting to reach an agreement on the cost of repair with certain insurers, this is certainly one presentation that cannot be missed,” said Bryant. “The combination of the pandemic, along with the changes to today’s modern vehicles, is causing more and more shops to experience a standoff with numerous insurers. Some are taking the position of: ‘That’s all we are going to pay; take it or leave it, or take it and we’ll refer it to our DRP shop.’ Shops may be unaware that they do not have to accept these strong-arm tactics. The appraisal clause is an effective method of dealing with this type of improper activity. I strongly encourage anyone experiencing this standoff to attend this panel as we will discuss how best to deal with this issue effectively.”
Limited seats remain for this panel and other educational classes pertaining to the labor rate, ADAS, tech shortage crisis and more. To register, visit aaspnjnortheast.com/education.
