The Minnesota House recently passed a bill that will require insurance
companies to use the agreed upon estimating systems in their entirety
when calculating collision damage.

Senate File 3508 adds to a laundry list of prohibited insurer actions
the following language: "unilaterally and arbitrarily disregard a
repair operation or cost
identified by an estimating system, which an insurer and collision
repair facility have agreed to utilize in determining the cost of
repair."

The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, Minnesota had listed this
legislation as one of its top three priorities in the 2008 session,
besides a shop licensing proposal and an effort to prohibit insurers
from owning repair shops.

House File 3822, a companion bill with more specific language, was
indefinitely postponed from consideration in favor of S.F. 3508. That
bill would have specifically prohibited insurers from manipulating
estimating
database information and made it illegal to modify any published
manual relating to auto body repairs; fail to use a manual or system in
its entirety in the appraisal of a motor vehicle; or refuse to
compensate an auto body shop for documented charges identified through
systems for paint and refinishing materials in repair claims.

To read the entire bill, click HERE